A New Breed of Writer

Virginia Woolf was once criticized for not being an excellent writer because her writing did not follow the style that had the previous generations, such as Jane Austen, had.  The argument against her had character as the defining aspect of a novel.  However, the technique with which character is brought about is merely different in the two generations.  The older generation focuses more on character development through the plot, whereas the newer generation (with writers such as Virginia Woolf or Katherine Mansfield) develops characters by slowly giving details.
    The style used by the older generation was very straightforward- the novel followed a linear and chronological progression, and characters were well defined.  In Emma, Jane Austen defines every character the first time they are met in the novel.  The very first sentence of the novel marks Emma Woodhouse as “handsome, clever, and rich”.  While this leaves some interpretation open to the reader, the following paragraphs provide even more details concerning Emma’s nature and character.  This leaves less to the imagination of the reader as the characters are extremely well defined.  As the novel progresses, some of these facts become muddied or changed.  However, these changes are brought about by plot development.  Furthermore, these changes are also defined by the author.  Jane Austen tells us directly when Emma has had a change of heart or re-examines her traits.  This style requires the story to be compelling, as opposed to merely the character development.
    The newer generation of writers, characterized by Virginia Woolf, follow a completely different method of defining characters.  Where the older novelists would define a character, this newer group leaves much open to the reader.  However, as the novel continues, they slowly add details, as well as conflict, to give the reader a complete view of the characters.  For instance, in Miss Brill, the only information Katherine Masfield gives to us about Miss Brill is that she is a woman who enjoys spending time in the park.  As the story continues, we are given insight into her thoughts which allow us to have a more coherent view of her.  One notable fact would be her age.  However, this is not revealed until the final few paragraphs of the story.  The story is still reliant on character development, it just does it by incrementally giving us details rather than through the plot.  A side effect of this is that the story does not necessarily follow a linear and chronological plot.  For instance, in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, we are first given the perspective of Mrs. Dalloway.  However, we are given some insight into how other characters view the world as well.  This gives us more perspective than from just the main character of the novel, vastly different from the writing style of Jane Austen.  However, it does also complicate the story somewhat by forcing the reader to maintain a good grasp on the current situation.
    The differences in the two styles are more than just mechanical.  While they have the same goals- show character develop and create an interesting or engaging story- they go about them in different ways.  The older style of writing focuses on the development of character through plot, whereas the newer generation focused on character development for character development.
Eric Carl