Virginia Woolf | A Modernist Perspective

Virginia Woolf | A Modernist Perspective Virginia Woolfs novels incorporate the quintessential elements of the modern experience. I will explore the literary expression of these characteristics in relation to three of Woolfs novels: Mrs Dalloway, The Waves and To the Light House. Firstly, I will analyse the modernist perspective in relation to form, narrative technique, structural dynamic, gender etc. I will also investigate Woolfs materialization of time and how its constant reflections on the past incorporate a manifestation with the progression of actuality. I will also deconstruct the thematic ideologies envisioned in Woolfs texts and relate them to the exhibition of contemporary being. This part of the dissertation will focus centrally on the technical and modernist aspects of Woolfs writings The second part of the thesis will conceptualize the sociological and political background of Woolfs narratives. I will unravel the historical constructions and implications of her compositions. I will explore the concrete reality and the space that occupies the fictional fabrications of her novels. I will analyse Woolfs encapsulation of the city as a medium that shapes and conceptualizes aesthetic experience. I will explore her representations of the urban landscape and social environment and relate them to the theoretical investigations promulgated by critical interpretations of the metropolis. I will also analyze Woolfs exhibition of the city as a transitionary space in which sociological models are deconstructed and materialized. 3) Structure Introduction: Woolf as the quintessential modernist. This particular chapter will explore the general interpretations and influences of the modernist writer. It will offer an overview and introduction of Woolfs works. I will explore Woolfs idiosyncratic depictions of reality and how this complex process became the central preoccupations of the 19th century modernist writer. I will also deconstruct the radical innovations of the modernist experience and how these cultural, political, economical and historical productions destabilized the conventional constructs of actuality. Chapter 1: Past as a continuous presence, literary experiments with time: the experience of linear temporality and contemporary being in Virginia Woolfs novels. In this chapter I will analyze the influential dynamic of the past and how its materialization can formulate contemporary moments of temporality. I will particularly examine Mrs Dalloway. I will investigate the modernist production and representations of psychological and impersonal time. This chapter will incorporate a variety of critical theorist such as Henri Bergson and how his theoretical implications and materializations of time had consequential implications on the modernist aesthetic. Chapter 2: Experimental perspectives: the exploration of modern representations of the unconscious in Virginia Woolfs The Waves. This chapter will incorporate an exploration of the subjective experience presented in Woolfs narrative. I will investigate the exposition of Woolfs stream of consciousness technique and its consequential implications on the aspects and productions of the modernist experience. Chapter 3: Historical representations: a panoramic view of class and social structure in Woolfs Mrs Dalloway I will explore the social dynamic of Woolfs novels in this third chapter. I hope to encapsulate an entire perspective and viewpoint of the social world of Woolfs narratives. I will explore the social relationships that are represented in the text in particular in Mrs Dalloway. Chapter 4: The City as an aesthetic experience: metropolitan modernity in Woolfs novels. In this chapter I will incorporate an intense investigation on the depiction of the urban landscape displayed in Woolfs novels. I will uncover the aesthetic perspectives of the metropolis and consider its dynamic as a fluctuating and transformative space. I will also examine the different forms in which she presents the city as an aesthetic, irresolute and wavering experience. Chapter 5: A feminist critique: understanding Woolfs perspective. This particular chapter will offer an exploration on Woolfs representations and constructions of gender relations. I will also investigate the depictions of gender stereotypes in relation to class division and structure. Working Bibliography Ayers, David, Modernism: A Short Introduction. Blackwell, 2004. Print. Black, N. Virginia Woolf as feminist. 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(2HYPERLINK http://muse.jhu.edu.eproxy.ucd.ie/journals/journal_of_modern_literature/toc/jml.32.3.html009):39-62 Pawlowski, Merry M. Virginia Woolfs Veil: The Feminist Intellectual and the Organization of Public Space MFS Modern Fiction StudiesHYPERLINK http://muse.jhu.edu.eproxy.ucd.ie/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/mfs53.4.html, 53. 4. (HYPERLINK http://muse.jhu.edu.eproxy.ucd.ie/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/mfs53.4.html2007): 722-751. Seshagiri, Urmila. Orienting Virginia Woolf: Race, Aesthetics, and Politics in To the Lighthouse. MFS Modern Fiction StudiesHYPERLINK http://muse.jhu.edu.eproxy.ucd.ie/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/mfs50.1.html, 50.1. (HYPERLINK http://muse.jhu.edu.eproxy.ucd.ie/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/mfs50.1.html2004) 58-84 Taylor, Chloe .Kristevan Themes in Virginia WoolfHYPERLINK http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/3831688?Search=yessearchText=woolfsearchText=virginialist=hidesearchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=virginia+woolfacc=onwc=onprevSearch=item=3ttl=15185returnArticleService=showFullTextHYPERLINK http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/3831688?Search=yessearchText=woolfsearchText=virginialist=hidesearchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=virginia+woolfacc=onwc=onprevSearch=item=3ttl=15185returnArticleService=showFullTexts HYPERLINK http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/3831688?Search=yessearchText=woolfsearchText=virginialist=hidesearchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=virginia+woolfacc=onwc=onprevSearch=item=3ttl=15185returnArticleService=showFullTextHYPERLINK http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/3831688?Search=yessearchText=woolfsearchText=virginialist=hidesearchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=virginia+woolfacc=onwc=onprevSearch=item=3ttl=15185returnArticleService=showFullTextThe WavesHYPERLINK http://www.jstor.org.eproxy.ucd.ie/stable/3831688?Search=yessearchText=woolfsearchText=virginialist=hidesearchUri=/action/doBasicSearch?Query=virginia+woolfacc=onwc=onprevSearch=item=3ttl=15185returnArticleService=showFullText . Journal of Modern Literature, 29.3 (2006): 57-77