Night and day

The most traditional of Woolf?s novels, yet even here we can see her beginning to break free; in this, her second novel, with its strange mixture of comedy and high seriousness, Woolf had already found her own characteristic voice. Katharine Hilbery, torn between past and present, is a figure reflecting Woolfs own struggle with history. Both have illustrious literary ancestors: in Katharines case, her poet grandfather, and in Woolfs, her father Leslie Stephen, writer, philosopher, and editor. Both desire to break away from the demands of the previous generation without disowning it altogether. Katharine must decide whether or not she loves the iconoclastic Ralph Denham; Woolf seeks a way of experimenting with the novel form that still allows her to express her affection for the literature of the past.