"amazing . . . a new type of fiction has swum into view." —E.M. Forster
Published the same year as James Joyce's ULYSSES and T.S. Eliot's THE WASTE LAND, JACOB'S ROOM is Virginia Woolf's first foray into impressionist fiction. The characters of JACOB'S ROOM interlock memories of Jacob Flanders, wrestling from obscurity his ephemeral existence. Is a man's life, in memory, nothing more than the imposed interpretations of outsiders—in this case the upper-middle-class Clara Durant or the bohemian art student Florinda—or does authentic meaning reveal itself in spite of our limited subjectivities?
“It seems then that men and women are equally at fault. It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow-creatures is utterly unknown. Either we are men, or we are women. Either we are cold, or we are sentimental. Either we are young, or growing old. In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and see them depart with such anguish, being shadows.”
-JACOB'S ROOM
Our Wiseblood Classics Edition of Jacob's Room is available HERE for only $6.33.
Published the same year as James Joyce's ULYSSES and T.S. Eliot's THE WASTE LAND, JACOB'S ROOM is Virginia Woolf's first foray into impressionist fiction. The characters of JACOB'S ROOM interlock memories of Jacob Flanders, wrestling from obscurity his ephemeral existence. Is a man's life, in memory, nothing more than the imposed interpretations of outsiders—in this case the upper-middle-class Clara Durant or the bohemian art student Florinda—or does authentic meaning reveal itself in spite of our limited subjectivities?
“It seems then that men and women are equally at fault. It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow-creatures is utterly unknown. Either we are men, or we are women. Either we are cold, or we are sentimental. Either we are young, or growing old. In any case life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and see them depart with such anguish, being shadows.”
-JACOB'S ROOM
Our Wiseblood Classics Edition of Jacob's Room is available HERE for only $6.33.