Critical Review: Developing an Ear for the Modernist Novel

Developing an Ear for the Modernist Novel:

Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson and James Joyce

Angela Frattarola

Angela Frattarola’s article discusses the attention given to sound in modernist author’s works. Frattarola’s purpose is to prove this newfound focus on sound is a way of evolving past the typical focus, which had been placed on sight in the Victorian period. She focuses on the works of Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Richardson, and James Joyce. Sound became increasingly more prevalent in literature as inventions such as the phone and radio became staple items in the household. Woolf’s attention to the squeak of hinges and the bursting open of windows is compared to Dicken’s lack of sound in Great Expectations. Woolf includes the sound of Big Ben’s chime as Mrs. Dalloway walks through London. Joyce, Richardson, and Woolf chose to put to paper the sounds of war which was at least one thing that almost all Europeans had in-common. While there was much emphasis on sound, Woolf is noted to keep a healthy balance between the “eye and the ear” (138). Woolf’s works included auditory detail more and more. Richardson’s works are studied, as she was skilled in including sight and sound. Her work was described as “distinctly visual and cinematographic” (141). Even her silent films were not silent, there was music included. Frattarola expresses an interesting view on Joyce’s motivations for writing so much about the inner-self; he had very poor eyesight. Each sense is introduced throughout Ulysses. This article argues that modernist artist’s focus on stream of consciousness was vital in the movement from traditional, Victorian, focus on visual, to the inclusion and adoration of sound in their works.