Woolfian Boundaries - Clemson University
Woolfian Boundaries - Clemson University Woolfian Boundaries - Clemson University
20 WOOLFIAN BOUNDARIES of accompanying physical illness and incapacity” are often the prelude to an “outbreak of fresh life,” involving a “veer[ing] round” of “the whole nature” and “a considerable and rapid mental advance”: “discomfort and uneasiness,” enforced physical inaction, and detachment from the outside world are the necessary accompaniments of worthwhile transformation (Art 107, 248-52). Carpenter’s mystical evolutionism thus turns such illnesses from “signals of failure” into “steps forward in the line of evolution,” celebrating the fl uidity of the human mind (Art 251). It is not diffi cult to imagine the appeal of such a conception to Woolf as a writer battling against mental and physical illness. Turning to Woolf’s own writing, the fate of her semi-autobiographical heroine, Rachel Vinrace, in her fi rst novel, Th e Voyage Out, may be read as a failed version of the central miracle of “Th e May-Fly.” Just as Carpenter’s may-fl y begins life as “a brownish…creature” (238), so the face of Woolf’s heroine at the opening of Th e Voyage Out lacks “colour and defi nite outline” (13). However, though the may-fl y emerges from its “lethargic subaqueous existence” as a chrysalis at the bottom of the stream to become “a little fairy with four pearly lace-like wings” dancing in the sunshine (237-38), at this stage in Woolf’s writing career Rachel cannot achieve the freedom of creative fl ight, remaining “curled up at the bottom of the sea” unable to escape her illness (322). 8 In her diary, Woolf similarly described her own “glooms” as “a plunge into deep waters” and referred to “that odd amphibious life of headache” (D3 38, 112). Yet, as early as 1921, she began to see the “feminine” mental and physical instability associated with her bouts of illness as a productive form of fl uidity, “full of interest,” and preparatory to leaps forward in her creative life (D3 112). 9 Signifi cantly, in a diary entry for 16 February 1930, she imagines this process as a pupal stage: “It [my mind] refuses to go on registering impressions. It shuts itself up. It becomes chrysalis. I lie quite torpid…. Th en suddenly something springs… & this is I believe the moth shaking its wings in me” (D3 287). Alternatively, in “On Being Ill” (1926), the deliverer of this creative lethargy—the “hero” Chloral—is itself pictured as an ethereal insect “with the moth’s eyes and the feathered feet” (E4 319). Finally, and most revealingly, the ultimate meaning of Carpenter’s “May-Fly” as a parable of immortality—of the human spirit’s ability to “slip[] her [bodily] shroud”—contributed to the most mystical of Woolf’s books, Th e Waves (1931), for which, of course, she had originally intended the title Th e Moths (Art 254). Notes 1. For a useful summary of Woolf’s acerbic comments on a variety of mystics see Kane (328-31). 2. See Gordon (82-83) and Lee (171). 3. Carpenter quotes from Berkeley’s Principles: “all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth…have no subsistence without mind” (Art 39n1; Berkeley 55). 4. See Woolf’s observation that the scene of “Elvira [Sara] in bed” is “the turn of the book” which “needs a great shove to swing it round on its hinges” (D4: 149). 5. For Carpenter’s anti-statist views, see Cachin. 6. For an account of the infl uence of both Lamarck and Whitman on Carpenter’s theory of exfoliation, see Gershenowitz. 7. See Carpenter’s Th e Intermediate Sex. 8. In Melymbrosia, Rachel expresses the view that “love and fl ying” are what matter in life (192). Rachel can also be identifi ed with the moth trapped beneath the hotel sky-light in Th e Voyage Out (322). 9. See D2, 8 August 1921, 126; also D3, 28 September 1926, 112; D3, 16 September 1929, 254 and “On Being Ill” (E4 317-29).
Brown-ness, Trees, Rose Petals, and Chrysalises Works Cited Berkeley, George. Principles of Human Knowledge and Th ree Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. Ed. Roger Woolhouse. London: Penguin, 1988. Cachin, Marie-Françoise. “‘Non-governmental Society’: Edward Carpenter’s Position in the British Socialist Movement.” Edward Carpenter and Late Victorian Radicalism. Ed. Tony Brown. London: Cass, 1990. 58-73. Carpenter, Edward. Th e Art of Creation. Enlarged ed. London: Allen, 1907. ——. Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure. Complete ed. London: Allen & Unwin, 1921. ——. England’s Ideal. 4 th ed. London: Sonnenschein, 1902. ——. Th e Intermediate Sex. London: Allen & Unwin, 1908. ——. Towards Democracy. Complete ed. London: Sonnenschein, 1911. Gershenowitz, Harry. “Two Lamarckians: Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter.” Walt Whitman Review 2.1 (1984): 35-39. Gilbert, Sandra M. “Costumes of the Mind: Transvestism as Metaphor in Modern Literature.” Writings and Sexual Diff erence. Ed. Elizabeth Abel. Brighton: Harvester, 1982. 193-219. Gordon, Lyndall. Virginia Woolf: A Writer’s Life. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986. Kane, Julie. “Varieties of Mystical Experience in the Writings of Virginia Woolf.” Twentieth Century Literature 41 (1995): 328-49. Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. London: Chatto, 1996. MacCarthy, Desmond. “Edward Carpenter: Minor Prophet.” Listener 7 September 1944: 270-71. Woolf, Virginia. Th e Diary of Virginia Woolf. Ed. Anne Olivier Bell with Andrew McNeillie. 5 vols. London: Hogarth, 1977-1984. ——. Th e Essays of Virginia Woolf. Ed. Andrew McNeillie. 4 vols. to date. London: Hogarth, 1986-1994 . ——. Melymbrosia. Ed. and introd. Louise DeSalvo. San Fransisco: Cleis, 2002. ——. A Room of One’s Own. London: Grafton, 1977. ——. Th ree Guineas. Introd. Hermione Lee. London: Hogarth, 1986. ——. Th e Voyage Out. Ed. and introd. Jane Wheare. London: Penguin, 1992. ——. Th e Waves: Th e Two Holograph Drafts. Ed. J. W. Graham. London: Hogarth, 1976. ——. Th e Years. London: Penguin, 1968. 21
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Brown-ness, Trees, Rose Petals, and Chrysalises<br />
Works Cited<br />
Berkeley, George. Principles of Human Knowledge and Th ree Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. Ed. Roger<br />
Woolhouse. London: Penguin, 1988.<br />
Cachin, Marie-Françoise. “‘Non-governmental Society’: Edward Carpenter’s Position in the British Socialist Movement.”<br />
Edward Carpenter and Late Victorian Radicalism. Ed. Tony Brown. London: Cass, 1990. 58-73.<br />
Carpenter, Edward. Th e Art of Creation. Enlarged ed. London: Allen, 1907.<br />
——. Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure. Complete ed. London: Allen & Unwin, 1921.<br />
——. England’s Ideal. 4 th ed. London: Sonnenschein, 1902.<br />
——. Th e Intermediate Sex. London: Allen & Unwin, 1908.<br />
——. Towards Democracy. Complete ed. London: Sonnenschein, 1911.<br />
Gershenowitz, Harry. “Two Lamarckians: Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter.” Walt Whitman Review 2.1<br />
(1984): 35-39.<br />
Gilbert, Sandra M. “Costumes of the Mind: Transvestism as Metaphor in Modern Literature.” Writings and<br />
Sexual Diff erence. Ed. Elizabeth Abel. Brighton: Harvester, 1982. 193-219.<br />
Gordon, Lyndall. Virginia Woolf: A Writer’s Life. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986.<br />
Kane, Julie. “Varieties of Mystical Experience in the Writings of Virginia Woolf.” Twentieth Century Literature<br />
41 (1995): 328-49.<br />
Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. London: Chatto, 1996.<br />
MacCarthy, Desmond. “Edward Carpenter: Minor Prophet.” Listener 7 September 1944: 270-71.<br />
Woolf, Virginia. Th e Diary of Virginia Woolf. Ed. Anne Olivier Bell with Andrew McNeillie. 5 vols. London:<br />
Hogarth, 1977-1984.<br />
——. Th e Essays of Virginia Woolf. Ed. Andrew McNeillie. 4 vols. to date. London: Hogarth, 1986-1994 .<br />
——. Melymbrosia. Ed. and introd. Louise DeSalvo. San Fransisco: Cleis, 2002.<br />
——. A Room of One’s Own. London: Grafton, 1977.<br />
——. Th ree Guineas. Introd. Hermione Lee. London: Hogarth, 1986.<br />
——. Th e Voyage Out. Ed. and introd. Jane Wheare. London: Penguin, 1992.<br />
——. Th e Waves: Th e Two Holograph Drafts. Ed. J. W. Graham. London: Hogarth, 1976.<br />
——. Th e Years. London: Penguin, 1968.<br />
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