Abstract
We know the terms in which Virginia Woolf dismissed Edwardian writers for relying exclusively on materialism. However, another take on Arnold Bennett’s specific approach to objects and interior spaces is made possible by a reappraisal of his naturalistic method. This type of Edwardian fiction reveals a political agenda buoyed up by an empirical narrative praxis. Drawing on Bennett’s The Old Wives’ Tale (1908), we show that Edwardian literary interiors turn into literary tools from which considering oneself, the others and the world out there, differently. Interiors in this novel should be read in spatial, physical, and narrative terms, since Bennett invents new modes of dwelling in order to endow his characters with new ways of narrating themselves. The Baines sisters literally and literarily are the place they inhabit, to the point of being unaware of any distinction between inside and outside. The main narrative strategy of the book is inflected by a centripetal movement that makes us move down and within various forms of interior places and narratives, in which interiority leads to unexpected intimate moments. Seeing, understanding and taming interior places so as to assert oneself narratively and intimately: such is the gist of Bennett’s democratic literary proposition. This is how his naturalism based on an empirical art of the narrative and a surprising use of interior monologue gestures towards a democratic opening of literature in which doorframes, windows and thresholds help us reconsider the aesthetic and political meanings of interiority.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: Victorian and Edwardian Interiors (Colloque SFEVE Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 27 et 28 janvier 2022) ; Failles (60e congrès de la SAES Université Clermont-Auvergne, 2-4 juin 2022)
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.