Although known for her later experiments with style and structure, Virginia Woolf set out in her early novels to master the traditional form. Her second novel, Night and Day, presents itself as a seemingly conventional marriage plot, complete with love triangles, broken engagements, and unrequited affections. Beneath these conventional trappings, however, the book's deeper concerns are resolutely subversive. The main characters-a quartet of friends and would-be lovers-come together, pull apart, and struggle to reconcile ...
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Although known for her later experiments with style and structure, Virginia Woolf set out in her early novels to master the traditional form. Her second novel, Night and Day, presents itself as a seemingly conventional marriage plot, complete with love triangles, broken engagements, and unrequited affections. Beneath these conventional trappings, however, the book's deeper concerns are resolutely subversive. The main characters-a quartet of friends and would-be lovers-come together, pull apart, and struggle to reconcile socially-prescribed norms of love and marriage with their own beliefs and ambitions.
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Add this copy of Night and Day to cart. $28.15, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2023 by Culturea.
I found Viriginia Woolf's second published novel(after the entertaining The Voyage Out) extremely tedious. None of the characters are particularly likeable, except for Mary, a suffragist who doesn't appear often enough. There is a modicum of humor-the current plot problems of Desperate Housewives comes to mind with "Yes, we're engaged, No we're not" complications that get old pretty quickly. Virginia Woolf wrote certifiable classics, but the general reader can skip this one and enjoy Mrs. Dalloway all the more.
