#& then if you want to read on i'd recommend jacob's room or mrs dalloway as a first novel

[sealochs]

Hello! How would you recommend an uninitiated person begin reading Woolf? A particular order? Is there something I should have in mind when reading her work?

ooh okay, so i've been asked this many times over the years & i've actually changed my answer since the last time, mostly bc i have more teaching experience now & actually i think if you're totally uninitiated you shouldn't go in cold with one of the novels

i'd recommend starting with the three short stories 'a mark on the wall', 'kew gardens' & 'an unwritten novel', & then reading the two essays 'modern fiction' and 'mr bennett & mrs brown'

these five shorter texts basically work together as a primer for woolf's whole experimental project, they'll give you an idea of what she's trying to do with the english novel, & context for the specific experiment(s) carried out in each of the novels when you move onto them. they're all written around the period of the late 10s - early 20s when woolf was really coming into her own, articulating her thoughts on modern fiction & modern life, & beginning to actually put some of her thoughts into practice

i think these will also answer your question about what to bear in mind too! i could tell you about letting her work happen to you, letting go of assumed notions about what a novel or piece of fiction is meant to look like or how it's meant to work or what information the prose is meant to give you - but honestly woolf can tell you much better than i can in those 3 stories & 2 essays!