I am a little fearful of Virginia Woolf. I know that sounds silly, but every time I encounter her, her work seems so loaded with meaning. I am sure I can read her boooks (at least some of them), or essays or short stories on their own--knowing nothing about her, her life, her education, who influenced her. But I think if I do that I will be missing out. So it was with slight trepidation that I approached her short story, "Kew Gardens".
On the surface it is a lovely little story. A summer garden abundant with flowers and greenery. A snail is making its way from one place to another. It feels lush and warm. And a variety of people are walking through enjoying it. Chatting. Reflecting on the past. Planning on taking tea. But I know there has to be more to this story than simply this. This is Virginia Woolf, isn't it.
I think I will never be able to read Woolf without having some sort of help. So I turned to eNotes once again and read through their brief criticism of the story for some help, and it is amazing how much is hiding behind her words. I discovered that "Woolf's methods of characterization in 'Kew Gardens' were a departure from almost everything that had been written in the British Isles since the emergence of the novel." The garden she writes about is a character in and of itself, as important as the people who are enjoying it. And when you read it, you can see that:
"From the oval–shaped flower–bed there rose perhaps a hundred stalks spreading into heart–shaped or tongue–shaped leaves half way up and unfurling at the tip red or blue or yellow petals marked with spots of colour raised upon the surface; and from the red, blue or yellow gloom of the throat emerged a straight bar, rough with gold dust and slightly clubbed at the end. The petals were voluminous enough to be stirred by the summer breeze, and when they moved, the red, blue and yellow lights passed one over the other, staining an inch of the brown earth beneath with a spot of the most intricate colour."
The leaves are heart or tongue shaped. They unfurl. From the throat a straight bar emerges. The petals are stirred, they move. It's like they are human. They have human characteristics and they move around like humans. There is even a snail moving along, just like the people walking through the garden. According to the criticism I read, "throughout her fiction, Woolf attempted to render some aspect of the elusive reality she felt had been missing from much of the literature of the British Isles." I thought it interesting that the garden was so lifelike and described in great deal, yet the people were not. It seemed that what was in the people's minds what was more important.
The criticism I read picked apart the story in great detail. I would never have reached the conclusions they reached on my own, and I don't think I dare to try and rehash it here. I think knowledge of Woolf and what she was trying to do and what was happening in the greater world all need to be understood to really see what she was trying to accomplish. I am curious about what meaning the people had in the story. I found the street rhyme (actually when reading the story I didn't even realize it was meant to be a rhyme) rather confusing. What I got mostly from the story/criticism was her desire to write realistically--I suppose this is where the whole idea of Woolf as a "Modern" writer comes in. I am looking forward to reading other's thoughts on this story!