SOURCE: Lackey, Michael. “The Gender of Atheism in Virginia Woolf's ‘A Simple Melody.’” Studies in Short Fiction 35, no. 1 (winter 1998): 49-63.

In the following essay, Lackey perceives “A Simple Melody” to be a transitional work in Woolf's short fiction oeuvre and examines her portrayal of male atheism in the story.

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Posthumously published, the 1925 short story “A Simple Melody” is one of the most pivotal works in Virginia Woolf's corpus, signaling a decisive break with her first four novels, yet anticipating the central issues of her last five. Typical of Woolf's fiction, the story features a main character who is an atheist, a man who, like Woolf, mocks those who believe in God: “To believe in God indeed!” says George Carslake, “When every rational power protested against the crazy and craven idiocy of such a saying!” (203).¹ While it is quite normal for early Woolf to make her protagonist an atheist...