Jacob's Room: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

ISBN: 039392632X

Author: Woolf, Virginia

Condition: New

Jacobs Room is Virginia Woolfs experimental third novel, set in England during the halcyon days before World War I. The text reprinted here is the first British edition, which Woolf approved, and which retains her original layout, including paragraph spacing. A generous Contexts section provides extracts from Woolfs diaries and letters as well as comments on the novel from her fellow writers and friends, among them E. M. Forster and T. S. Eliot. Also included are the short stories The Mark on the Wall, Kew Gardens, and An Unwritten Novel, which Woolf viewed as early experiments with the innovative method used in Jacobs Room. An additional short story, A Womans College from Outside, which Woolf originally intended to be Chapter 10 of Jacobs Room, is also included. Finally, Woolfs classic essay Modern Novels, written shortly before she began work on Jacobs Room, provides insight into her aesthetic and technique.Criticism is divided into two sections: Contemporary Reception and Reviews contains personal responses to the novel, from Lytton Strachey and E. M. Forster, as well as eleven reviews from contemporary periodicals. Critical Essays offers insightful interpretations by Judy Little, Alex Zwerdling, Kate Flint, Kathleen Wall, and Edward L. Bishop.A Selected Bibliography is also included.