Virginia Woolf: The Unfathomable Deep and RomantIc Tradition

Abstract

<p>The first chapter is an attempt to demonstrate the relationship between certain key features of Virginia Woolf's work and the artistic and philosophical theories of the English Romantics. Particular attention is focused upon the common distinction between two contrasting orders of experience, which are metaphorically denominated "the depths" and "the surface" in the writings of Virginia Woolf. Discussion follows of the pattern or rhythm, designated "the Rebirth archetype", into which these two states often fall, and its significance both in art and in life. Within this context, as well as that of Romantic myth in general, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse. and the final section of The Waves are examined in the following three chapters.</p>