intertext

hmmm. That's a good question. Woolf can be more difficult: something like The Waves for example, which I find extremely put-downable - to be read only when strictly in the mood to be challenged. On the other hand, Mrs. Dalloway though rich and complex and beautifully written, I wouldn't hesitate to teach to a 2nd year lit class, as I feel it IS accessible on a level of being able to get "at" the characters and theme and so on... McKillip can be inacessible actually in a somewhat similar way- not on that of language, but in distancing herself from readers, I think. She's writing for poetry, not for plot. And in that sense there is, at some level, some similarity to Woolf... Lit crits would howl, no doubt, but I think that McKillip isn't trying to please an audience. She's certainly not churning out what is called on the sf list "EFP" for Extruded Fantasy Product (something like the fantasy equivalent of cheese whiz)