- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (2 Jan 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140185704
- ISBN-13: 978-0140185706
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.9 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 276,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Jacob's Room
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Product Description
Product Description
Jacob Flanders is a young man passing from adolescence to adulthood in a hazy rite of passage. From his boyhood on the windswept shores of Cornwall to his days as a student at Cambridge, his elusive, chameleon-like character is gradually revealed in a stream of loosely related incidents and impressions: whether through his mother's letters, his friend's conversations, or the thoughts of the women who adore him. Then we glimpse him as a young man, caught under the glare of a London streetlamp. It is 1914, he is twenty-six, and Europe is on the brink of war ...
This tantalizing novel heralded Woolf's bold departure from the traditional methods of the novel, with its experimental play between time and reality, memory and desire.
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With introductions by Lawrence Norfolk and Elisabeth Bronfen
--This text refers to an alternate
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First Sentence
'So of course,' wrote Betty Flanders, pressing her heels rather deeper in the sand, 'there was nothing for it but to leave.' Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
'So of course,' wrote Betty Flanders, pressing her heels rather deeper in the sand, 'there was nothing for it but to leave.' Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A typically wonderful read from the great Virginia Woolf. While Jacob is on the one hand the centre of this book, he is also the enigma which the reader never quite finds. We hear many others talking of Jacob, but we catch only fleeting glimpses of Jacob himself, making this book a strange, at times disorientating read. This however, is clearly Woolf's intention, as she plays with notions of character, authorial omniscience, and coherent plotting. A great example of classic modernist fiction from one of Britain's most celebrated authors. If you are prepared for a challenging read, then buy this book- but prepare for your expectations of what constitutes a novel to be put under the spotlight.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm in a Woolf phase right now and came to this book after reading her later works: 'Mrs Dalloway', 'To the Lighthouse', 'Orlando' as well her non-fiction piece 'A Room of One's Own'. Although lacking the brilliance of these later works, 'Jacob's Room' is well worth a read if only to see Woolf starting out on the process of trying to dismantle the idea that novel = linear narrative, fully rounded characterisation, and an omniscient author.
I think 'Jacob's Room' is a very 'impressionistic' novel in that we get no concrete sense of who the main character, Jacob Flanders, is. As another reviewer has said, we only catch glimpses of him. There is no god-like omniscient author forever telling you what the character thinks or feels. (To me this reflects the increasingly godless modern world we live in.) Also, the dialogue in the novel is often disjointed and I think this reflects the atomised modern world we live in. I assume that by writing dialogue which lacks linearity and fluidity Woolf more truthfully reflects human to human interaction: it's often full of non-sequitors, fails to flow easily, is interrupted etc.
If you're prepared for a challenging read and want to see how Woolf got started on the process of challenging the then accepted norms of fiction wfiting - then buy this book.
I think 'Jacob's Room' is a very 'impressionistic' novel in that we get no concrete sense of who the main character, Jacob Flanders, is. As another reviewer has said, we only catch glimpses of him. There is no god-like omniscient author forever telling you what the character thinks or feels. (To me this reflects the increasingly godless modern world we live in.) Also, the dialogue in the novel is often disjointed and I think this reflects the atomised modern world we live in. I assume that by writing dialogue which lacks linearity and fluidity Woolf more truthfully reflects human to human interaction: it's often full of non-sequitors, fails to flow easily, is interrupted etc.
If you're prepared for a challenging read and want to see how Woolf got started on the process of challenging the then accepted norms of fiction wfiting - then buy this book.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jacob's Room is Virginia Woolf's third novel being published in 1922. The main protagonist of the book (Jacob Flanders) represents her brother Thoby Stephen who had died earlier in 1906. The narrative of Jacob's Room differs from her first two novels as Woolf experimented with a different style from the fictional norms she had used in her first two books but which she felt had inhibited her.
The storyline of Jacob's Room follows the life of Jacob Flanders from adolescence through his time in college and then to adulthood. It is narrated in the main from a female perspective by the different characters who knew him best thus the readers interpretation of Jacob is formed from an eclectic mix of opinions. I do not feel this is a bad thing as different readers will gain different viewpoints from the novel. In part replicating how individuals perceive differently from the information and environment that is presented to them. Even though the style of this novel may differ from her earlier works it is still worth reading if you want to gain a fuller representation and appreciation of Virginia Woolf's literary output.
The storyline of Jacob's Room follows the life of Jacob Flanders from adolescence through his time in college and then to adulthood. It is narrated in the main from a female perspective by the different characters who knew him best thus the readers interpretation of Jacob is formed from an eclectic mix of opinions. I do not feel this is a bad thing as different readers will gain different viewpoints from the novel. In part replicating how individuals perceive differently from the information and environment that is presented to them. Even though the style of this novel may differ from her earlier works it is still worth reading if you want to gain a fuller representation and appreciation of Virginia Woolf's literary output.
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