Orts, Scraps, and Fragments: The Elusive Search for Meaning in Virginia Woolf's Fiction - Couverture souple

Lisa Coughlin McGarry

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0761837507 ISBN 13 : 9780761837503

Editeur : University Press Of America, 2007

Synopsis

This work explores a central question of the human condition: how do we find meaning in human experience? Virginia Woolfs novels give us insight into the Modernists response, one that reacts to the devastation of war, advances in the sciences, and a deeper understanding of human consciousness. Orts, Scraps, and Fragments contends that the social constructs of religion, marriage, and communication fail to provide the meaning and interpersonal connection that society invests in them. Instead, Woolfs characters struggle within these constructs and ultimately find themselves disillusioned, unfulfilled, and isolated. Through a close reading, Dr. McGarry analyzes the ways in which characters, such as Clarissa Dalloway, Mrs. Ramsay, Giles and Isa Oliver, and Jacob Flanders, attempt to work through the realization that meaning is elusive. However, Woolfs few artistic characters have the ability to transcend this darkness. Through their struggle for creative expression, they glimpse, if only briefly, a larger, unifying meaning. For Lily Briscoe, Miss LaTrobe, and Bernard this momentary hint of universal meaning provides sufficient motivation to continue the artistic process and life itself. For Woolf art, not imposed social constructs, sustains life.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Lisa Coughlin McGarry is Assistant Professor of English, specializing in modern British literature, and director of the writing program at Gwynedd-Mercy College in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, where she is an active member of the college community.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University Press Of America
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0761837507
• ISBN 13: 9780761837503
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 180
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne