On Feminist Thoughts In Virginia Woolf's Anti-War Works

Existing literary criticism on Virginia Woolf tends to focus on her"stream of consciousness"technique or her feminist thoughts such as"androgyny", feminist discourses, feminist literary tradition, and so on. This thesis differs from other approaches in that it attempts to give a more comprehensive analysis and exploration of feminist thoughts in Woolf's anti-war works from the perspective of feminist theories. The study has found a strong belief in Woolf that there is an internal link between war and patriarchism, and female qualities can prevent the self-extermination of human beings. In her angry condemnation of war and its catastrophe, Woolf shows how women were unwittingly involved. There is a deep concern on Woolf's part about the fate of humanity in general and that of women in particular. In wartime, and in a patriarchal society, women's sufferings are greater than those of men.The thesis will take the great event"war", which affects human beings in general and women in particular, as a starting point, and examine Woolf's feminist ideas of war by analyzing four of her anti-war works: Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, Three Guineas and Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid. It consists of five chapters. Chapter One is a literature review of researches on Woolf followed by an introduction to feminism as relevant to this study. Chapter Two retrospects the three great wars (the two world wars and the Spanish Civil War) and points out their influence on Woolf. Chapter Three discusses women's particular problems in war and Woolf's anti-war works from the angle of feminism. Chapter Four explores the history of women's lib and the implications of Woolf's feminist ideas of war. Chapter Five is a conclusion, summarizing the main ideas and major findings of the thesis.