Self Quest And Experimental Writing

As a great master of Stream-of-Consciousness, Virginia Woolf is the most outstanding female writer in the 20th century English literature. Her first published novel, The Voyage Out, describes the self quest of Rachel Vinrace, a 24 years old girl, reveals problems in different aspects, such as society, politics, relationships between the two sexes, love, and marriage, and thus reflects Woolf's consciousness of modernism and her efforts in experimental writing.Modernism exists in relation with the development of philosophy, aesthetics and psychology in the fast modernized western world. Based on textural analysis, with the theory of Heidegger's existentialism and Freud's psychoanalysis, this thesis will expose Woolf's modernist thoughts and experimental writing by analyzing the connection between self quest of Rachel Vinrace and modernist features in The Voyage Out.The whole thesis consists of five parts. Introduction, the first part, gives an overview of Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, and its critical reception outside of and in China, and the theoretical basis.Chapterâ… , the second part, analyzes the modernist features through the perspective of philosophy. Woolf's existential consciousness bears much resemblance to the thought of Heidegger and Existentialism. This can be illuminated through the following perspectives: firstly, in the process of her self quest, Rachel always falls into deep philosophical thinking; secondly, the novel ends with Rachel's death.Chapterâ…¡, the third part, analyzes the modernist features through the perspective of psychology. Influenced by Freud'psychoanalysis, Woolf makes The Voyage Out a modernist work. This can be illuminated through the following perspectives: firstly, the descriptions of people's psyche in the novel are always in disorder and illogical; secondly, Woolf's understanding of life and reality is also embodied in her writing.Chapterâ…¢, the forth part, analyzes the modernist features through the perspective of deconstruction. Both Rachel and Woolf are in the process of self quest and deconstruction of the tradition, and in this way, Woolf makes The Voyage Out a modernist work. It can be illuminated through the following perspectives: firstly, Rachel's aunts want Rachel to be a Victorian lady; however, Rachel wants to find herself through her own effort; secondly, as a woman writer, Woolf is also deconstructing the traditional woman image and traditional writing in order to find the proper way to express herself.The thesis comes to its conclusion part by highlighting the findings in the previous chapters. This part gives a reflection on the relations of Woolf's existential consciousness, Freud's psychoanalysis and modernist features in The Voyage Out. In short, Woolf's existential consciousness, her understanding of people's psyche, and her deconstruction of tradition, make her writing modernist in the depiction of Rachel's self quest.