Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Mariner Books (1970), Paperback, 228 pages
Description
"Virginia Woolf's extraordinary last novel, Between the Acts, was published in July 1941. In the weeks before she died in March that year, Woolf wrote that she planned to continue revising the book and that it was not ready for publication. Her husband prepared the work for publication after her death, and his revisions have become part of the text now widely read by students and scholars. Unlike most previous editions, the Cambridge edition returns to the final version of the novel as Woolf left it, examining the stages of composition and publication. Using the final typescript as a guide, this edition fully collates all variants and thus accounts for all the editorial decisions made by Leonard Woolf for the first published edition. With detailed explanatory notes, a chronology and an informative critical introduction, this volume will allow scholars to develop a fuller understanding of Woolf's last work"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member AlisonY
This, Woolf's last novel (published posthumously after her death), seemed much more complex than To the Lighthouse, with a lot more layers and perspectives to think about, but still it was an amazing reading experience.
The novel unfolds over a single day in June, just weeks before the outbreak of
There are so many themes at play that it's impossible to do them justice without reading the book. Most interestingly, the amateurish play - which gallops through key periods in English history - forces the villagers to look starkly at themselves as they are that day and asks what they represent - do they stand together as a community or are they more caught up in the business of idle gossip and ill will towards each other'? Most of the audience don't understand the play, or if they do indignantly choose to turn the spotlight away from themselves and back onto the failures of the play itself.
Intertwined in this are the different streams of consciousness of many interesting characters, heavily interspersed with references to other great works of literature, including Shakespeare, Keats and Wordsworth. They watch the play as one, but inside their minds are battling lonely, personal demons.
Having read the introductory notes after I finished the book, I don't for a minute think I'll ever be able to fully understand and appreciate the myriad of layers and influences Woolf weaved into her writing. But again, like with To the Lighthouse, she conveyed so sharply both the physical and psychological mood of that day it was like stepping into the garden and becoming part of the audience.
This is definitely not a plot-driven book, but the very rare talent of Virginia Woolf and her brilliant mind shines bright once again.
I'm dropping half a star as parts of the narrative of the play itself were a little dull, but still a sterling 4.5 stars for me.
The novel unfolds over a single day in June, just weeks before the outbreak of
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WWII. A local village pageant is taking place in the grounds of a country house, and the narrative of the play itself is interplayed with the narrative of the audience and the players themselves. There are so many themes at play that it's impossible to do them justice without reading the book. Most interestingly, the amateurish play - which gallops through key periods in English history - forces the villagers to look starkly at themselves as they are that day and asks what they represent - do they stand together as a community or are they more caught up in the business of idle gossip and ill will towards each other'? Most of the audience don't understand the play, or if they do indignantly choose to turn the spotlight away from themselves and back onto the failures of the play itself.
Intertwined in this are the different streams of consciousness of many interesting characters, heavily interspersed with references to other great works of literature, including Shakespeare, Keats and Wordsworth. They watch the play as one, but inside their minds are battling lonely, personal demons.
Having read the introductory notes after I finished the book, I don't for a minute think I'll ever be able to fully understand and appreciate the myriad of layers and influences Woolf weaved into her writing. But again, like with To the Lighthouse, she conveyed so sharply both the physical and psychological mood of that day it was like stepping into the garden and becoming part of the audience.
This is definitely not a plot-driven book, but the very rare talent of Virginia Woolf and her brilliant mind shines bright once again.
I'm dropping half a star as parts of the narrative of the play itself were a little dull, but still a sterling 4.5 stars for me.
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LibraryThing member japaul22
This was [[Virginia Woolf]]'s last book and was published posthumously, not fully revised by her. I found it had moments of brilliance but was pretty uneven.
It takes place on a summer day with the inhabitants of a small village putting on and watching a play. The interesting part is the
Anyway, the relationship between the husband and wife pair, Giles and Isa, is the most interesting. It's subtly told, but both are attracted to other people, at least superficially, but in the end they wind up as always, with only each other to talk to once the guests all leave.
This is good for [[Virginia Woolf]] completists, but otherwise I'd recommend her more well-known books as the place to start.
It takes place on a summer day with the inhabitants of a small village putting on and watching a play. The interesting part is the
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interactions that take place between the locals around the play. The play itself (almost all of it is described and scripted in the book) was really boring and I must have missed the point. It's sort of a retelling of English history and it seemed totally inane. The observers in the book seemed to think so too, so I wasn't alone, but Woolf must have put it in for a reason, right? Anyway, the relationship between the husband and wife pair, Giles and Isa, is the most interesting. It's subtly told, but both are attracted to other people, at least superficially, but in the end they wind up as always, with only each other to talk to once the guests all leave.
This is good for [[Virginia Woolf]] completists, but otherwise I'd recommend her more well-known books as the place to start.
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LibraryThing member flyingdutchman
The second novel I've read by Woolf. It's the last one she wrote before committing suicide and one of her shortest. Using a lot of modernist techniques it also illustrates Woolf's feeling for language. With a short and economic style she can create moments of beautiful literature in this novel. The
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point of Between the Acts is this use of language. Forget the plot, read and reread the lines. Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
Ambitious, but fragmented. Depending on your perception of this novel and its intentions, I'd feel safe saying that it's either far too short or far too long. For me, it was simply tiresome. While I see the intentions coming through, and find those interesting, in the end I just didn't see this
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coming close to living up to its potential. Show Less
LibraryThing member Chris_V
Virginia Woolf's last novel was published soon after her suicide and it's a book that I find elusive although I enjoy her peerless imaginative writing. I suspect if I re-read in a few years it might yield hidden treasures.
LibraryThing member dczapka
Edward Albee once famously asked, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", and while her most famous novels can certainly intimidate even the most hardened reader, Between the Acts can provoke fear with its stunning mediocrity. A novel that seems poised from the start to follow in the tradition of Mrs
The novel concerns an annual pageant in a small English country village in which the residents put on a play--the topic of which, this year, is the (condensed) history of England. The various townspeople, however, are the real story: each person has something hidden beneath the surface and, as the play struggles to fight the impending storm and complete itself before mother nature interferes, those true qualities begin to bubble up and distribute tension amongst the otherwise quiet masses.
The most fascinating characters in the novel are Giles and Isa Oliver, a married couple with children whose mutual disinterest in each other begins to boil over as the pageant wears on. Rather than give us intense insight into these two characters, however, Woolf gives their plight to us through the lens of the flirtatious Mrs. Manresa, whose shameless attempts to hit on Giles come off as more irritating than suggestive. It makes the reader wonder what Giles could possibly see in her, which derails us from the true nature of what's in Giles mind.
Equally compelling but unexplored is the fate of Miss La Trobe, who staged and wrote the pageant. We get the sense, based on her particularities and obsessive running of the play, that she has a great stake in its outcome, though the rest of the audience is either hypercritical or otherwise disinterested. It would be nice to know more about why she is so invested in the play, and what makes her the way she is, but with so many other people in the cast with issues to be explored, the truly fascinating like Miss La Trobe are left criminally underserved.
The problem ultimately is that, while Woolf has bravely attempted to expand her vision and cover a wide variety of people and backstories, the characters in Between the Acts lack the depth and interest to truly make her plan work. The result is a work that feels like it's missing something, that doesn't necessarily exude the kind of authority that Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse effortlessly do. The sense of Woolf trying too hard comes through far too much here, making this a book that is not nearly as memorable as her better-known works.
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Dalloway, it instead feels as if it is talking about not much--unless, which is entirely possible, I just missed it.The novel concerns an annual pageant in a small English country village in which the residents put on a play--the topic of which, this year, is the (condensed) history of England. The various townspeople, however, are the real story: each person has something hidden beneath the surface and, as the play struggles to fight the impending storm and complete itself before mother nature interferes, those true qualities begin to bubble up and distribute tension amongst the otherwise quiet masses.
The most fascinating characters in the novel are Giles and Isa Oliver, a married couple with children whose mutual disinterest in each other begins to boil over as the pageant wears on. Rather than give us intense insight into these two characters, however, Woolf gives their plight to us through the lens of the flirtatious Mrs. Manresa, whose shameless attempts to hit on Giles come off as more irritating than suggestive. It makes the reader wonder what Giles could possibly see in her, which derails us from the true nature of what's in Giles mind.
Equally compelling but unexplored is the fate of Miss La Trobe, who staged and wrote the pageant. We get the sense, based on her particularities and obsessive running of the play, that she has a great stake in its outcome, though the rest of the audience is either hypercritical or otherwise disinterested. It would be nice to know more about why she is so invested in the play, and what makes her the way she is, but with so many other people in the cast with issues to be explored, the truly fascinating like Miss La Trobe are left criminally underserved.
The problem ultimately is that, while Woolf has bravely attempted to expand her vision and cover a wide variety of people and backstories, the characters in Between the Acts lack the depth and interest to truly make her plan work. The result is a work that feels like it's missing something, that doesn't necessarily exude the kind of authority that Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse effortlessly do. The sense of Woolf trying too hard comes through far too much here, making this a book that is not nearly as memorable as her better-known works.
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LibraryThing member Stevil2001
This was probably my favorite Woolf novel (so far), a little bit ahead of The Waves. It depicts a day in the life of a country village performing a pageant, and its contained-yet-unconstrained quality is a fantastic match for Woolf's style. And for once, I know what's going on precisely, so I can
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just read for the characters without worry. Moreso than any other Woolf novel, this one feels rooted; unlike the disconnected Jacob's Room or To the Lighthouse, this is very much set in a specific place with a specific history, and those place and history matter. Between the Acts is very striking in how it depicts the present as a culmination of over a millennium of history-- yet, on the eve of World War II, a break with the future. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmckeown
I really like Virginia Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, and To the Lighthouse number among my favorite novels. Her letters and diaries also provide wonderful insights into this troubled but brilliant author. Michael Cunningham’s gripping novel, The Hours, weaves together Woolf’s writing of Mrs.
That was a long introduction to get to what I wanted to say -- I was somewhat disappointed in this story. I found the plot confusing, which only exacerbated the difficulty of keeping the characters straight. Some characters were referred to by name, but I had to guess who was whom when unnamed characters appeared.
The novel relates the events of a single day in the life of the Oliver family who host a village pageant at their country estate. Beneath the surface, the villagers suffer from sorrow, boredom, angst, and confusion about the pageant, which tells the story of a number of episodes from English history. The play reveals the inner conflicts and dissatisfactions they all share.
Woolf’s wonderful prose flowed over every page, but the interruptions to clear up confusions diluted my enjoyment. True, I did have a lot on my mind last week, so I will try this one again later. Also, this was her last novel before she walked into the River Ouse, so perhaps it needed much more work, she knew it, and was exhausted to the point of giving up. (3-1/2 Stars)
--Jim, 10/23/10
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Dalloway, and a housewife reading the novel in the 50s, and a 90s woman planning a party for a friend who has won a poetry prize. Between the Acts – along with Dalloway and Lighthouse -- also found their way into Edward Mendelson’s interesting work, The Things That Matter: What Seven Classic Novels Have to Say About the Stages of Life. (See my review elsewhere). So, I have a strong connection with Woolf. Acts is the only one of her novels I have never read.That was a long introduction to get to what I wanted to say -- I was somewhat disappointed in this story. I found the plot confusing, which only exacerbated the difficulty of keeping the characters straight. Some characters were referred to by name, but I had to guess who was whom when unnamed characters appeared.
The novel relates the events of a single day in the life of the Oliver family who host a village pageant at their country estate. Beneath the surface, the villagers suffer from sorrow, boredom, angst, and confusion about the pageant, which tells the story of a number of episodes from English history. The play reveals the inner conflicts and dissatisfactions they all share.
Woolf’s wonderful prose flowed over every page, but the interruptions to clear up confusions diluted my enjoyment. True, I did have a lot on my mind last week, so I will try this one again later. Also, this was her last novel before she walked into the River Ouse, so perhaps it needed much more work, she knew it, and was exhausted to the point of giving up. (3-1/2 Stars)
--Jim, 10/23/10
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LibraryThing member rampaginglibrarian
Read this for a literary theory class. Love it because it's Virginia, sense of Theatre, between world wars, Rusty Brown, must reread
LibraryThing member jentifer
Easily my favorite Virginia Woolf book, this short novel take place on a summer day during which a play is performed by neighborhood children. This is the last novel she wrote, and I think it's a lovely culmination and showcase of the various styles she pioneered. For the record, my second favorite
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Woolf is Orlando. Show Less
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
A thoughtful and complex examination of marriage and relationships as framed within a play. Woolf tackles the story of a day and again, it is effective at discussing the problems of the world, society, and self that plague us.
LibraryThing member amerynth
In the past, I've found that I enjoyed Virginia Woolf's more traditional stories, rather than her experimental (and considered much more brilliant) work. "Between the Acts" is about as traditional a story as you can get and frankly, I found it to be terribly boring.
The story is about a group of
While the book was published posthumously, a forward indicates that Woolfe wasn't likely to revise it much plotwise by that point in its publication process. It seems like this one really missed the mark.
The story is about a group of
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people who put together an annual play and it kind of mashes their stories together.While the book was published posthumously, a forward indicates that Woolfe wasn't likely to revise it much plotwise by that point in its publication process. It seems like this one really missed the mark.
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LibraryThing member bookomaniac
It is always ungrateful to judge an unfinished novel: did what was found in Woolf's estate comply with what she herself intended it to be? What changes would she have made? These are questions that cannot be answered properly. Most experts emphasize that this manuscript was almost complete, so who
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am I to pass judgment on that? Anyway, I noticed striking similarities with her other works: the same thoughtful character sketches, the apparently smooth flow of interactions between the characters that reveal a wealth of telling details, and the way time both seems to stand still in the story and at the same time storming ahead at full speed. Especially in the opening scenes the style is very accurate and copious, with especially abundant descriptions of nature. And then the summer event begins: the annual evocations of fragments from English history, somewhere in the English countryside, in a mixed company of wealthy bourgeoisie, vulgar peasants and subordinate domestic servants, … how more English could this be? The short acts of the play, in the style of the historical periods involved, are full of references and keys to the relationships and backgrounds of the people in the audience. And the entractes (to which the title of the novel refers) deepen this dynamic and always take it a step further. In the background the coming war is manifest, because we are June 1939. Yet, to me, this is certainly not Woolf's most successful novel. I especially struggled with the stage scenes and their often archaic style. But – finished or not – this book is yet another testimony to Woolf's deep introspection into the richness and capriciousness of life. Show Less
LibraryThing member Ghost_Boy
This turned out a lot better then I thought it was gonna be. This is her last and unfinished novel, so I wasn't expecting much. In fact, I was expecting this to be depressing and have a reference about killing herself, but it was surprisingly upbeat and funny.
Unlike her previous book The Years,
With this novel too, you can tell Virginia Woolf had bipolar. Her previous novel was so off from this one and before that, flush was similar to this one. None of her books are the same and they all have different moods if you try to read them in the order she wrote them.
I have read all but one of her novels (because I can't find the edition I want), so as of now I'm finished with her novels. I still need to read her essays and diaries. Love the fact this woman wrote just abut anything and not for money either, because she love to write. One of the many reasons she my idol.
Unlike her previous book The Years,
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this one can be read in one day. It's fast and I think it's meant to be read like a play. This is a play within a novel type of deal, so it's a frame story I guess. It's much like her other works where she mixes genres.With this novel too, you can tell Virginia Woolf had bipolar. Her previous novel was so off from this one and before that, flush was similar to this one. None of her books are the same and they all have different moods if you try to read them in the order she wrote them.
I have read all but one of her novels (because I can't find the edition I want), so as of now I'm finished with her novels. I still need to read her essays and diaries. Love the fact this woman wrote just abut anything and not for money either, because she love to write. One of the many reasons she my idol.
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LibraryThing member kristykay22
“But she had nothing. She had forbidden music. Grating her fingers in the bark, she damned the audience. Panic seized her. Blood seemed to pour from her shoes. This is death, death, death, she noted in the margin of her mind; when illusion fails. Unable to lift her hand, she stood facing the
And then the shower fell, sudden, profuse.
No one had seen the cloud coming. There it was, black, swollen, on top of them. Down it poured like all the people in the world weeping. Tears. Tears. Tears.”
This was Virginia Woolf's last book -- finished but not completely edited before she ended her life in March 1941, and published by her husband shortly after her death. She gives us the story of a family living on a country estate in England and hosting the annual local pageant -- a play put on by the people in the community to raise money for the church. The household consists of the elderly Bartholomew Oliver and his sister Lucy Swithin, Mr. Oliver's son, Giles, and Giles' wife Isa and their young son. Before the pageant, two unexpected guests turn up for lunch -- the flirtatious and unconventional Mrs. Mansresa and her friend, an artist, William Dodge. Mrs. Manresa flirts with Giles and Isa gets jealous, but also can't get the thought of a local gentleman farmer out of her head.
In true VW fashion, we move in and out of all the character's heads through the course of the book. We also break from the action of the book to watch the play with the rest of the audience, stopping for a tea break and a brief rain storm. We get a healthy dose of social criticism, particularly in the interplay between the locals watching the play, and no one examines the human drama of aging and the patina our histories leave on our present day better than Virginia Woolf. Written as England entered the war, this is sometimes a dark novel, and often very melancholy, but it it is dark and melancholy in the way of real families, relationships, and personalities. I really liked it.
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audience.And then the shower fell, sudden, profuse.
No one had seen the cloud coming. There it was, black, swollen, on top of them. Down it poured like all the people in the world weeping. Tears. Tears. Tears.”
This was Virginia Woolf's last book -- finished but not completely edited before she ended her life in March 1941, and published by her husband shortly after her death. She gives us the story of a family living on a country estate in England and hosting the annual local pageant -- a play put on by the people in the community to raise money for the church. The household consists of the elderly Bartholomew Oliver and his sister Lucy Swithin, Mr. Oliver's son, Giles, and Giles' wife Isa and their young son. Before the pageant, two unexpected guests turn up for lunch -- the flirtatious and unconventional Mrs. Mansresa and her friend, an artist, William Dodge. Mrs. Manresa flirts with Giles and Isa gets jealous, but also can't get the thought of a local gentleman farmer out of her head.
In true VW fashion, we move in and out of all the character's heads through the course of the book. We also break from the action of the book to watch the play with the rest of the audience, stopping for a tea break and a brief rain storm. We get a healthy dose of social criticism, particularly in the interplay between the locals watching the play, and no one examines the human drama of aging and the patina our histories leave on our present day better than Virginia Woolf. Written as England entered the war, this is sometimes a dark novel, and often very melancholy, but it it is dark and melancholy in the way of real families, relationships, and personalities. I really liked it.
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LibraryThing member DanielSTJ
This was not Woolf at her best.
LibraryThing member pgchuis
This is the only Virginia Woolf novel I have read, so I have no idea if it is representative of her work. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it, which is usually a good sign, but I also found it very put-downable. Isa drove me mad with her inability to think or speak other than
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using quotations, but I loved very much the 'Where there's a Will, there's a Way' performance, with its omitted scene in which the entire plot happens. Not much in the way of plot in the novel as a whole, and I am left wondering what the point of this story was, but no doubt the course I am studying will reveal this. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1941
Physical description
228 p.; 5.31 inches
ISBN
015611870X / 9780156118705
Local notes
fiction