"What does it mean then, what can it all mean? Lily Briscoe asked herself, wondering whether, since she had been left alone, it behoved her to go to the kitchen to fetch another cup of coffee or wait there. What does it mean?-a catchword that was, caught up from some book, fitting her thought loosely, for she could not, this first morning with the Ramsays, contract her feelings, could only make a phrase resound to cover the blankness of her mind until these vapours had shrunk. For really, what did she feel, come back after all these years and Mrs. Ramsay dead?Nothing, nothing-nothing that she could express at all."
   
This quotation makes me feel peace and tranquility, as if it was the aftermath of a painful process.
After experiencing a sad event, one tends to feel relief. And that feeling may lead to a period of reflection on that terrible happening. In this case, Mrs. Ramsay's death makes Lily reflect upon the meaning of life.

     The novel made me conclude that the thoughts and feelings of a simple moment may become unforgettable, eternal. For example, Lily will never forget the thoughts and feelings that she had when she could finally end the painting.

listen to ‘After reading TTL’ on Audioboo

Here's my Audioboo. Hope you can understand it! In case you didn't, I´ve already posted the script...

After reading TTL:

After reading TTL:

“Could the body achieve it, or the mind, subtly mingling in the intricate passages of the brain? Or the heart? Could loving, as people called it, make her and Mrs. Ramsay one? for it was not knowledge but unity that she desired, not inscriptions on tablets, nothing that could be written in any language known to men, but intimacy itself, which is knowledge, she had thought, leaning her head on Mrs. Ramsay’s knee.” Book I, Ch. IX

I’ve chosen this quotation because I feel identified with Lily’s wondering about how one comes to know truly another person, and what bonds people together… Is it intellect or emotion? It makes me wonder what makes me close to people I love and like… In my opinion Lily’s idea that intimacy is knowledge, and that it can´t be put into word is a very feminine way of understanding relationships. What a wonderful quotation! It reminded me of a quotation by Emily Bronte because this same idea of inexplicability is present: "Whatever souls are made of, his and mine were the same".

TTL: Time Passes

Time Passes

Chapter 9

“The house was left; the house was deserted. It was left like a shell on a sandhill to fill with dry salt grains now that life had left it. The long night seemed to have set in; the trifling airs, nibbling, the clammy breaths, fumbling, seemed to have triumphed. The saucepan had rusted and the mat decayed. Toads had nosed their way in. Idly, aimlessly, the swaying shawl swung to and fro. A thistle thrust itself between the tiles in the larder…”

I have chosen this quotation because I think it is really interesting how Virginia Woolf succeeds in dehumanizing the Ramsays’ house, portraying a world where death and desolation reign supreme. Human agency seems to have been superseded by that of natural elements- night, winter, waves, wind, storms. We, as readers can see, through the eyes of the house, how these elements interact and affect the house leaving a sense of emptiness and devastation.

 Woolf experiments with space and time. She makes the reader sense the span of ten years going by before the house is occupied again. As she does not present a definite account of ten years passing, we must actively perceive the text and move into a different frame of mind beyond the absolute of knowing and into one of sensing and perceiving.

I believe that the scene in chapter 7 “In spring the garden urns... and so terrible” is quite effective. By describing a setting that is really contradictory, Woolf makes us feel both, the stillness of the day and the chaos of the night. This scene clearly leaves the reader with mixed feelings.

After Reading TTL

The character of Mrs Ramsay makes me think of my grandmothers, both of whom are still alive. They are not also devoted to their husbands and families, but also ready to help when necessary and without waiting anything as a reward. Giving, giving and giving seem to be the only action they think about. I am absolutely convinced that when they will no longer be physically present, I will be able to understand Lily Briscoe's mourning feelings towards Mrs Ramsay' death.  

253 - Hyperfiction

After reading 'Weaving Textual Webs' and '253'

We can see the novel 253 creatively disrupts textual linearity, being an instance of hypertextuality. By gaining  access to the different links, we get an insight into the lives and thoughts of each passenger in the seven carriages. As one link leads to the others, we can see the story of one passenger is somehow related to another, their lives being interrelated.

What is amazing about this kind of fiction is that the reader has the freedom to decide what to read next (which link to click on), thus unfolding a different plot each time, and weaving a web of intertextual parallels. We as readers feel excited to see a new world of meanings being created. The decision taken will influence the development, and we can decide when to put end to the narrative.

As regards the questions posed at the end of the article, answering to question 1, I feel that to read an inconclusive work is a really thrilling experience, as the reader feels intrigued as to which of the countless endings they will come across. Finding the same lexia again and again can lead the author to consider it in a new way each time, as the same choice of words can convey a wide variety of meanings in the same context.

About question number 3, I don't think hyperfiction really challenges our concept of narrative but, even if textual linearity is disrupted, we can reconstuct some form of narrative line, as there will always be a start with a setting, a conflict and some resolution.

For question number 4, hyperfiction can be very innovative in the pedagogical field in the sense that, when making Ss predict, teachers can be aware pupils are more likely to read a plot that matches their expectations, as they can go thought the same 'hypernovel' more than once in order to unfold a different story each time.

After reading To the Lighthouse...

The character of Mrs Ramsay in To the Lighthouse, reminds me a woman I know, a neighbour. She is always giving not asking anything in return, like Mrs Ramsay. She does this especially with her husband, son and daughter. But also, she is always ready to help any person she knows. She gives more importance to her family than to herself.

She is also in control of her family and home because she is the one who takes decisions and try to make life easier for the ones who live with her.