On The Creation Of Woolf's Life And Death Theme

The mysteiy of life and death which perplexes human beings is one of the eternal themes in literature. Everyone will confront with the problem of life and death sooner or later, however, only the artists have the ability to distill something valuable from it, so as to inspire train of thinking and widen the field of vision. Virginia Woolf, the cele- brated British novelist, is one of the exploiters of modem literature and the forerunners of the stream of consciousness novels. Her theory of modem fiction and her craftsman- ship on stream of consciousness made a great contribution to the development of the world literature. The analysis and notice on life and death shown in her novels are also unique and leave us much mom for deep thought. Her view on life and death which is now of great value is shining more brilliantly in the company of the existence philoso- phy. Woolf?s style of writing is elegant and fluent, the significance has both extensive knowledge and profound scholarship, so to comprehend the view on life and death is the basis to observe the deep connotation in her works. Therefore, for the sake of ideal aes- thetic results, this dissertation will be divided into three parts of 揷omplex of Life and Death?, 揈xistence Consciousness?and 揚erspective on Death?to analyse Woolf?s ex- ploration on human beings?life and death in her works, so as to understand thoroughly the author s own view on life and death, and the reason for her to form it as well. Part 1. Complex of Life and Death. This part analyses the reason why the author focused on the theme of life and death. complex indicates some connected groups of ideas and thoughts which are full of mental feelings. The form of every idea and thought has its own source. Woolf抯 concentration on the problem of life and death has an in- dissoluble bond with her life experience. During the forming period of her view on life and value, that is, when she was in her thirteen to twenty ?four years old, she wit- nessed the death of her mother, her sister, her father, her brother in succession, which gave the most important influence on the forming of her thought, left unforgettable mark in her mind. The death that she faced struck her soul constantly. Endless sorrow and ?? continuous thinking prodUce(l a series of idea and thought on life and death in the deep- est place of her soul When she indulged in some kind of feeling and had no vwer to escape from it, complex then became the source of inspiration and motive force of writ- ing. Under this force of unbearable enthusiasm in her inner heart, being controlled by a sense of mission, Woolf started to create one perfect art after another punctiliously. Complex of life and death then became the inexhaustible source on her literary creation. Part 2. Existence Consciousness. This part systematically expounds Woolf?s thought on human beings?existence. She designed four steps for existence according to her comprehension on life and death: Firstly, to enlighten the individual?s self ?con- sciousness. In the stream of love or in the hard strike on soul, the subjective conscious- ness is awaken and the individual which has been controlled by others now begins to find oneself. Secondly, to leave the love affair and choose the common marriage, the individual will sink into the commonplace and care more on material instead of spirit, lose the communication of inner world between each person. At this time the helpless individual, walking on the waste land of spirit,...