A study of two literary texts: Virginia woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and Michael Cunningham's The hour (1999)

Résumé du document

Exploring a text and discovering different layers of its meaning is a valuable experience that sharpens literary sensitiveness. The more we read, the more we know how to read. The semantic richness locked in a graphical word from which it cannot be separated can always be renewed, and literature is a living substance that adapts to the ever changing human thoughts and beliefs. Even a text that has already been written may be understood in a different way according to when it is read.

Extraits

[...] It was as if she said to Peter it was all aimed at him, he knew know you thought me absurd about that woman just now; but see how extraordinarily sympathetic I am; see how I love my Rob!' ( ) He sent a note to her by Sally asking her to meet him by the fountain at three. ‘Something very important has happened,' he scribbled at the end of it. ( ) She did not move. ‘Tell me the truth, tell me the truth,' he kept on saying. He felt as if his forehead would burst. She seemed contracted, petrified. She did not move. [...]

[...] It leads us back to the struggle between the individual and society seen here as a crowd of undistinguishable people. III The signifiers and the reader The internal backbone system of signifiers is made obvious through a few other means. Some signifiers can be used in different layers of meaning: her pirate-girl veneer lay all the makings of a good suburban wife[.]', of course, may choose to husband his energies for dancing.'. The side meaning of ‘husband', used as a verb, enhances the importance of the noun ‘wife' to describe Clarissa. [...]

[...] ARVIRAGUS Fear no more the frown the great; Thou art past the tyrant's stroke; Care no more to clothe and eat; To thee the reed is as the oak: The sceptre, learning, physic, must All follow this, and come to dust. GUIDERIUS Fear no more the lightning flash, ARVIRAGUS Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone; GUIDERIUS Fear not slander, censure rash; ARVIRAGUS Thou hast finish'd joy and moan: GUIDERIUS, ARVIRAGUS All lovers young, all lovers must Consign to thee, and come to dust. GUIDERIUS No exorciser harm thee! ARVIRAGUS Nor no witchcraft charm thee! GUIDERIUS Ghost unlaid forbear thee! ARVIRAGUS Nothing ill come near thee! GUIDERIUS, ARVIRAGUS Quiet consummation have; And renowned be thy grave! [...]

[...] I begin to hear voices, and cant concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I dont think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I cant fight it any longer, I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I cant even write this properly. [...]

[...] Souviens-toi que le Temps est un joueur avide Qui gagne sans tricher, à tout coup ! c'est la loi, Le jour décroît ; la nuit augmente ; souviens-toi ! Le gouffre a toujours soif ; la clepsydre se vide. Tantôt sonnera l'heure où le divin Hasard, Où l'auguste Vertu, ton épouse encor vierge, Où le Repentir même (oh ! la dernière auberge Où tout te dira : Meurs, vieux lâche ! il est trop tard ! Charles BAUDELAIRE, L'Horloge Les Fleurs du mal. CONTENTS Foreword . VII Introduction I. The family unit I.1. [...]