Narrative techniques in between the acts

Abstract

In order to discuss the techniques used by Virginia Woolf in her last novel, Between the Acts, 1 it is necessary to make a few general comments about the basic modes of narration. These widely recognized modes are described by William Peden as scene, in which the author depicts the action in the process of its taking place; summary, in which the author compresses action necessary to include but not of specific importance or interest to require more direct scenic method; and descripition, in which the author halts action to describe what the narrator or the characters see.