“Jacob’s Room” by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf is very difficult to write about. She was an innovator of her time and like many modernists was very decisive in breaking all connections with the traditional form of a novel. Therefore unusual plot structure, stream of consciousness technique and excessive expressionism that are only several unconventional features of “Jacob’s room”.

After an outrage of emotion, which any book of Virginia is, one longs for something more rational and systematic so I decided to present this review in several key points.

The form

“The march that the mind keeps beneath the windows of others is queer enough. Now distracted by brown panelling; now by a fern in a pot; here improvising a few phrases to dance with the barrel-organ; again snatching a detached gaiety from a drunken man; then altogether absorbed by words the poor shout across the street at each other (so outright, so lusty)—yet all the while having for centre, for magnet, a young man alone in his room.”

Stream of consciousness is a technique frequently used by modern authors in inner monologues or when it is necessary to create the atmosphere of confusion, dream or even insanity. But such modernist writers as Virginia Woolf or James Joyce were the first to apply this technique to the whole novel and not many authors since then have tried to repeat this experiment.

Thoughts of a confused generation, Joacim Broström

This type of narration focuses on thoughts and emotions rather than on actions, aiming at putting the reader right into the character’s mind and showing the world as perceived by him or her. The sentences are often broken, unfinished, the thoughts jump from one to another, triggered by some details suddenly noticed by the character. The same happens with the points of view as the author switches from one character to another very abruptly. The descriptions are very long and rich in detail, while the events and dialogues are few. The literary time here is close to the real one or sometimes is even slower as an episode that would take several minutes in reality can be described during the whole chapter.

Nevertheless this novel, being one of earlier Virginia’s creations, still has some remnants of a plot – chronological order (the reader can follow milestones of Jacob's life, unlike in later "To the Lighthouse" which is absolutely plotless) and cyclic structure (a single event mentioned both in the beginning and in the end of the novel serves to unite all the episodes which seem to be scattered and independent of each other showing that there is an inner composition and interrelation between them).

Some methods occasionally observed in this novel were frequently used in her later works, for instance an artistic detail which helps to switch the point of view, e.g. one character is walking in the park and he sees a horse which has run away from its rider and at that very moment another character also sees the horse so the author switches from the thoughts of the first character immediately to the second one.

In addition the text is very expressionistic, for it implies wide usage of colour and sound in description, has a lot of visual images and all the peculiarities of narration are clearly aimed at affecting the reader’s emotional side.

The Jacob

“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. And why, if this—and much more than this is true, why are we yet surprised in the window corner by a sudden vision that the young man in the chair is of all things in the world the most real, the most solid, the best known to us—why indeed? For the moment after we know nothing about him. Such is the manner of our seeing. Such the conditions of our love.”

So, what is “Jacob’s Room” about? This novel is an outline of an average human life, mostly from the outer side, that is, observed by others, rather than description of his inner world, a lot is seen from the point of view of other people and you can see very few thoughts of Jacob herself. Therefore, the reader’s task here is to gather small details, episodes, features and put them together to create an image of Jacob. In this way the author lets the reader to participate in the creation of a literary work, while she herself retreats and remains distant from the events, imposing no opinions or judgements. Thus for each reader the novel will be different for this puzzle has thousands of different solutions.

Jeune homme à sa fenêtre, Gustave Caillebotte

Making Jacob’s so vague and open to variations the author hints that anyone could have been on his place, she was just another young man whose careless life was harshly interrupted by the upcoming war. He is a little romantic, a little childish, certainly has some hopes, dreams and ambitions, wants to love and enjoy the life.Does all that make him outstanding in any way? Would you recognize such Jacob among all the other people in the street? Do you know anything particular about him?

But let’s be truthful, do we know anything particular about anyone at all? Is it really possible to understand any other person as well as you understand yourself? Or maybe the author was right and we all are merely shadows to each other, sometimes very dear and beloved, but still not completely familiar?

Who knows, but we all certainly are shadows to the history, for we come and go and seem so small and unimportant is comparison to time which goes on and on and you have to try really hard not to get lost in its flow. For only a few of us will be noticed and even less of us remembered.

The war

“It is thus that we live, they say, driven by an unseizable force. They say that the novelists never catch it; that it goes hurtling through their nets and leaves them torn to ribbons. This, they say, is what we live by—this unseizable force.”

Such pessimistic thoughts were quite usual for the authors of the period for the “bel époque” was coming to its end and first signs of WWI could already be seen on the horizon. The war plays an important role in the works of Woolf, her most acclaimed novel “Mrs. Dalloway” deals with the consequences of it, showing how two very different people try to fit in in a world that has changed forever.

But “Jacob’s Room” is set in the antebellum period so for the reader the war comes like it came for all the people who lived during that decade – suddenly, torrentially, like a lightning in a clear sky.

Woolf mentions the war, showing how easily life can change, how slow flow of routines and quiet life can suddenly and abruptly come to a halt and how it can eliminate anything expected previously a natural conclusion of the novel (or a human life).

She is prone to fatalism and believes that everything was predisposed, all that happens to Jacob, or herself, or any of us, is a part of a grand plan, which no one is allowed to know. The war in her novel is a sign that we must not forget that everything can change in a minute so what we must enjoy what we have and carpe diem.

The symbols

“The Greeks—yes, that was what they talked about—how when all's said and done, when one's rinsed one's mouth with every literature in the world, including Chinese and Russian (but these Slavs aren't civilized), it's the flavour of Greek that remains.”

Although Virginia herself wasn’t very successful in mastering Greek language, she visited the country several times and was very engaged with Greek culture. Some years after the publication of “Jacob’s Room” she even wrote an essay “” analyzing major works of Ancient Greek authors from feministic point of view.

The image of Greece in this novel, however is rather disappointing as visiting the cradle of European culture Jacob doesn’t find it so civilized any more. Everything seems to him plain and inelegant, the modern Greece doesn’t survive the comparison to its glorious past in his eyes.

 Still remaining unimpressed by cultural heritage presented before him, emotionally Jacob experiences perhaps the happiest time of his life. He enjoys the nature and makes acquaintances which will become very dear for his for the rest of his life so, having returned to his native shores, he act as enthusiastically about his visit as everyone else.

The author uses Jacob’s travel to Greece to create a contrast to the following war period, to make the turn from suddenly found Arcadia to the terror of absolute destruction even more unexpected.

We also find other images frequently used in Woolf’s novels, such as the sea and the beacon. The symbols are very classic as throughout the history sea was perceived in all types of art as something powerfully enigmatic, attractive in peaceful days but at the same time terrifying and ominous during the storm, while the beacon is a guiding light, hope and salvation from the “unseizable force”.

This is, perhaps, the best novel to get acquainted with the authoress and used to her style. Take your time to enjoy the beauty of language and share her contemplations. Such novels take a lot of concentration to read but Virginia is definitely worth the effort.