Virginia Woolf: Caregiving and the Fragmented Self
Grandolfo, Marialaura
Grandolfo, Marialaura
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Abstract
This dissertation examines the interrelationship between caregiving and the notion of self in the fiction of Virginia Woolf. Starting from the premise that caregiving constitutes a challenge to the traditional notion of the self as autonomous, it proposes that Woolf’s depiction of caregiving evolves alongside her writing: from metaphorical death in The Voyage Out and performance or oppressive imposition in Mrs. Dalloway, caregiving becomes a powerful, enabling possibility to transcend the limits of the self in To the Lighthouse. Woolf identifies in the empowered caregiving character the solution to the fragmentation of the narrative and the isolation of the characters typical of Modernist Literature. More generally, this dissertation aims to demonstrate that, though the gendering of caregiving is problematic, the caregiving dynamic is necessary both to society and to the construction of narratives.
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Thesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Spring 2017.
Date
2017
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Self (Philosophy), Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941
Citation
Grandolfo, Marialaura. "Virginia Woolf: Caregiving and the Fragmented Self". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2017.