Mrs.

Dalloway Summary
Part I, Section One:

Clarissa Dalloway decided to buy the flowers for her party that

evening. Lucy had too much other work. Clarissa thought of the hush that
fell over Westminster right before the ring of Big Ben. It was June and World
War I was over. She loved life. Hugh Whitbread walked toward her and
assured her that he would attend the party. Clarissa thought of her boyfriend
before she married, Peter. She could not stop memories from rushing over
her. She knew she had been correct not to marry Peter. Peter would not have
given her any independence, but still her refusal bothered her. Clarissa
realized her baseness, always wanting to do things that would make people
like her instead of doing them for their own value.
Bond Street fascinated her. The same things did not fascinate her daughter,
Elizabeth. Elizabeth was fascinated with callous Miss Kilman. Clarissa
hated Miss Kilman. She entered Mulberry's florist and was greeted by Miss
Pym. Miss Pym noticed that Clarissa looked older. Suddenly, a pistol-like
noise came from the street.
Part I, Section Two:

The loud noise had come from a motorcar, likely carrying someone very
important. The street came to a stop and Septimus Warren Smith could
not get by. Septimus anticipated horror. His wife, Lucrezia, hurried him. She
knew others noticed his strangeness. The car was delayed. Clarissa felt
touched by magic. A crowd formed at Buckingham's gates. An airplane took
to the sky, making letters out of smoke. The plane's trail mystified its
observers.
In Regent's Park, Septimus believed the letters were signaling to him. Rezia
hated when he stared into nothingness. She walked to the fountain to
distract herself and felt alone. The doctor said nothing was wrong with him.
When Rezia returned, he jumped up. Maisie Johnson, a girl from
Edinburgh, asked the couple directions to the subway. Maisie was horrified
by the look in the Septimus' eyes. Mrs. Carrie Dempster noticed Maisie
and thought of her younger days. Carrie would do things differently if she
had the chance. Flying over many other English folk, the plane's message
writing continued aimlessly.
Part I, Section Three:

Clarissa wondered at what everyone was looking. She felt as a nun returning
to her habit. Richard had been invited to lunch with Lady Bruton. Clarissa
felt snubbed. She withdrew upstairs to the virginal attic room that she had
occupied since her illness. She thought back to her old best friend, Sally
Seton. She had known what men feel toward women with Sally. Sally taught
Clarissa about all the things from which she was shielded at Bourton, her
home before marriage.
Clarissa took her dress downstairs to mend. Abruptly, her door opened
and Peter Walsh entered. Peter noticed that she looked older. Clarissa
asked him if he remembered Bourton. It pained him to remember because it
reminded him of Clarissa's refusal. He felt that Clarissa had changed since
marrying Richard. Peter mentioned that he was in love with a girl in India. He
had come to London to see about her divorce. Peter suddenly wept. Clarissa
comforted him. She wished he would take her with him. The next moment,
her passions subsided. He abruptly asked if she was happy with Richard.
Suddenly, Elizabeth entered. Peter greeted her, said good-bye to Clarissa,
and rushed out the door.
Part I, Section Four:

Peter had never enjoyed Clarissa's parties. He did not blame her, though.
She had grown hard. He thought the way she had introduced Elizabeth was
insincere. He had been overly emotional when he had visited Clarissa. Peter
associated St. Margaret's bells with Clarissa as the hostess. He had never
liked people like the Dalloways and Whitbreads. Boys in uniform marched by
Peter. He followed them for a while. He had not felt so young in years. A
young woman passed who enchanted Peter. He followed her until she
disappeared

He was early for his appointment. He sat in Regent's Park and felt pride in
the civility of London. Thoughts of his past continued to combat him, a result
of seeing Clarissa. He settled next to a nurse and sleeping baby. Peter
thought that Elizabeth probably did not get along with her mother. Smoking
a cigar, he fell into a deep sleep.

Part I, Section Five:

Peter dreamed. The nurse beside Peter appeared spectral, like the solitary
traveler. Suddenly Peter awoke, exclaiming, "The death of the soul." He had
dreamt of a time when he loved Clarissa. One day they had gotten in a fight
and Clarissa went outside, alone. As the day went on, Peter grew
increasingly gloomy. When he arrived for dinner, Clarissa was speaking to a
young man, Richard Dalloway. Peter knew Richard would marry Clarissa.
After dinner, Clarissa tried to introduce Peter to Richard. Peter retorted
insultingly that Clarissa was the perfect hostess. Later, the young people
decided to go boating. Clarissa ran to find Peter. He was suddenly happy.
Yet, Peter still felt that Dalloway and Clarissa were falling in love. Following
that night, Peter asked ridiculous things of Clarissa. Finally, she could take it
no longer and ended their relationship.

Part II, Section One:

Rezia wondered why she should suffer. When Septimus saw that Rezia no
longer wore her wedding band, he knew that their marriage was over. She
tried to explain that her finger had grown too thin, but he did not care. His
nerves were stretched thin. Still, he believed that beauty was everywhere.
Rezia told him that it was time to go. Septimus imagined Evans approaching.
Rezia told Septimus she was unhappy.

Peter Walsh thought of how Sally Seton had unexpectedly married a rich
man. Of all of Clarissa's old friends, he had always liked Sally best. Clarissa,
though, knew what she wanted. When she walked into a room, one
remembered her. Peter struggled to remind himself that he was no longer in
love with her. Even Clarissa would admit that she cared too much for societal
rank. Still, she was one of the largest skeptics Peter knew. Clarissa had so
affected him that morning because she might have spared him from his
relationship problems over the years.

A tattered woman's incomprehensible song rose from the subway station.

Seeing the woman made Rezia feel that everything was going to be okay.
She turned to Septimus, thinking how he did not look insane. When Septimus
was young, he had fallen in love with a woman who lent him books on
Shakespeare. He became a poet. Septimus was one of the first volunteers for
the army in World War I. He went to protect Shakespeare. He became friends
with his officer, Evans, who died just before the war ended. Septimus was
glad that he felt no grief, until he realized that he had lost the ability to feel.
In a panic, he married. Lucrezia adored his studiousness and quiet. Septimus
read Shakespeare again but could not change his mind that humanity was
despicable. After five years, Lucrezia wanted a child. Septimus could not
fathom it. He wondered if he would go mad.

Dr. Holmes could not help. Septimus knew nothing was physically wrong,
but he figured, his crimes were still great. The third time Holmes came,
Septimus tried to refuse him. He hated him. Rezia could not understand and
Septimus felt deserted. He heard the world telling him to kill himself. Upon
seeing Holmes, Septimus screamed in horror. The doctor, annoyed, advised
that they see Dr. Bradshaw. They had an appointment that afternoon.
Part II, Section Two:

At noon, Clarissa finished her sewing and the Warren Smiths neared Sir
William Bradshaw. Bradshaw knew immediately that Septimus had
suffered from a mental breakdown. Bradshaw reassured Mrs. Smith that
Septimus needed a long rest in the country to regain a sense of proportion.
Septimus equated Bradshaw with Holmes and with the evil of human nature.
Rezia felt deserted. The narrator describes another side to proportion,
conversion. One wondered if Bradshaw did not like to impose his will on
others weaker than he. The Smiths passed near Hugh Whitbread.
Though superficial, Hugh had been an honorable member of high society for
years. Lady Bruton preferred Richard Dalloway to Hugh. She had invited both
to lunch to ask for their services. The luncheon was elaborate. Richard had a
great respect for Lady Bruton. Lady Bruton cared more for politics than
people. Suddenly, Lady Bruton mentioned Peter Walsh. Richard thought that
he should tell Clarissa he loved her. Lady Bruton then mentioned the topic of
emigration to Canada. She wanted Richard to advise her and Hugh to write
to the London Times for her.

As Richard stood to leave, he asked if he would see Lady Bruton at Clarissa's

party. Possibly, she retorted. Lady Bruton did not like parties. Richard and
Hugh stood at a street corner. Finally, they entered a shop. Richard bought
Clarissa roses and rushed home to profess his love.

Part II, Section Three:

Clarissa was very annoyed, but invited her boring cousin Ellie to the party
out of courtesy. Richard walked in with flowers. He said nothing, but she
understood. Clarissa mentioned Peter's visit, and how bizarre it was that she
had almost married him. Richard held her hand and then hurried off to a
committee meeting. Clarissa felt uneasy because of the negative reactions
both Peter and Richard had toward her parties. Yet, parties were her offering
to the world, her gift.

Elizabeth entered. She and Miss Kilman were going to the Army and Navy
surplus stores. Miss Kilman despised Clarissa. Whenever Miss Kilman was
filled with sinister thoughts, she thought of God to relieve them. Clarissa
despised Miss Kilman as well. She felt that the woman was stealing her
daughter. As they left, Clarissa yelled after Elizabeth to remember her party.

Clarissa pondered love and religion. She noticed the old woman whom she
could view in the house adjacent. It seemed to Clarissa that the ringing of
the bell forced the lady to move away from her window. All was connected.

Miss Kilman lived to eat food and love Elizabeth. After shopping, Miss Kilman
declared that they must have tea. Elizabeth thought of how peculiar Miss
Kilman was. Miss Kilman detained her by talking, feeling sorry for herself.
She drove a small wedge between them. Elizabeth paid her bill and left.

Part II, Section Four:

Miss Kilman sat alone, despondent, before heading to a sanctuary of religion.

In an Abbey, she knelt in prayer. Elizabeth enjoyed being outdoors alone and
decided to take a bus ride. Her life was changing. She felt that the attention
men gave her was silly. She wondered if Miss Kilman's ideas about the poor
were correct. She paid another penny so that she could continue riding.
Elizabeth thought she might be a doctor or a farmer.
Septimus looked out the window and smiled. Sometimes, he would demand
that Rezia record his thoughts. Lately, he would cry out about truth and
Evans. He spoke of Holmes as the evil of human nature. This day, Rezia sat
sewing a hat and Septimus held a normal conversation with her, making her
happy. They joked and Septimus designed the pattern to decorate the hat.
Rezia happily sewed it on.

Septimus slowly slipped from reality. Rezia asked if he liked the hat, but he
just stared. He remembered that Bradshaw had said that he would need to
separate himself. He wanted his writings burned but Rezia promised to keep
them from the doctors. She promised no one would separate her from him
either. Dr. Holmes arrived. Rezia ran to stop him from seeing Septimus.
Holmes pushed by her. Septimus needed to escape. After weighing his
options, he threw himself onto the fence below.

Part II, Section Five:

Peter appreciated the ambulance that sped past him as a sign of civility. His
tendency to become emotionally attached to women had always been a flaw.
He remembered when he and Clarissa rode atop a bus, and she spoke of a
theory. Wherever she had been, a piece of her stayed behind. She
diminished the finality of death this way. For Peter, a piece of Clarissa stayed
with him always, like it or not. At his hotel, Peter received a letter from
Clarissa. She wrote that she had loved seeing him. He wished she would just
leave him alone. He would always feel bitterly that Clarissa had refused him.
He thought of Daisy, the young woman in India. He cared little about what
others thought.

Peter decided that he would attend Clarissa's party, in order to speak with
Richard. Finally, he left the hotel. The symmetry of London struck him as
beautiful. Reaching Clarissa's, Peter breathed deeply to prepare himself for
the challenge. Instinctively, his hand opened the knife blade in his pocket.

Part II, Section Six:

Guests were already arriving and Clarissa greeted each one. Peter felt that
Clarissa was insincere. Clarissa felt superficial when Peter looked on. Ellie
Henderson, Clarissa's poor cousin, stood in the corner. Richard was kind
enough to say hello. Suddenly, Lady Rosseter was announced. It was Sally
Seton. Clarissa was overjoyed to see her. The Prime Minister was
announced and Clarissa had to attend to him. He was an ordinary looking
man. Peter thought the English were snobs. Lady Bruton met privately with
the Prime Minister. Clarissa retained a hollow feeling. Parties were somewhat
less fulfilling recently. A reminder of Miss Kilman filled her with hatred.
Clarissa had so many to greet. Clarissa brought Peter over to her old aunt
and promised they would speak later. Clarissa wished she had time to stop
and talk to Sally and Peter. Clarissa saw them as the link to her past. Then,
the Bradshaws entered. Lady Bradshaw told Clarissa about a young man
who had killed himself. Distraught, Clarissa wandered into a little, empty
room. She could feel the man, who had been Septimus, fall. She wondered if
the man had been happy. Clarissa realized why she despised Sir Bradshaw;
he made life intolerable. Clarissa noticed the old woman in the next house.
She watched the old woman prepare for bed. Clarissa was glad that
Septimus had thrown his life away. She returned to the party.
Peter wondered where Clarissa had gone. Sally had changed, Peter thought.
Peter had not, Sally thought. They noticed that Elizabeth seemed so unlike
Clarissa. Sally mentioned that Clarissa lacked something. Peter admitted that
his relationship with Clarissa had scarred his life.

Richard was amazed how grown up Elizabeth looked. Almost everyone had
left the party. Sally rose to speak with Richard. Peter was suddenly overcome
with elation. Clarissa had finally come.

To the Lighthouse Study Guide

To the Lighthouse (1927) is widely considered one of the most important
works of the twentieth century. With this ambitious novel, Woolf established
herself as one of the leading writers of modernism. The novel develops
innovative literary techniques to reveal women's experience and to provide
an alternative to male-dominated views of reality. On the surface, the novel
tells the story of the Ramsay family and the guests who come to stay with
them at their vacation home on the Hebrides Islands in Scotland. At its heart,
however, the novel is a meditation on time and how humans reckon with its
relentless passage.
The novel was written and published during one of the most dense and
impressive periods of development in English literary history. The modernist
period gave rise to many groundbreaking and enduring masterworks, such
as T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury,
and James Joyce's Ulysses. This was also a period of rapid intellectual achievement, and
Woolf's emphasis on consciousness and a character's inner lives is consistent with the scientific
and psychological ideas posited at the time. As Sigmund Freud explored theories of
consciousness and subconsciousness, Virgina Woolf wrote a novel that focuses not on the events
of the external world but on the richness and complexity of mental interiority.
Thus, to convey this sense of human consciousness, Woolf's narrative departs from the
traditional plot-driven structure as it is often expressed by an objective, third-party narrative.
Instead she incorporates highly innovative literary devices to capture the thought process, using
in particular stream of consciousness and free indirect discourse. Given that the novel is defined
by subjectivity, it focuses on the subjectivity of reality, experience, and time. The novel also
represents the inverweaving of various perspectives and individual trains of thought that, strung
together, constitute a cohesive whole
Note: To the Lighthouse is divided into three sections: “The Window,” “Time Passes,” and “The
Lighthouse.” Each section is fragmented into stream-of-consciousness contributions from various
narrators.

“The Window” opens just before the start of World War I. Mr. Ramsay and Mrs. Ramsay bring their eight
children to their summer home in the Hebrides (a group of islands west of Scotland). Across the bay from
their house stands a large lighthouse. Six-year-old James Ramsay wants desperately to go to the
lighthouse, and Mrs. Ramsay tells him that they will go the next day if the weather permits. James reacts
gleefully, but Mr. Ramsay tells him coldly that the weather looks to be foul. James resents his father and
believes that he enjoys being cruel to James and his siblings.

The Ramsays host a number of guests, including the dour Charles Tansley, who admires Mr. Ramsay’s
work as a metaphysical philosopher. Also at the house is Lily Briscoe, a young painter who begins a
portrait of Mrs. Ramsay. Mrs. Ramsay wants Lily to marry William Bankes, an old friend of the
Ramsays, but Lily resolves to remain single. Mrs. Ramsay does manage to arrange another marriage,
however, between Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle, two of their acquaintances.

During the course of the afternoon, Paul proposes to Minta, Lily begins her painting, Mrs. Ramsay
soothes the resentful James, and Mr. Ramsay frets over his shortcomings as a philosopher, periodically
turning to Mrs. Ramsay for comfort. That evening, the Ramsays host a seemingly ill-fated dinner party.
Paul and Minta are late returning from their walk on the beach with two of the Ramsays’ children. Lily
bristles at outspoken comments made by Charles Tansley, who suggests that women can neither paint nor
write. Mr. Ramsay reacts rudely when Augustus Carmichael, a poet, asks for a second plate of soup. As
the night draws on, however, these missteps right themselves, and the guests come together to make a
memorable evening.

The joy, however, like the party itself, cannot last, and as Mrs. Ramsay leaves her guests in the dining
room, she reflects that the event has already slipped into the past. Later, she joins her husband in the
parlor. The couple sits quietly together, until Mr. Ramsay’s characteristic insecurities interrupt their
peace. He wants his wife to tell him that she loves him. Mrs. Ramsay is not one to make such
pronouncements, but she concedes to his point made earlier in the day that the weather will be too rough
for a trip to the lighthouse the next day. Mr. Ramsay thus knows that Mrs. Ramsay loves him. Night falls,
and one night quickly becomes another.

Time passes more quickly as the novel enters the “Time Passes” segment. War breaks out across Europe.
Mrs. Ramsay dies suddenly one night. Andrew Ramsay, her oldest son, is killed in battle, and his sister
Prue dies from an illness related to childbirth. The family no longer vacations at its summerhouse, which
falls into a state of disrepair: weeds take over the garden and spiders nest in the house. Ten years pass
before the family returns. Mrs. McNab, the housekeeper, employs a few other women to help set the
house in order. They rescue the house from oblivion and decay, and everything is in order when Lily
Briscoe returns.

In “The Lighthouse” section, time returns to the slow detail of shifting points of view, similar in style to
“The Window.” Mr. Ramsay declares that he and James and Cam, one of his daughters, will journey to
the lighthouse. On the morning of the voyage, delays throw him into a fit of temper. He appeals to Lily
for sympathy, but, unlike Mrs. Ramsay, she is unable to provide him with what he needs. The Ramsays
set off, and Lily takes her place on the lawn, determined to complete a painting she started but abandoned
on her last visit. James and Cam bristle at their father’s blustery behavior and are embarrassed by his
constant self-pity. Still, as the boat reaches its destination, the children feel a fondness for him. Even
James, whose skill as a sailor Mr. Ramsay praises, experiences a moment of connection with his father,
though James so willfully resents him. Across the bay, Lily puts the finishing touch on her painting. She
makes a definitive stroke on the canvas and puts her brush down, finally having achieved her vision.
 - Oedipus- Virginia Woolf read the work of Sigmund Freud, whose revolutionary model of
human psychology explored the unconscious mind and raised questions regarding internal versus external
realities. Woolf opens To the Lighthouse by dramatizing one of Freud’s more popular theories, the
Oedipal conflict. Freud turned to the ancient Greek story of Oedipus, who inadvertently kills his father
and marries his mother, to structure his thoughts on both family dynamics and male sexual development.
According to Freud, young boys tend to demand and monopolize their mothers’ love at the risk of
incurring the jealousy and wrath of their fathers. Between young James Ramsay and his parents, we see a
similar triangle formed: James adores his mother as completely as he resents his father. Woolf’s gesture
to Freud testifies to the radical nature of her project. As much a visionary as Freud, Woolf set out to write
a novel that mapped the psychological unconscious. Instead of chronicling the many things characters say
and do to one another, she concentrated on the innumerable things that exist beneath the surface of speech
and action.Achieving this goal required the development of an innovative method of writing that came to
be known as stream of consciousness, which charts the interior thoughts, perceptions, and feelings of one
or more characters. Although interior monologue is another term often used to refer to this technique, an
important difference exists between the two. While both stream of consciousness and interior monologue
describe a character’s interior life, the latter does so by using the character’s grammar and syntax. In other
words, the character’s thoughts are transcribed directly, without an authorial voice acting as mediator.
Woolf does not make use of interior monologue; throughout To the Lighthouse, she maintains a voice
distinct and distant from those of her characters. The pattern of young James’s mind, for instance, is
described in the same lush language as that of his mother and father. It is more apt to say, then, that the
novel is about the stream of human consciousness—the complex connection between feelings and
memories—rather than a literary representation of it.Through these forays into each character’s mind,
Woolf explores the different ways in which individuals search for and create meaning in their own
experience. She strives to express how individuals order their perceptions into a coherent understanding
of life. This endeavor becomes particularly important in a world in which life no longer has any inherent
meaning. Darwin’s theory of evolution, published in 1859 in The Origin of Species, challenged the then
universal belief that human life was divinely inspired and, as such, intrinsically significant. Each of the
three main characters has a different approach to establishing the worth of his or her life. Mr. -Ramsay
represents an intellectual approach; as a metaphysical phil-osopher, he relies on his work to secure his
reputation. Mrs. -Ramsay, devoted to family, friends, and the sanctity of social order, relies on her
emotions rather than her mind to lend lasting meaning to her experiences. Lily, hoping to capture and
preserve the truth of a single instant on canvas, uses her art.

Androgynous mind : Lily Briscoe emerges as an artist of uncompromising vision. As she stands on
the lawn, trying to decide how to unite the components of the scene on her canvas, she gives the
impression of being something of a bridge between Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay and the worlds they represent.
Lily shares Mr. Ramsay’s professional anxiety and fears that her work too will sink into oblivion
—“perhaps it was better not to see pictures: they only made one hopelessly discontented with one’s own
work.” She also possesses Mrs. Ramsay’s talent for separating a moment from the passage of time and
preserving it. As she watches the Ramsays move across the lawn, she invests them with a quality and
meaning that make them symbolic. Later, in the last section of the novel, as Lily returns to this spot of the
lawn to resume and finally complete her painting, she again serves as a vital link between Mr. and Mrs.
Ramsay.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Summary

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man takes place in Ireland at the turn
of the century. Young Stephen Dedalus comes from an Irish Catholic
family; he is the oldest of ten children, and his father is financially inept.
Throughout the novel, the Dedalus family makes a series of moves into
increasingly dilapidated homes as their fortunes dwindle. His mother is a
devout Catholic. When Stephen is young, he and the other Dedalus children
are tutored by the governess Dante, a fanatically Catholic woman.
Their Uncle Charles also lives with the family. The book opens with stream
of consciousness narrative filtered through a child's perspective; there is
sensual imagery, and words approximating baby talk. We leap forward in
time to see young Stephen beginning boarding school at Clongowes. He is
very young, terribly homesick, un-athletic and socially awkward. He is an
easy target for bullies, and one day he is pushed into a cesspool. He
becomes ill from the filthy water, but he remembers what his father told him
and doesn't tell on the boy. That Christmas, he eats at the adult table for the
first time. A terrible argument erupts over politics, with John Casey and
Stephen's father on one side and Dante on the other. Later that year,
Stephen is unjustly hit by a prefect. He complains to the rector, winning the
praises of his peers.
Stephen is forced to withdraw from Clongowes because of his family's
poverty. The family moves to Blackrock, where Stephen takes long walks
with Uncle Charles and goes on imaginary adventures with boys from around
the neighbourhood. When Stephen is a bit older, the family moves to Dublin,
once again because of financial difficulties. He meets a girl named Emma
Clere, who is to be the object of his adoration right up until the end of the
book. His father, with a bit of charm, manages to get Stephen back into
private school. He is to go to Belvedere College, another institution run by
the Jesuits.
Stephen comes into his own at Belvedere, a reluctant leader and a success
at acting and essay writing. Despite his position of leadership, he often feels
quite isolated. He continues to be a sensitive and imaginative young man,
acting in school plays and winning essay contests. He is also increasingly
obsessed with sex; his fantasies grow more and more lurid. Finally, one night
he goes with a prostitute. It is his first sexual experience.

Going with prostitutes becomes a habit. Stephen enters a period of spiritual

confession. He considers his behavior sinful, but he feels oddly indifferent
towards it. He cannot seem to stop going to prostitutes, nor does he want to
stop. But during the annual spiritual retreat at Belvedere, he hears three fire
sermons on the torments of hell. Stephen is terrified, and he repents of his
old behavior. He becomes almost fanatically religious.

After a time, this feeling passes. He becomes increasingly frustrated by

Catholic doctrine. When a rector suggests that he consider becoming a
priest, Stephen realizes that it is not the life for him. One day, while walking
on the beach, he sees a beautiful girl. Her beauty hits him with the force of
spiritual revelation, and he no longer feels ashamed of admiring the body. He
will live life to the fullest.

The next time we see Stephen, he is a student at university. University has

provided valuable structure and new ideas to Stephen: in particular, he has
had time to think about the works of Aquinas and Aristotle on the subject of
beauty. Stephen has developed his own theory of aesthetics. He is
increasingly preoccupied with beauty and art. Although he has no shortage
of friends, he feels isolated. He has come to regard Ireland as a trap, and he
realizes that he must escape the constraints of nation, family, and religion.
He can only do that abroad. Stephen imagines his escape as something
parallel to the flight of Dedalus, he escaped from his prison with wings
crafted by his own genius. The book ends with Stephen leaving Ireland to
pursue the life of a writer.

bohemia - Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-

minded people and with few permanent ties. It involves musical, artistic, literary, or spiritual
pursuits. In this context, Bohemians may or may not be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabonds.
This use of the word bohemian first appeared in the English language in the 19th century to describe
the non-traditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, journalists, musicians,
and actors in major European cities. [1]
Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints,
which often were expressed through free love, frugality, and—in some cases—simple
living or voluntary poverty. A more economically privileged, wealthy, or even aristocratic bohemian
circle is sometimes referred to as haute bohème[2] (literally "high Bohemia").[3]
The term bohemianism emerged in France in the early 19th century, when artists and creators began
to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class, Romani neighborhoods. Bohémien was a common term
for the Romani people of France, who were mistakenly thought to have reached France in the 15th
century via Bohemia (the western part of modern Czech Republic).[4]

iconoslasm - Iconoclasm[Note 1] is the social belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and
other images or monuments, most frequently for religious or political reasons. People who engage in
or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be figuratively applied to any
individual who challenges "cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are
erroneous or pernicious".[2]
Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) an iconolater; in
a Byzantine context, such a person is called an iconodule or iconophile.[3]
The term does not generally encompass the specific destruction of images of a ruler after his death or
overthrow (damnatio memoriae).
Iconoclasm may be carried out by adherents of a different religion, but it is more often the result of
sectarian disputes between factions of the same religion. Within Christianity, iconoclasm has
generally been motivated by those who adopt a strict interpretation of the Ten Commandments,
which forbid the making and worshipping of "graven images or any likeness of anything". [4] The
later Church Fathers identified Jews, fundamental iconoclasts, with heresy and saw deviations from
orthodox Christianity and opposition to the veneration of images as heresies that were essentially
"Jewish in spirit".[5] Degrees of iconoclasm vary greatly among religions and their branches. Islam, in
general, tends to be more iconoclastic than Christianity, [6] with Sunni Islam being more iconoclastic
than Shia Islam.

scandinavian fever -

death of the author - Death of the Author is a concept from mid-20th Century literary criticism; it
holds that an author's intentions and biographical facts (the author's politics, religion, etc) should
hold no special weight in determining an interpretation of their writing. This is usually
understood as meaning that a writer's views about their own work are no more or less valid than
the interpretations of any given reader. Intentions are one thing. What was actually accomplished
might be something very different. The logic behind the concept is fairly simple: Books are
meant to be read, not written, so the ways readers interpret them are as important and "real" as
the author's intention. On the flip side, a lot of authors are unavailable or unwilling to comment
on their intentions, and even when they are, they don't always make choices for reasons that
make sense or are easily explainable to others (or sometimes even to themselves).

ar for art s sake-wilde - The phrase 'art for art's sake' (from the French l'art pour l'art)
condenses the notion that art has its own value and should be judged apart from any themes
which it might touch on, such as morality, religion, history, or politics. It teaches that judgements
of aesthetic value should not be confused with those proper to other spheres of life. The idea has
ancient roots, but the phrase first emerged as a rallying cry in 19th-century France, and
subsequently became central to the British Aesthetic movement. Although the phrase has been
little used since, its legacy has been at the heart of 20th century ideas about the autonomy of art,
and thus crucial to such different bodies of thought as those of formalism, modernism, and the
avant-garde. Today, deployed more loosely and casually, it is sometimes put to very different
ends, to defend the right of free expression, or to appeal for art to uphold tradition and avoid
causing offense.The phrase 'art for art's sake', or l'art pour l'art, first surfaced in French literary
circles in the early-19th century. In part it was a reflex of the Romantic movement's desire to
detach art from the period's increasing stress on rationalism. These forces, it was believed,
threatened to make art subject to demands for its utility - for usefulness of one kind or another.
The phrase was taken up by writer Theophile Gautier and subsequently attracted the support of
figures such as Gustave Flaubert, Stéphane Mallarmé and Charles Baudelaire. When the phrase
reached Britain it became popular in the Aesthetic Movement, which encompassed painters such
as James McNeill Whistler and Lord Frederic Leighton, and writers such as Walter
Pater and Oscar Wilde.

Modernism and the 20th Century

The association between the phrase 'art for art's sake' and the Aesthetic Movement meant that,
when that movement declined, the popularity of the phrase declined with it. Nevertheless, it
continued to be used - though more casually and loosely - and the idea it compresses continued
to be important. The idea likely contributed to the development of formalism as well. For
example, Clive Bell's notion of 'significant form' argued that form in art was expressive and
meaningful apart from any objects it might serve to depict (and, therefore, it was of value
regardless of the objects it depicted). In this respect 'art for art's sake' was an important impetus
behind the development of abstract art and Abstract Expressionism, and it had an afterlife in the
high modernist theories of critics such as Clement Greenberg and Michael Fried.

Opponents of Art for Art's Sake

The idea that art should not be judged by other criteria, such as religion or politics, has inevitably
attracted occasional opponents who either wished it to support a particular cause, or refrain from
expressing particular views. But in the 20th century, 'art for art's sake' attracted more consistent
opposition from a series of avant-gardes who reacted against the perceived insularity of abstract
art, and sought instead to reconnect art and life. One can trace such opposition in movements as
diverse as the Constructivism, Dada and Surrealism, and the many post-war movements that
have revived earlier avant-garde strategies, such as Conceptual art and Pop art. For many of the
Constructivists, for example, the doctrine of 'art for art's sake' was a barrier to art being put in the
service of social revolution. Meanwhile, many different artists, such as Marcel Duchamp,
attacked the doctrine as a falsehood, arguing that it merely serves to conceal and protect a
particular set of values. For Duchamp, the call for 'art for art's sake' was merely a call to maintain
a status quo: it maintained an art that had turned inward, and away from everyday concerns, and
it maintained the traditional structure of the art world - the world of galleries and museums - that
supported it. Duchamp's attack on 'art for art's sake' has perhaps been the most influential of the
past century, and very few now believe that art does exist in a separate sphere from life's other
concerns. Given that it does not, and that art is entangled in all kinds of partisan issues, most now
believe that making aesthetic value judgements - declaring one work of art to be better than
another - is almost impossible.

epipahny - Modern texts place a lot of attention on the mundane and subjective in experience, and
likewise a notably strained effort to find someway of reuniting the two.  Taken together, they are
hallmarks of the alienated modern sensibility and their separation is at the heart of this alienation.

The Modern epiphany is more difficult to achieve for the modern writers because Truth in general is not
clearly  manifest to the writer in everday objects as it was to the poets of earlier periods.  Hence Joyce’s
identification of the epiphany as a manifestation through “vulgarity of speech or of gesture” [the clearly
mundane, alienated from Truth to the point of seeming profane].  Hence the Modernist epiphany
deliberately strains to identify the mundane or particular with something revelatory and in Joyce we see
this in his identification of things which are in this very respect quite different, even opposite, such as the
anonymous  Bloom with Elijah or Moses, or the Irish with the Greek people exalted in Homeric poetry, or
hot cocoa with the sacramental blood.  For Joyce, the effort at reuniting the mind with the objects of
experience turned in particular to increasing attempts at identification of the moment with all of time.

In Joyce’s technique, epiphany replaces the role carried out in traditional narrative by the event; the
collocations of numerous textual themes in associative moments are the events of the mature works, and
they are multitudinous.  Hence the reader should take his understanding of epiphany as axiomatic;
explicitly identifying each one by the term “epiphany” would become excessively redundant.
aestheticims - Aestheticism refers to a late-Victorian tendency to argue that art is its own justification
and should therefore be judged by purely aesthetic criteria. Closely related to the doctrine of l’art pour
l’art (art for art’s sake) put forward by Théophile Gautier and to the radical aesthetic theories of Charles
Baudelaire, British aestheticism found its leading exponent in Walter Pater. His work had an immediate
and profound impact on writers and artists like Oscar Wilde, who are sometimes referred to as aesthetes,
and more often as decadents, and his lasting influence has been traced in the work of several major
modernist writers.
As a category of English literary history, the term “aestheticism” is a relatively recent scholarly
construction. However, contemporaries used words like “aesthetes” and “aesthetic” to designate the late-
Victorian phenomenon. The Greek word α ἰ σθητικός refers to “that which is perceptible by the senses;”
in modern European thought, aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that analyses the ways in which
artworks produce sensations in spectators and, more broadly, the nature and role of art.

androgynous mind - While the term 'androgynous' may appear to undermine gender dualism -- which is
predicated on gender essentialism -- on initial inspection, its truly neutral sense proves impossible in a
patriarchal context. As Simone de Beauvoir argues in her introduction to The Second Sex (1949): 'man
represents both the positive and the neutral, as is indicated by the common use of man to designate human
beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without
reciprocity.' Furthermore, its implications in those individuals largely perceived as men (so clumsily
termed because 'androgynous' has such a capacity to question our perceptions of other people's genders)
are to effeminate attributes - a word which seems to carry exceedingly negative connotations.

To see the use of this word in Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own' however was rather exciting.
Perhaps she could reclaim it for all its deviating qualities! She starts by questioning mental disparities
between individuals of different sexes: 'Why do I feel that there are severances and oppositions in the
mind, as there are strains from obvious causes on the body?' (p.92) Why indeed. Then, introducing this
notion of unity that the term 'androgyny' would imply, she further questions, 'But the sight of two people
getting into the taxi and the satisfaction it gave me made me also ask whether there are two sexes in the
mind corresponding to the two sexes in the body, and whether they also require to be united in order to
get complete satisfaction and happiness?' (p.93). While I dispute the dualism of this suggestion, and that
they correspond  necessarily to the sex of each individual, Woolf also appears to suggest that all
individuals have access to a wider range of mental attributes than merely those that are assigned to one's
gender.

Unfortunately, Woolf then begins to reinforce gender essentialism with the notion of how one gendered
mind predominates  over the other to parallel whether that person is a man or a woman: 'In each of us two
powers preside, one male, one female; and in the man's brain the man predominates over the woman, and
in the woman's brain the woman predominates over the man' (pp.93-4). Considering that androgyny
denotes "hermaphroditism" - or intersex people - their fit into this now reinforced binary is disregarded.

She continues this vein of thought in suggesting a unity in the opinions of each gender: 'Do what she will
a woman cannot find in [supposedly "masculine" books written by men] that fountain of perpetual life
which the critics assure her is there. It is not only that they celebrate male virtues, enforce male values
and describe the world of men; it is that the emotion with which these books are permeated is to a woman
incomprehensible. […] The emotion which is so deep, so subtle, so symbolical to a man moves a woman
to wonder' (p.97). This suggests that women all feel the same about writing which celebrates male virtues,
enforce male values and describe the world of men. Woolf does not clarify what these supposedly
gendered virtues and values are and I confess I know not a virtue or value that is specific to men. There is
apparently an essential incapacity for one gender to understand an emotion of another gender, if it
pertains to only the "masculine" mind or the "feminine" mind.

Woolf returns to suggest of writing without one's gender: 'It is fatal for anyone who writes to think of
their sex. It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple; one must be woman-manly or man-womanly.
[…] It is fatal for a woman […] in any way to speak consciously as a woman' (p.99). Perhaps my distrust
of gender essentialism would suggest me to be empathetic with this idea, but I am not. I do not deny
commonality in gender, but find this most perceptible  in the experience of individuals of the same
gender, not in essentially inherent characteristics. That is to say, to refer to Alex Zwerdling's article,
'Anger and Conciliation in Woolf's Feminism', that the 'subjection of women' against which Woolf rightly
holds considerable anger, is common to womankind. So, if one is not to speak consciously as a woman,
but rather as neutral with an androgynous mind, one does disservice to the unexplored capacity of female
writing. To apply my own questioning of strangely gendered terms such as "female writing", what is that
if we are denying gender essentialism? Hélène Cixous' theory of écriture féminine is problematic in its
own gender essentialism by suggesting that a feminine form of writing should write out of, and to the
rhythms of, a female body. Susan Billingham however has suggested of the capacity to adapt Cixous'
theory to transwomen and one could go further to expand the notion to other marginalised genders,
because thereby one can write out of the shared experience of gender-based oppression. To adopt a
neutral voice when one is starved of a voice will do nothing to quench that need, but to return to Simone
de Beauvoir's claim, the neutral is absorbed back into the dominance of men.

bloomsbury group - What did a handful of writers, artists, critics, and an economist have in common at
the beginning of the 20th century? Living in a similar area of London, certainly. But it was a shared
vision of life in all its creative, aesthetic, and intellectual glory that drew the Bloomsbury Group together.

The collective influence of the Bloomsbury Group in the artistic and literary communities of the era
should not be downplayed. Despite an oft-changing membership list and much political upheaval in the
world around them, the group existed over several decades and still casts its shadow on us today.

Several of the original members of the Bloomsbury GroupAlthough historians disagree on who was part
of the “in crowd” and who was not (there was never an official list), sources agree that among the
founding individuals were Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Virginia Woolf, Leonard
Woolf, E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes (the lone economist), and Lytton Strachey. Several of the
men were educated together at Cambridge where they met Thoby Stephen and his siblings: Adrian,
Vanessa (later Bell), and Virginia (later Woolf). The Stephens began to host regular but informal
gatherings at their residence in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London. These “Friday Club” and
“Thursday Evening” meetings were the soil out of which the Bloomsbury Group grew. Thoby’s early
death in 1906 brought the group of friends closer together and spurred them onward.

More than anything, the members of the Bloomsbury Group were united in a shared philosophy which
was heavily influenced by British philosopher G.E. Moore. In practice, this philosophy was the basis for
a rejection of the bourgeois ideals of their parents’ generation, including a challenge to the society
standard of monogamous and heterosexual relationships. Members found in one another a mutual desire
to lead lives of beauty and creativity.

Bloomsbury_GroupIt’s worth noting that when they began meeting, virtually none of the Bloomsberries
had seen the career success that would mark their later lives. The group and its members flourished in the
1910s and ‘20s, though World War I caused a shift in how the group operated. Before the war, artist
Roger Fry curated two extremely influential exhibitions that awakened England to the post-Impressionist
movement in Europe. Virginia Woolf began gaining attention in literary circles and in the suffragette
movement. John Maynard Keynes’s criticism of the Versailles Peace Treaty garnered global respect.
And throughout everything, the love affairs came and went amongst the Bloomsbury Group, causing no
little scandal.

During the 1930s, whatever cohesion that was left between the original Bloomsberries was damaged by
repeated tragedy. Lytton Strachey died, followed by Roger Fry in 1934. Vanessa and Clive Bell’s son
was killed during the Spanish Civil War in 1937, and Virginia Woolf committed suicide in 1941 after
suffering from depression for many years. The Bloomsbury Group had seen great influence in the early
20th century, but it became time for others to take up the banner.

dandysm -

fin de siecle - Referring to the end of the 19th century, Fin de siècle not only represents a specific
historical moment but also a part of the sensibility and of the cultural production of the period. It is
particularly challenging to define fin de siècle within the artistic world, as it neither corresponds to a
movement around a leading figure, nor to an amalgamation of shared and promulgated aesthetic
principles (there is no manifesto laying claim to fin-de-sièclism).
The term appears for the first time at the end of the 1880s. In its French form, it has imposed itself ever
since on most Western-European languages (e.g., English, German). Fin de siècle crystalizes certain
anxieties that are typical of this era: the period is characterized by a particular striving for modernity,
while at the same time it is also perceived as an end. This explains why the fin de siècle mentality has
often been closely related to decadence (or decadentism) to which it is, however, not limited: symbolism,
aestheticism or even art nouveau all fall within fin de siècle.
The fin de siècle mind-set is marked by an ensemble of shared features, in particular an ambivalent fear
for the end.
In its simplest definition, “fin de siècle” refers to the end of a century, yet at the end of the 19th
century in Britain, the term did not just refer to a set of dates, but rather a whole set of artistic, moral, and
social concerns. To describe something as a fin de siècle phenomenon invokes a sense of the old order
ending and new, radical departures. The adoption of the French term, rather than the use of the English
“end of the century,” helps to trace this particular critical content: it was, and continues to be, associated
with those writers and artists whose work displayed a debt to French decadent, symbolist, or naturalist
writers and artists. It was also particularly strongly encoded in visual culture, with the black-and-white
illustrations popularized by Aubrey Beardsley in the Yellow Book and elsewhere coming to serve as
shorthand indicating textual material that challenged the mores and formal conventions of high Victorian
ideals for literature and art. Much of the characteristic literature of the fin de siècle is thus closely
interrelated with the earlier aesthetic movement and coincides with the zenith of decadence. But the fin de
siècle—both at the time and even more so in current critical debate—encompasses a broader set of
concerns, social and political, that often stand in tension with aestheticism. Two good examples of this
divergence are the rising interest in literary naturalism and the emergence of the New Woman. Both the
decadent and naturalist influences on literature and art at the fin de siècle led to vehement debates in the
press concerning the moral responsibility of art, with writers such as Thomas Hardy, George Moore, and
Arthur Symons arguing for greater freedom of artistic representation of sexual or subversive content. For
much of the 20th century the literature and culture of the 1880s and 1890s were treated as a slight critical
embarrassment: an era of precious experimentation overshadowed and disavowed by the radical, virile
departures of modernism. Yet the rising scholarly interest in gender and sexuality from the 1970s onward
swiftly drew fresh attention to the era of the Wilde trials, the emergence of the New Woman, and the
explicit address to sexuality in the decadent movement. The end of the 20th century, in turn, provoked a
wave of centennial reassessments of the 1880s and 1890s, which also examined afresh the relations
between fin de siècle culture and literature, and the emergence of modernism in the early 20th century.
Such studies have not only led to the emergence of new fields of study in their own right, such as the New
Woman, or degeneration and literature, but also extended the coverage of the period: it is common now
for studies of the fin de siècle to examine the period up to and including 1910 or even 1914, and for the
fin de siècle to be viewed as the crucible of early modernism.

decadence - Decadence is a literary category originally associated with a number of French

writers in the mid-19th century, most notably Charles Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier. Often
linked by both proponents and critics with the excessive refinements found in the literature of the
late Roman period, its general characteristics are an interest in perversity, ennui, art for art’s
sake, transgressive modes of sexuality, artificiality, and decay. As the century continued, in
France the label was increasingly applied to a type of poetry exemplified by the writing of Paul
Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé, and the fiction of J. K. Huysmans. By the end of the
century, decadence had spread into many other European countries as an aesthetic term.
Decadence became a vital force in England during the 1890s and thrived as one of the dominant
focuses of a wider cultural debate regarding degeneration and in particular the fin de siècle, a
decade and an idea with which it became increasingly associated. The periodical The Yellow
Book was seen as one of the chief organs of decadent writing, and Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons,
and Ernest Dowson are usually cited as the leading writers in the English decadent tradition—
although much work in recent years has focused on expanding this canon, particularly with
regard to its gender bias. Along with aestheticism and symbolism (literary categories with which
it often overlaps), decadence has become a vital focus within literary study of the Victorians, and
it now appears secure as one of the major strands of teaching and research in the literature of the
period.

General Overviews

There is a dilemma here, for despite the plethora of general guides to decadent literature, there is
no single overview of decadence as a global phenomenon—most of this type of work tends to be
limited by national, or at best continental, boundaries. Schoolfield 2003 is undoubtedly the best
place for those interested in gaining the widest view, although Praz 1970 also has a wide focus
and forwards the classic view of decadence as a subset of romanticism extremely effectively.
Students of Victorian literature looking for a European context, however, will in all likelihood be
most interested in France; and while many guides to English decadence tend to contain material
on this, Pierrot 1981 is the strongest on the literature, while Birkett 1986 provides a wider
contextual view for the French movement, which usefully supplements the broader-brush
versions often given in Anglocentric works. For the best of both English and French
worlds, Denisoff 2007 conveys a large amount of information in neat and concise fashion and is
probably the best place for the student to start. Many critical assumptions about English
decadence begin with Jackson 1913, which still reads well and gives a good sense of the
vibrancy of the period, while Sturgis 1995 is probably the best book-length introduction of
English decadence currently available, despite contributing little that is new in terms of ideas.
Probably for this reason it is often overlooked, but it remains very entertaining and is strong on
Beardsley and the visual arts. For a full sense of the many diverse areas of decadent study, and to
remain fully up to date, The OScholars contains much wide-ranging information, but perhaps
most importantly, it is very frequently updated; it thus remains perhaps most useful for
familiarizing oneself with current critical trends and developments.
the yellow book- The Yellow Book, short-lived but influential illustrated quarterly magazine devoted
to aesthetics, literature, and art. It was published in London from 1894 to 1897.
From its initial visually arresting issue, for which Aubrey Beardsley was art editor and for which Max
Beerbohm wrote an essay, “A Defence of Cosmetics,” The Yellow Book attained immediate notoriety.
Published by John Lane and edited by Henry Harland, The Yellow Book attracted many outstanding
writers and artists of the era, such as Arnold Bennett, Charlotte Mew, Henry James, Edmund Gosse,
Richard Le Gallienne, and Walter Sickert.

Graphic Design — ‘The Yellow Book’ — Aubrey Beardsley 1872–1898

‘The Yellow Book’ was the leading journal of the British in the 1890’s. It was first published in 1894 in
London and was a quarterly literary periodical. It was highly associated with Aestheticism and Decadence.
‘The Yellow Book’ was published by two men called Elkin Matthews and John Lane, and at the time, it
cost five shillings per copy. It was edited by Henry Harland and was published in 13 quarterly volumes.
The magazine at the time, was completely different to anything being produced: it was daring and
ambitious.

The magazine contained a range of creative pieces, and they weren’t just art. The magazine featured a wide
range of literacy and artistic genres, such as poetry, short stories, essays, book illustrations, portraits,
reproductions of paintings and drawings. ‘The Yellow Book’ was for diverse and “different” art: they
wanted to steer away from the generic and popular style of magazines at that time.

‘The Yellow Book’ was also different to other magazines of its time as it had no advertisement in it at all.
This was odd compared to the usual magazines that were circulating in the 90’s as they had advertisements
in their magazines so they could help cover the cost of production. Having no adverts in ‘The Yellow
Book’ was a risky move as the cost of the magazine was quite high: it was very book-like, as instead of the
glossy or paper pages you would expect, it was clothbound. The cover was also completely yellow, which
it would obviously become known for, but was also inspired by contemporary French novels at the time.
The covers were designed and made by Aubrey Beardsley who was the art editor of the magazine.

Aubrey Beardsley was an Art Nouveau and Aestheticism designer and illustrator in the 1800’s. He was
heavily influenced by traditional Japanese woodcut art, and used line-block printing to create his perfectly
clean black and white prints. He was a fan of the grotesque, the decant and the erotic. His designs were
made to shock. His work was so different from the usual Victorian style designs, and his Japanese
influence created mythological style illustrations that seemed so surreal. His designs looked like the could
have been made in this day and age, rather than from the 1800’s, I think they are timeless.

‘The Yellow Book’ covers were all in his different and unique style, and caught the publics eye with their
weird designs. The bright yellow covers because somewhat of an icon or logo for the magazine. It was
what they were known for, and was a huge contrast with the monochrome black and white designs of
Aubrey Beardsley. The yellow works really well as a marketing factor as the public and easily distinguish
the magazine from others at the time. It was completely different and easy to spot in a crowed space. The
actual design of the girl on the cover is quite simple and nowhere near as grotesque as many of Beardsley’s
designs. It just features a woman putting on makeup in front of a mirror, and I don’t particularly like the
design. I personally would have preferred one of his usual style pieces as it’s what makes Beardsley such a
different kind of designer. He stands out from the everyday designers through creating something with a
shock factor, that disturbs people and gets them talking about him. I think it would have been more
effective to use that style of design on the front cover of “The Yellow Book”.

‘The Climax’ — Aubrey Beardsley (1893)

This piece is called ‘The Climax’ and features ‘Salome’ having just kissed the severed head of John the
Baptist. It is perfectly gruesome and grotesque, which is completely unique of Beardsley at the time. His
illustrations had the shock factor, and many people thought of him as weird. This illustration was one of
sixteen commissioned by Oscar Wilde for the publication of his play ‘Salome’.

Beardsley created these illustrations at the age of 21 and they soon became his most appreciated pieces of
work.

This connection between Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley would soon turn out to be disastrous Oscar
Wilde was arrested for homosexual conduct. At the time of his arrest he was he had a copy of ‘Aphrodite’
by Pierre Louys which was bound in yellow paper as it was a French novel. Unfortunately it was
misreported that he was carrying ‘The Yellow Book’ in his hand at the time and a mob stormed the
publishers office and broke the windows. This proved fateful for Aubrey Beardsley’s career in ‘The
Yellow Book’ as people didn’t want Beardsley as Art Editor anymore, and John Lane came under pressure
to dismiss Aubrey Beardsley. Eventually he did so in 1895 and continued to publish the magazine without
Beardsley for two more years.

Beardsley decided to create his own rival magazine called ‘The Saroy’ from 1895 until 1896 but
unfortunately died not long after of tuberculosis at the young age of 25. His influence carried on
throughout the 20th century and inspired man people through Art Nouveau and Aestheticism, and even
now graphic designers and artists are inspired by his unique and shocking work.

evanescence-

oedipus complex - to the lighthouse

In psychoanalytic theory, Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the
unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy's desire to sexually possess his mother
(Freud.1900). In the course of his psychosexual development, the complex is the boy's phallic stage
formation of a discrete sexual identity; a girl's analogous experience is the Electra complex. Freud first
mentioned the Oedipus complex in 1897. After his father's death, he began to make self-analysis, then the
formation of the concept. The Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1900, it is the official presentation of
the concept. Oedipus complex has always been a cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory. In classical,
Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the child's identification with the same-sex parent is the successful
resolution of the Oedipus complex and of the Electra complex; his and her key psychological experience
to developing a mature sexual role and identity. Sigmund Freud further proposed that girls and boys
resolved their complexes differently — he via castration anxiety, she via penis envy; and that
unsuccessful resolutions might lead to neurosis, paedophilia, and homosexuality. Hence, men and women
who are fixated in the Oedipal and Electra stages of their psychosexual development might be considered
"mother-fixated" and "father-fixated" as revealed when the mate (sexual partner) resembles the mother or
the father. This paper uses analysis and comparison method, through comparing the prototype of the
Oedipus complex in Greek mythology, the similarities and differences between Oedipus King and the
literatures contain the Oedipus complex--Hamlet, Sons and Lovers, Thunderstorm and A Dream of Red
Mansions. It discusses the main reason for the formation of their differences. It further reveals the
Oedipus complex which impact on generations and promote the study of it.

Sons and Lovers is British writer Lawrence's masterpiece of modernism. His novel also won a wide
reputation. This novel has a strong autobiographical color. Make a nearby mining area of Nottingham as
the background, around the coal miners Murray and his family. The growth process of young protagonist
Paul reflects profound social problems and psychological problems. Paul's mother Gertrude and Paul's
father married with falling-out, she turned to his son for love and comfort. This goes beyond the normal
maternal feeling, then the feeling control and occupies the heart of his son; bring out the Freudian
psychology to Paul, the "Oedipus complex” mentality. He loves his mother much more than any other
women. In the novel, we can see that Paul deeply loved his mother that he obeys what his mother said and
did what his mother wished him to. During his life, all he did were to please his mother. When he was a
child, he walked all day, went miles and miles to look for blackberries which his mother liked, rather than
own himself beaten and came home to his mother's empty handed. When he was away from home, he
looked forward to get home earlier because he knew that his mother was alone and waiting his back. In
Paul's eyes, his mother was an elegant, undisturbed and beautiful young girl. Every night, he would send
his mother to bed and kissed her for good night. After the death of his older brother, William, his family
ran into a predicament. The expenditure of the family was larger and larger while the family lived with
the wage of 26 ponds of the miner, his father. In order to help his mother to manage the household, Paul
got a job in Nottingham and offered his mother his wages. It was undutiful that Paul was a mourning son,
but his main purpose was to help his mother. As to his father, he stood with his mother to be opposed to
him, even he hated his father. When his father quarreled with his mother he even wanted to take the place
of his father. He believed that his father mismatched his mother and there was no love in their marriage.
Once he talked to Clara about love: "love is a dog in the mager"(D.H.Lawrence,1915, P56--57). The
situation just liked his parents' marriage because even if his mother did not love his father anymore or
hated him extremely, their marriage still continued and his mother would never leave his father. His
words hinted to us that Paul had regarded his father as his rival of love; also we can see that Paul replaced
his father and protest his mother. The love of the son and the mother was blameless, but it gradually
developed into a kind of abnormal love, mother Fixation. We can get the evidence from the novel, once a
time, after quarreling with her husband, Mrs. Morel despaired and complained to his son that she never
had a husband, a true husband. After hearing this, Paul detested his father very much even he wanted to
kill his father, at the same time, he deeply realized that his mother did not only nee d a good son but also a
idea husband, and then he could not help touching the hair of his mother and kissing his mother's neck, of
which was the strong evidence of Mother Fixation. From many manifestations we can find that Paul and
the original role of Oedipus King have a basic difference, the former one produced Oedipus complex
while the woman is his biological mother but Oedipus didn't know the truth result in that he killed his
father and marry his mother. Whatever the meaning of Laius's oracle, the one delivered to Oedipus is
clearly unconditional. Given our modern conception of fate and fatalism, readers of the play have a
tendency to view Oedipus as a mere puppet controlled by greater forces, a man crushed by the gods and
fate for no good reason (Wu Qiong,1994). This, however, is not an entirely accurate reading. While it is a
mythological truism that oracles exist to be fulfilled, oracles do not cause the JOURNAL OF
LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH © 2011 ACADEMY PUBLISHER 1422 events that lead
up to the outcome. In his landmark essay "On Misunderstanding the Oedipus complex", E.R. Dodds
draws a comparison with Jesus's prophecy at the Last Supper that Peter would deny him three times. Jesus
knows that Peter will do this, but readers would in no way suggest that Peter was a puppet of fate being
forced to deny Christ. Free will and predestination are by no means mutually exclusive, and such is the
case with Oedipus. Although Mother Fixation was a sensitive subject in the literature world that people
seldom refer to. It exists in the society as a common phenomenon that it has distorted the soul of mothers
and sons, even damaged the family, which also obeys the ethics of human being. As to the author of Sons
and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence, Mother Fixation made him so blind that he did not take care of the moral
principles and did not know that he had come to the woman's family and left it broken. The novel Sons
and Lovers also ended with a tragedy with the death of being mentally and physically exhausted of Mrs.
Moreland the failure of Paul's love. In our daily life, Mother Fixation is a common phenomenon, even if
many people do not want to mention it or they do not accept the definition of Mother Fixation. The son
who has Mother Fixation is lack of his own thoughts and enterprising spirit because he believes that his
mother is his sanctuary and sunshine that never declines. Even when he gets married, his mother is the
only person he can rely on not other person. So when there is conflict in his mother and wife he will stand
with his mother, go against his wife. As to the mother who has Mother Fixation lavishes her lover upon
her son, she controls his behavior and thoughts that she wishes that her son will never go against her. The
son is her everything that she is afraid of losing him. As in China, most of the family conflict cause
between the mothers and the daughters-in-law. One of the most important reasons is to fight for the
domination of the husbands or sons. Once the daughters-in-law come to the family, the mothers will have
a sense of tension that the daughters-in-law will take their place to love or control their sons that they are
losing their sons. Gradually, the mothers will do something difficult for the daughters-in-law and say
something to slander them before their sons, and then the family conflict arouses and the tragedy appears.
In order to create a happy life and a harmonious society, we should pay our attention to Mother Fixation
and deal with it well because Mother Fixation is a kind of abnormal human beings' love and we should
pursue normal love.