(1919) was Virginia Woolf's second novel and as it is one of Woolf's more conventional in terms of structure it has often been overlooked by critics and readers in favour of her more experimental works. It is important, however, for its treatment of women and modernity, in the city, in politics and in the workplace. It is a novel about social transition. The characters in the final scene find themselves with only “fragments of belief, unsoldered and separate, lacking the unity of phrases fashioned by the old believers.” Set before the first World War, but written during and after the war, Woolf hints at the sense of chaos and relativism which the war will bring about. Katherine Mansfield, in a rather scathing review of the novel, could not believe that Woolf could have…
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Citation: Snaith, Anna. "Night and Day". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3287, accessed 26 November 2024.]
