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Jane Austen versus Virginia Woolf

© Lisa Martin McAfee

The next few articles will compare and contrast the writings of Jane Austen with the writings of Virginia Woolf, an early twentieth-century woman author. Within a time span of about one-hundred years society changes dramatically. The issues of Austen’s world profoundly differ from Virginia Woolf’s world which more closely match the problems of today’s society.

There are a few interesting things to note concerning the biographies of Austen and Woolf. Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775, and died in 1817. Her writings mark the transition from the eighteenth century neo-classicism to 19th century romanticism. She had seven siblings, one of which was mentally disturbed. She was extremely close to her sister Cassandra throughout the rest of her life.

Virginia Woolf was born January 25, 1882, and died in 1941. Her writings mark the shift from the Victorian era to the twentieth century. Her writings consist of an experimental style of modernistic writings known as stream-of-consciousness. She too had seven siblings, (4 half-siblings, and three full blooded siblings) her eldest half sister was also mentally disturbed, and had a life long attachment to her sister, Vanessa.

What changed so drastically in this relatively short period of time to bring about such a dramatic change in society? To begin with, Austen lived in a world of “moral certainty.” This society knew what to expect from their world, there was a certain order and hierarchy, and as Victorian poet, Robert Browning so eloquently put it, “God’s in His Heaven. All’s right with the world.”

Of course, this certainty was just an illusion, as the Brownings were well aware. And Jane Austen was no stranger to poverty, inequality in gender roles and social class, or grief. But, her writings simply do not deal with these issues in the same way Virginia Woolf’s do. Austen’s style is ironic, satirizing the society in which she lives. And Austen’s childhood appears to be happy and free of the incest and death that surrounds much of Woolf’s childhood.

The Victorian era was known as “The Age of Innocence.” Society was changing slowly but surely, but there is a naivette concerning the workings of the “real world” ; by many in the upper classes. The countryside had begun to give way to factories, and the depersonalization of the individual. Materials were being mass produced, and it wasn’t until the mid to late part of the 19th century that these issues begin to be discussed.

By the time Virginia Woolf wrote “To The Lighthouse,” there had been a horrible World War,