''The Mark on the Wall'' is the first published story by

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

. It was published in 1917 as part of the first collection of short stories written by Virginia Woolf and her husband,

Leonard Woolf Leonard Sidney Woolf (; – ) was a British political theorist, author, publisher, and civil servant. He was married to author Virginia Woolf. As a member of the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, Woolf was an avid publisher of his own work ...

, called ''Two Stories''. It was later published in New York in 1921 as part of another collection entitled ''

Monday or Tuesday ''Monday or Tuesday'' is a 1921 short story collection by Virginia Woolf published by The Hogarth Press. 1000 copies were printed with four full-page woodcuts by Vanessa Bell. Leonard Woolf called it one of the worst printed books ever publishe ...

''.

Summary

''The Mark on the Wall'' is written in the first person, as a "

stream of consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver (physician), Daniel Ol ...

" monologue. The narrator notices a mark on the wall, and muses on the workings of the mind. Themes of religion, self-reflection, nature, and uncertainty are explored. The narrator reminisces about the development of thought patterns, beginning in childhood.

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 ''Introspective'' is the third studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 10 October 1988 by Parlophone. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Background The album was unusual in that it reversed the typi ...

writing. The story acted as the foundation for the music theatre "The Mark on the Wall“ by Stepha Schweiger, which was premiered in 2017 a
Tête à Tête - The Opera Festival
in London at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

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. *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-.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mark on the Wall, The 1917 short stories Short stories by Virginia Woolf