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Metanarration and Bildungsroman in Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Sally

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Metanarration and Bildungsroman in Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Sally MA Literary Studies 2018-2019 University of Alicante Metanarration and Bildungsroman in Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Sally Potter’s Cinematic Adaptation The author, Jesús Baeza Gregori With the approval of the academic supervisor, John Douglas Sanderson Pastor Abstract Woolf’s Orlando is at the same time an exercise of freedom in which fantasy mixes with reality, and a demonstration of an excellent command of literary genres. Behind its light-hearted tone, and its apparent resistance to be categorised, the text hides a dense and complex design which allows Woolf both, to represent the character of Orlando, and to reflect on how life can be turned into art. The present paper focuses on the presence of metanarrative comments in the text and its consideration as a Bildungsroman, and demonstrates how both elements are closely interrelated. On the other hand, it analyses how those generic features are reflected in Potter’s cinematic adaptation. The dialogic interaction between the text and the film no doubt enriches their understanding and demonstrates that literary genres are essential in shaping both of them. Key words: Orlando, Virginia Woolf, Sally Potter, literary genres, metanarration, Bildungsroman, adaptation. Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 9 1.1. Aims and hypotheses ................................................................................ 11 1.2. State of the art ............................................................................................. 12 1.2.1. Criticism on Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: A Biography .............. 12 1.2.1.1. General remarks ........................................................... 12 1.2.1.2. Orlando: A Biography and A Room of One’s Own ....... 14 1.2.2. Criticism on Sally Potter’s Orlando ........................................... 15 1.2.3. Conclusions .................................................................................. 18 2. Theoretical framework ............................................................................................. 19 2.1. Introductory considerations about literary genre ................................. 19 2.1.1. E. D. Hirsch’s concept of genre ................................................. 22 2.1.2. Alastair Fowler’s theory of genres and modes ....................... 24 2.1.3. Conclusions .................................................................................. 27 2.2. Metanarration in literary theory .............................................................. 28 2.2.1. Definition...................................................................................... 29 2.2.2. Typology ...................................................................................... 30 2.2.2.1. Formal criteria ............................................................... 30 2.2.2.2. Structural criteria .......................................................... 31 2.2.2.3. Content-related criteria ............................................... 32 2.2.2.4. Reception-oriented or functional criteria .................. 34 2.2.3. Functions ...................................................................................... 34 2.2.4. Conclusions .................................................................................. 35 2.3. The Bildungsroman in critical theory ..................................................... 36 2.3.1. Definition and types ................................................................... 36 2.3.2. The Modernist Bildungsroman ................................................. 39 2.3.3. Conclusions .................................................................................. 41 2.4. Cinematic adaptations of literary works ................................................ 42 2.4.1. Theoretical issues ........................................................................ 42 2.4.2. Conclusions .................................................................................. 45 2.5. Conclusions ................................................................................................. 46 3. Analysis of Woolf’s text and Potter’s film............................................................. 48 3.1. Woolf’s text analysis .................................................................................. 48 3.1.1. Introduction ................................................................................. 48 3.1.2. Metanarrative comments ........................................................... 49 3.1.2.1. Introduction .................................................................. 49 3.1.2.2. Methodology ................................................................. 51 3.1.2.3. Excerpt 1 ........................................................................ 51 3.1.2.4. Analysis of excerpt 1 .................................................... 52 3.1.2.4.1. Metanarrative character................................ 52 3.1.2.4.2. Typology ......................................................... 52 3.1.2.5. Excerpt 2 ........................................................................ 53 3.1.2.6. Analysis of excerpt 2 .................................................... 54 3.1.2.6.1. Metanarrative character................................ 54 3.1.2.6.2. Typology ......................................................... 54 3.1.2.7. Excerpt 3 ........................................................................ 55 3.1.2.8. Analysis of excerpt 3 .................................................... 55 3.1.2.8.1. Metanarrative character................................ 55 3.1.2.8.2. Typology ......................................................... 55 3.1.2.9. Conclusions ................................................................... 56 3.1.3. The text as a Bildungsroman ..................................................... 58 3.1.3.1. Introduction .................................................................. 58 3.1.3.2. Methodology ................................................................. 59 3.1.3.3. Analysis ......................................................................... 59 3.1.3.3.1. The process of emergence ............................ 59 3.1.3.3.1.1. Excerpt 1 ........................................... 59 3.1.3.3.1.2. Analysis of excerpt 1 ...................... 60 3.1.3.3.1.3. Excerpt 2 ........................................... 61 3.1.3.3.1.4. Analysis of excerpt 2 ...................... 61 3.1.3.3.2. The aesthetical formation ............................. 62 3.1.3.3.2.1. Excerpt 3 ........................................... 62 3.1.3.3.2.2. Analysis of excerpt 3 ...................... 62 3.1.3.3.3. The individual freedom ................................ 63 3.1.3.3.3.1. Excerpt 4 ........................................... 63 3.1.3.3.3.2. Analysis of excerpt 4 ...................... 63 3.1.3.3.4. The failure in achieving self-identity .......... 64 3.1.3.3.4.1. Excerpt 5 ........................................... 64 3.1.3.3.4.2. Analysis of excerpt 5 ...................... 64 3.1.3.4. Conclusions ................................................................... 66 3.2. Potter’s film analysis ................................................................................. 67 3.2.1. Introduction ................................................................................. 67 3.2.2. Methodology ................................................................................ 67 3.2.3. Analysis ........................................................................................ 68 3.2.3.1. Dialectical/dialogic relation between text and film . 68 3.2.3.2. Narrative equivalences between text and film ........ 69 3.2.3.2.1. General equivalences .................................... 69 3.2.3.2.2. Equivalences of metanarration .................... 72 3.2.3.2.3. Equivalences of the Bildungsroman ........... 74 3.2.3.2.3.1. Introduction ..................................... 74 3.2.3.2.3.2. The Bildungsroman ........................ 75 3.2.3.2.3.3. Bakhtin’s classification ................... 77 3.2.4. Conclusions .................................................................................. 78 4. Final conclusions ....................................................................................................... 79 5. List of references and works cited .......................................................................... 87 Metanarration and Bildungsroman in Virginia Woolf's Orlando and Sally Potter’s Cinematic Adaptation 1. Introduction Orlando: A Biography (hereinafter referred to as Orlando), first published on 11 October 1928, is one of the most popular novels of Virginia Woolf. However, literary critics have somehow underestimated this text in benefit of her supposedly more lyrical and profound ones such as Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse or The Waves. Very briefly, the novel tells the story of Orlando, a young nobleman who lives from the Elizabethan period until 1928 without hardly ageing and who, at the midpoint of the novel, undergoes a mysterious change of sex. The novel is considered as Woolf’s love letter to her friend and lover Vita Sackville-West. As Orlando, the character, wriggles out of growing old, Orlando, the novel, is very elusive when critics try to assign it a literary genre. The text not only provokes questions related to the sex of Orlando and his/her age, but also related to its literary genre: is it a novel,
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