Tuesday 17 April [1934]

An idea about Sh[akespea]re

That the play demands coming to the surface—hence insists upon a reality wh. the novel need not have, but perhaps should have. Contact with the surface. Coming to the top. This is working out my theory of the different levels in writing, & how to combine them: for I begin to think the combination necessary. This particular relation with the surface is imposed on the dramatist of necessity: how far did it influence Shre? Idea that one cd work out a theory of fiction &c on these lines: how many levels attempted. whether kept to or not.

virginia woolf, diary