"Not a Matter of Any Importance": The Parentheses of Virginia Woolf
Abstract
Abstract: Virginia Woolf uses parentheses more than any other canonical English novelist. Rather than a writerly tick, Woolf's parentheses address two fundamental preoccupations. With their dual connotation of simultaneity and marginality, they convey how inner and outer reality interfuse in the mind, offering a less cerebral depiction of consciousness than critics sometimes acknowledge. Woolf also exploits the device's graphic association with the hidden to explore the limits—and desirability—of interpersonal intimacy. In highlighting the importance of these purely visual punctuation marks, the essay adds a new element to Woolf's modernity as someone writing to be read on the printed page.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Modernist Literature and Criticism
Autobiographical and Biographical Writing
Literature: history
themes
analysis
Publication details
- Journal / source
- ELH
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Volume
- 93
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 213–239
- Publication date
- 1 March 2026
- Language
- EN