Virginia Woolf ’s Mythic Method by Amy C. Smith (review)

Virginia Woolf ’s Mythic Method offers insight about Woolf ’s characters, specifically in conjunction with other mystical figures, such as Greek gods and goddesses. Author Amy C. Smith focuses on three of Woolf ’s texts—Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and Between The Acts— in order to uncover mythical components in their narrative structures, particularly through character development. Smith provides crucial scholarship through the lens of Modernism, as well as myth, in order to build a bridge between them, which creates a new temporal and spatial possibility within literary conversation. By bridging these aspects, scholars can have richer and more meaningful discussions about Woolf and other Modernist writers, especially T.S. Eliot. These discussions also include intertextual elements, along with references to writers that she influenced or inspired. Smith argues that Woolf combines themes of feminism with her knowledge and creation of myth when forming characters, and this is one reason why it is crucial to analyze her mythic method. This fascinating analysis explores the elements of intersectionality between gender, Modernism, long-standing myths, and ritualistic storytelling.

The introduction, “A Paratactic Method,” identifies the gap in research that this multilayered, nuanced text fills, contending that it “combine[s] the long, though recently neglected, scholarly discussion about myth in Woolf ’s fiction with more recent conversations regarding Woolf ’s treatment of social and political issues; the influence of Jane Harrison’s scholarship and Woolf ’s reading in Greek on her intellectual and political issues; and Woolf ’s preference of indeterminacy in narrative structures” (2). Although literary scholars have often appreciated Woolf as a feminist writer, less recognition has been given to Jane Harrison, who was a profound influence on Woolf and studied Ancient Greek mythology. Further, Smith adds that considering Woolf ’s mythic methods can help us better understand and contextualize the Modernist movement, since myth functions as a consistent literary influence.

This book, split into an introduction and five chapters, would benefit from a concluding section where Smith could comment on opportunities for future scholarship. Although the text provides important contributions to research about Woolf, it needs a conclusion, as it ends abruptly in a chapter about Between The Acts. Despite its rich level of research, it lacks concluding thoughts that could ignite conversation. How might Smith’s ideas of parataxis and Greek mythology be applied to other Woolf novels or short stories? In the last paragraph, Smith refers back to her introduction: “[T]he mythic material that Woolf draws on—archaic, pre-Olympian myth—is inherently paratactic in both content and aesthetic. Dionysus, Persephone, Artemis, and the Sirens, the mythic figures that feature prominently in her novels, all embody simultaneously irreconcilable qualities” (135). Here, the text highlights the paratactic mythic method that characterizes Woolf ’s work, which remains part of Smith’s overarching thesis and helps reveal Woolf ’s writing style. I consider the section about parataxis to be the most compelling, illuminating, powerful and unique. Although this is in the introduction, Smith carries ideas about parataxis and the paratactic mythical method throughout, applying it to characters such as Peter Walsh, Clarissa Dalloway, Lily Briscoe, and Septimus Warren Smith.

Smith offers new ways of looking at Woolf ’s work. Although subjects of myth and Modernism are often polarized, she blends them and creates a new space for scholarship and discussion. Modernist scholars, as well as scholars of Greek mythology and Modernism, will all benefit from reading this book. Although Smith does not include a conclusion, or even an ending section, she wraps up her ideas in the final few paragraphs. She writes about Woolf ’s fragmented fictional writing, comparing it to the Greek tragedy and its manner of conclusion and tying up loose ends. Smith then states, “These seemingly random fragments, spliced up and reconstructed, form a new kaleidoscopic pattern that frustrates and disrupts logical consistency, exemplifying Woolf ’s paratactic method more intensely than nearly any of its other manifestations that we have examined” (134). Fragmented details and thoughts are critical when considering Modernist literature, which...