Woolf, Virginia - Technique

Virginia Woolf’s literary technique

Virginia Woolf is one of the most important Modernist writers: she has changed the way of writing focusing on new topics and leading to the fascinating discovery of the secrets of human mind.
She is able to explore the complex inner world of feelings and emotions of her characters, using an innovative literary technique: the indirect interior monologue. This literary technique consist of the presentation of individuals’ thoughts through the mediation of a narrator who speaks “within” their mind, giving order to the chaotic series of impressions. Virginia Woolf never leaves that the chaotic thoughts of her character flow without a rational order.
Moreover, Virginia Woolf refuses the conventions of the Victorian traditional novels, such as clear plots because in her opinion the external events are of little importance: everything is focused on characters’ mind, emotions and feelings (so the reader can easily understand the character and impersonate with him/her).
The omniscient narrator is replaced by a limited and subjective point of view which gives importance to protagonists’ perception of reality: our mind receives an “incessant shower of innumerable atoms”; the inner exploration leads to the discovery of reality behind appearances that is called “the moments of being”.