Narrative and Narration: Virginia Woolf's "In The Orchard" Show Notes
Cordelivres Club Episode One Show Notes
This post contains the show notes for the most recent edition of our Cordelivres Criticism Club podcast; check out the episode if you haven’t yet—it’s free!
A helpful little Lit Hub link to the story—gotta love the public domain.
And there’re a couple photos of my edition down below.
Let’s get into it!
Exploring Narration in Modernist Fiction
Welcome to Les Cordelivres Criticism Club, a series of revolutionary criticism from Indirect Books. Our first discussion centers on Virginia Woolf's short story "In the Orchard" (1923). While Woolf is more renowned for novels and essays, this story is a wonderful, very strange piece that’s also a perfect vehicle for exploring the distinction between narration and narrative. A (the?) keystone in Modernist writing, this dichotomy is crucial for really appreciating the art of fiction. The discussion aims to provide insight into what these elements mean and why they matter, setting the foundation for future conversations in the series.
Modernist Narrative Techniques in "In the Orchard”
We get into how "In the Orchard" consists of three distinct sections, all looking at Miranda, who falls asleep in an orchard. Okay, cool; but the remarkable thing about this piece is its repetition of this straightforward narrative in three distinct narrational modes.
This unique technique involves rendering the same scene three times and allows us to consider the distinction between narrative (the story or plot) and narration (how the story is told). We can highlight the shift in narration and thereby the role of the narrating entity in shaping the narrative. This technique reflects the Modernist approach to storytelling, where the focus is on how the story is presented rather than just what happens.
In the art of fiction and literary nonfiction, this duality is at the center of how we can distinguish the form qua art-object. "In the Orchard" as a remarkable example in illustrating how different narrational approaches can render the same narrative, allowing us to focus on the technique used—solving for the narrative variable, as we say in the episode.
Third-Person Narration: The Narrating Entity
We get into a bit the characteristics of third-person narration in fiction, and our friend the narrating entity. This is not a person…but does have the ability to move around, see into characters' thoughts, and make subjective assessments. Although very common, referring to this entity as a "third-person narrator" is incorrect, as third-person narration by definition does not involve a human narrator. Instead it is something more like a Greek god—we settle on Athena in the show.
The development of an idiomatic specificity in fiction, particularly in third-person narration, is crucial. The best authors create distinct worldviews and textures through unique sensory descriptions—Woolf, here, uses things like church bells and fieldfares. Third can get there via techniques like free-indirect style or other voice-driven mechanical methods of infusing a narration with a worldview.
"In the Orchard" is an ideal case study here. If one pays close attention to Woolf’s narrative landmarks across the three iterations of the Miranda scene, the narrational shifts become apparent and it’s an incredibly useful way of seeing the importance of these choices. A splendid, wild, highly compelling story that we really had fun dissecting.
Thanks so much for listening and hope everyone enjoyed the talk.
À bientôt. In the meantime, au revoir—and stay critical.
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