Jacob's Room

Jacob's Room is a novel by Virginia Woolf, published in 1922.

The novel does not feature a normal plot with one thing happening after another, but it is rather a big collage consisting of different situations and thoughts involving the protagonist, Jacob Flanders. Jacob's life and character are presented in this collage: There is not only internal monologue of Jacob himself, but also observations of him as a person, made by people who know him.

In Jacob's Room Woolf does not use a classical narration structure, but breaks with literary traditions and finds an alternative of telling a story. She designes a puzzle of images that eventually form a whole, which contains Jacob's personality and his experiences in life. Just as James Joyce's Ulysses, Jacobs Room presents a new way of narrative structure.

What the reader learns about Jacob's life is that he grows up in Cornwall, studies in Cambridge (but does not earn a degree), travels to Greece and Italy and likes to lock himself in his room in order to read classical Greek and Roman authors. When World War One breaks out, Jacob leaves his room forever to become a soldier and eventually dies in the war.

Even though the reader learns quite a bit about Jacob's life, he/she does not really get to know Jacob. On the one hand, the protagonist seems to be somewhat of a superficial character; on the other hand, Woolf keeps on giving hints that allow a deeper insight into Jacob's personality. The auctorial statement at the beginning accordingly says: "It is no use trying to sum people up. One must follow hints, not exactly what is said, nor yet entirely what is done".

Important topics in the novel are the images of time and death. Presenting time, Woolf clearly distinguishes between chronological measurable time and perceived time (the time Jacob feels). The permanent presence of clocks as well as narration stylistics emphazise the significance of time. Also, the entire novel is interstratified by symbols of death.

Sources:

Beck, Andrea: Konstitution von ästhetischen Sinnsystemen in sieben Hauptwerken Virginia Woolfs. Frankfurt am Main et al.: Lang, 1987.

Boekhorst, Peter te: Das literarische Leitmotiv und seine Funktionen in Romanen von Aldous Huxley, Virgiia Woolf und James Joyce. Frankfurt am Main et al.: Lang, 1987.

Erzgräber, Willi: Virginia Woolf. Eine Einführung. 2. Auflage. Tübingen/Basel: Francke, 1993.