Arnold Bennett and Virginia Woolf: A Feud Between Two Literary Generations

In a feud that lasted more than a decade, Arnold Bennett and Virginia Woolf went blow for blow until, perhaps, the dispute eventually became more personal than professional. Nevertheless, some interesting insights into the character and what makes a good character arose. For example, whilst Bennett believed that Georgian's were to be blamed because they were 'unable to create characters that are real, true and convincing' ('Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown, 1924, p. 4), Woolf locates the problem in the previous generation of the Edwardians as she believed that although they are able to supply a great deal of detail, they lack the ability to create complex characters. Of course Woolf is unable to leave this statement hanging; she must provide evidence. It is here that not only does Woolf provide evidence against Mr. Bennett, but also Mr Wells and Mr. Galsworthy too. On pages 13-14 of 'Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown', Woolf uses the figure of Mrs. Brown to argue that Mr. Wells would act in ignorance and would project her as perfectly happy and would omit her poor dress and anxiousness. She implies that Mr. Galsworthy would simply ignore or discard her, and she asserts that Mr. Bennett would do his best to avoid her. This is perhaps where it gets a little more personal, as Woolf extends this criticism of Arnold Bennett into his own work, using a paragraph from his novel, Hilda Lessways, as an example. Woolf boldly argues that Bennett, and the Edwardians in general, were materialists who were more preoccupied with outward details rather than the inner complexities of people and life. Woolf calls to abandon Edwardian interests in outside details and to instead embrace the internal complexities of that character in his/ her representation. In An Unwritten Novel (1921), Woolf not only gives voice to a "normal" middle aged woman (like Mrs. Brown), but also muses about the complexity of the soul and the inner self and wonders 'when the self speaks to the self, who is speaking? - the entombed soul, the spirit driven in, in, in to the central catacomb; the self that took the veil and left the world [...]' ([p. 34). In more abstract works, such as Blue and Green (1921), Woolf uses literary impressionism to convey what is difficult to express through language, but which is ultimately a representation of one's innermost feelings as portrayed through objects, sounds and light- 'harsh cries', 'sharp blades', 'empty sky'. Even in these abstract works a high sense of reality is achieved; we know not who the narrator is, or if there is one, but we are able to sense emotions that are so true, so identifiable, that there is no need for the descriptiveness a writer such as Arnold Bennett may provide, for Woolf bares the inner complexities of the soul through the words she paints. 




Sammy Evans