A Symphony Of Darkness And Light---a Comparative Study Of Heart Of Darkness And To The Lighthouse On Modernist Writing Techniques

Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf are both known as eminent modernist writers in English literature. Their innovative experimentation in modernist fiction marks their originality in the world literary circle. Their masterpieces Heart of Darkness and To the Lighthouse represent their thinking and innovation, deeply exploring human mind and representing their inner world with the proper words. The endeavors and experiments that Conrad and Woolf made have provided excellent examples for the perfect integration of content and style in the field of modernist fictional writing.Tough Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf are modernist writers, seldom do people associate them with in the study of English literature, mainly due to the seemingly sharp contrast in their writing style and thematic concern. The author of this thesis mainly focuses on the contrast in the study of their representative fictions: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.By reading the texts in detail, the thesis makes a comparasion study on their modernist techniques, namely narrative techniques, use of symbols and the characterization. To conclude, Conrad is among the pioneers in modernism, for he offers an opportunity for the transition from Victorian novels to modernist novels; Woolf, who betters modernist theories and writing, is among the creators of the modernist peak. Moreover, Woolf also puts her theories into her modernist writing techniques, which may render us a new idea of modernist writing.