The Mark on the Wall

"Perhaps it was the middle of January in the present that I first looked up and saw the mark on the wall."

Yes, 'The Mark on the Wall' is about a woman sitting in her chair, starring at a mark on the wall, but if you think that is all it is you are in for a surprise. In a series of stream of consciousness, which Virginia Woolf mastered so well, the narrator contemplates the cause of this unknown mark, and in doing so, reveals much about both herself and the society she is a part of.


Woolf's first published story, 'The Mark on the Wall' is often taught as an example of "introspective writing" and is included in several anthologies.

Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was an English writer who, despite growing up in a progressive household, was not allowed an education. When she and her sister moved in with their brothers in a rough London neighborhood, they joined the infamous The Bloomsbury Group, which debated philosophy, art and politics. Woolf's most famous novels include 'Mrs Dalloway' (1925) and 'To the Lighthouse' (1927).