The Mark on the Wall explained

The Mark on the Wall is the first published story by Virginia Woolf.^[1] It was published in 1917 as part of the first collection of short stories written by Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard Woolf, called Two Stories.^[2] It was later published in New York in 1921 as part of another collection entitled Monday or Tuesday.

Summary

The Mark on the Wall is written in the first person, as a "stream of consciousness" monologue.^[3] The narrator notices a mark on the wall, and muses on the workings of the mind.^[4] Themes of religion, self-reflection,^[5] nature, and uncertainty are explored. The narrator reminisces about the development of thought patterns, beginning in childhood.^[6]

Reception

Woolf's style in The Mark on the Wall has been frequently analyzed by literary writers; the story is used as an example of introspective writing.

The story acted as the foundation for the music theatre "The Mark on the Wall“ by Stepha Schweiger, which was premiered in 2017 at opera festival Tête à Tête at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.^[7]

Publication

The Mark on the Wall has been included in a number of anthologies.

• Woolf, Virginia. "A Mark on the Wall." The Norton Anthology of English Literature.Vol. F. Ed. 8th ed. Ed.Stephen Jahan Ramazani; Greenblatt; M. H. Abrahms; Jon Stallworthy. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
• Woolf, Virginia. "A Mark on the Wall." Haunted House and other stories. Hogarth Press, London, 1944.^[5]
• Woolf, Virginia. (28 March 2014). Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories. Start Classics. pp. 39–. .
• Woolf, Virginia. "The Mark on the Wall." The Wordsworth Collection of Classic Short Stories. Wordsworth editions, 2007. pp. 1334-.

Notes and References

1. Book: Douglas Mao. Rebecca L. Walkowitz. Bad Modernisms. 1 July 2010. Duke University Press. 0-8223-8782-4. 124–.
2. Book: Jane Goldman. The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf. 14 September 2006. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-45788-0. 88–.
3. Book: Ralph Freedman. Virginia Woolf: Revaluation and Continuity, a Collection of Essays. January 1980. University of California Press. 978-0-520-03980-3. 53–.
4. Book: Susan Sellers. The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf. 18 February 2010. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-89694-8. 42–.
5. Book: Dave Welsh. Underground Writing: The London Tube from George Gissing to Virginia Woolf. 2010. Liverpool University Press. 978-1-84631-223-6. 180–.
6. Book: Jennifer Margaret Fraser. Be a Good Soldier: Children's Grief in English Modernist Novels. 1 January 2011. University of Toronto Press. 978-1-4426-4313-0. 157–.
7. Web site: The Mark On The Wall . Tête à Tête . 21 June 2024 . 2017.