Between the Acts (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Woolf, Virginia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141184523 ISBN 13: 9780141184524

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2000

Synopsis

Virginia Woolf's last novel, in equal parts a triumphant celebration and witty mockery of 'Englishness', Between the Acts is edited by Stella McNichol, with an introduction and notes by Gillian Beer in Penguin Modern Classics.

Outwardly a novel about life in a country house in whose grounds there is to be a pageant, Between the Acts is also a striking evocation of English experience in the months leading up to the Second World War. Through dialogue, humour and the passionate musings of the characters, Virginia Woolf explores how a community is formed (and scattered) over time. The tableau, a series of scenes from English history, and the private dramas that go on between the acts are closely interlinked. Through the figure of Miss La Trobe, author of the pageant, Virginia Woolf questions imperialist assumptions and, at the same time, re-creates the elusive role of the artist.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is regarded as a major 20th century author and essayist, a key figure in literary history as a feminist and modernist, and the centre of 'The Bloomsbury Group'. This informal collective of artists and writers which included Lytton Strachey and Roger Fry, exerted a powerful influence over early twentieth-century British culture. Between 1925 and 1931 Virginia Woolf produced what are now regarded as her finest masterpieces, from Mrs Dalloway (1925) to the poetic and highly experimental novel The Waves (1931). She also maintained an astonishing output of literary criticism, short fiction, journalism and biography, including the playfully subversive Orlando (1928) and A Room of One's Own (1929) a passionate feminist essay.

If you enjoyed Between the Acts, you might like Woolf's The Waves, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

'A powerful and prophetic statement'
Richard Shone, The Times

About this title

Product Description:

Paperback. Pub Date :2003-12-01 Pages: 192 Language: English Publisher: Penguin Books Virginia Woolfs last novel. in equal parts a triumphant celebration and witty mockery of Englishness. Between the Acts is edited by Stella McNichol. with an introduction and notes by Gillian Beer in Penguin Modern Classics. Outwardly a novel about life in a country house in whose grounds there is to be a pageant. Between the Acts is also a striking evocation of English experience in the months leading up to the Second World War. Through dialogue. humour and the passionate musings of the characters. Virginia Woolf explores how a community is formed (and scattered) over time. The tableau. a series of scenes from English history. and the private dramas that go on between the acts are closely interlinked. Through the figure of Miss La Trobe. author of the pageant. Virginia Woolf questions imper...

Review:

Review of the series: 'The new collection [The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf] will prove itself indispensable to serious Woolfians.' The Times Literary Supplement

'This edition of what critics call Woolf's last novel will be the definitive one for years to come.' Pamela L. Caughie, Woolf Studies Annual

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0141184523
• ISBN 13: 9780141184524
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: McNichol Stella, Beer Gillian