a) What is the task that has been set for Woolf? Why does she find this task particularly difficult? Why does Woolf feel that she can only offer her "opinion" on the matter of "women and fiction"?
b) Why does Woolf propose to offer her audience a story rather than a lecture? Is her choice of form fitting? According to Woolf, is there truth in fiction?
c) In "Street Haunting", Woolf wrote: "Circumstances compel unity; for convenience sake a man must be whole." What do you think she means by this? How might this statement be related to the fact / value dichotomy we spoke about in class? How do facts emerge in her story? (Tip: Think about the episode with the beadle.)
d) How might the chapel episode be related to the title of the book and the other episodes?
e) How the luncheon episode related to Woolf's thoughts on fiction?
f) Woolf once wrote of the Victorian Era,
Ivy grew in unparalleled profusion. Houses that had been bare stone
were smothered in greenery...And just as the ivy and the evergreen
rioted in the damp earth outside, so did the same fertility show itself
within. The life of the average woman was a succession of childbirths.
What does this have to do with Mrs. Seton?
g) What (social) issue(s) are raised in the dinner episode, further developed in conversation with Mary about Fernham, and in relating of the brief history of Mrs. Seton? How does this relate to the title of the book?
h) List the main themes of this chapter.
i) What is the relationship between fiction and fact for Woolf?