[Vwoolf] Woolf and Byatt

[Elisa Sparks]

Just finished A.S. Byatt's first novel, Shadow of the Sun, a sad rather dark book. Was thinking how interesting it would be to juxtapose it to Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out, also about the thwarting of a young girl's initiation into maturity. The next Byatt novel is The Game, about two sisters whose intersecting manipulations of fiction and reality ruin their lives...some similar themes to Woolf's sunnier second novel, Night and Day.  This produced the following intriguing little chart (of course I have every hope that Byatt produces another few novels, which will destroy this fearful symmetry.)  And yes, I do know exactly how much Byatt would detest this comparison. Nevertheless, would love to start a reader's group of some kind to plot through these pairings.  Was thinking at least a month per pair.  Anyone interested?  Can be long-distance.

I am currently contemplating another Woolf/O’Keeffe paper for next year’s conference, but it strikes me that this could turn into a panel.  Or perhaps a workshop.
Elisa


A.S. Byatt: Novels/ Virginia Woolf : Novels

1964    The Shadow of the Sun/ 1915     The Voyage Out
1967    The Game/ 1919     Night and Day
1978    The Virgin in the Garden/ 1922     Jacob’s Room
1985     Still Life/ 1925     Mrs. Dalloway
1990     Possession: A Romance/ 1927    To the Lighthouse
1997     Babel Tower/ 1928     Orlando
2000     The Biographer's Tale/  1933     Flush
2002    A Whistling Woman/ 1931     The Waves
2009    The Children's Book/  1937     The Years
2011    Ragnarok: The End of the Gods 1941   Between the Acts
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