Re-Visioning Virginia Woolf in Moments of Being

• Main Authors: Chou Hui-chen, 周慧貞
• Other Authors: Liu Kai-ling
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/28874308943158788501

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 外國語文學系 === 89 === This thesis re-examines Virginia Woolf from the two looking-glass incidents in Moments of Being. During her childhood, Woolf looked at herself secretly and was overwhelmed by shame. She tried to explain this shame by three possible reasons─the Tomboy code, the family traditions, and the sexual abuse. Chapter one explores the first possible reason─the Tomboy code. The Tomboy code followed by Woolf and Vanessa hardly reconciled with the Victorian code that they were expected to follow. Therefore, Woolf’s self is twisted between the tomboy code and the Victorian code. Chapter two studies the second possible reason─the family heritages of Woolf’s parents Julia and Leslie Stephen. The tradition of beauty represented by Julia affects Woolf’s artistic writing. The tradition of intelligence represented by Leslie affects Woolf’s realistic writing. However, these two opposite heritages obsessed Woolf for years. She hardly reconciled the two opposite heritages. Her self is dashed to break. Chapter three investigates the third possible reason─the sexual abuse by Woolf’s two half-brothers Gerald and George Duckworth. Woolf took on various personae when she by and by led the reader to understand the hypocrisy of George. This slow and gradual revelation seems to reflect the traumatic effect of the sexual abuse on Woolf. We might not be used to read the experimental memoirs as Woolf’s and expect hers to be like the unified ones. Therefore, from my first reading of Moments of Being to my last re-vision of this thesis, I prefer commenting on the writer Virginia Woolf─experimental and creative in the autobiographical writings─to detecting the person Virginia Woolf─arguable and disputable in her own memoirs.