Reality In Virginia Woolf’s Biographies

Biographies and biographical criticism published by Virginia Woolf are the heated issues in the realm of Woolf studies. The biographies that Woolf published include Orlando:A Biography, Flush:A Biography and Roger Fry:A Biography and her biographical criticism is representatively argued for in the essay "The New Biography". Scholars at home and abroad either concern about the "novelness" and "fictionality" of her biographies or explore her idea of "new biography" in her biographical criticism, or attempt to denote that Orlando:A Biography and Flush:A Biography published by Woolf are her biographical practices directed by the idea of "new biography". However, a problem remained unsolved in the realm of Woolf studies is that why Woolf does not keep her innovative style consistently from writing Orlando:A Biography, Flush:A Biography to Roger Fry:A Biography. Her last biography, Roger Fry:A Biography even returns to the tradition of biography. Therefore, from Woolf s "theory of reality", this thesis endeavors to analyze reality in Orlando:A Biography, Flush:A Biography and Roger Fry:A Biography attempting to clarify the uniformity of her biographies that are diverse in style.This thesis consists of introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction includes literature review, research questions and methodology. It mainly constructs Woolf s "theory of reality’’which is considered as the approach of the thesis so as to point out that the "reality" in biography contains three dimensions:"reality of a life", "reality of biographical form" and "reality of biographer". Chapter 1 discusses reality of a life demonstrated in Orlando:A Biography, Flush:A Biography and Roger Fry:A Biography. This chapter attempts to point out that biography is the literature of a certain person with the central issue to present the life history of the subject who was alive once. Woolf strives for demonstrating the true self of the subject, this reality of a life is a dynamic and vibrant individual consisting of outer life and inner life. Thus, the reality of life aims to display wholeness, particularity and historicity. Chapter 2 discusses reality of biographical form manifested in Orlando:A Biography, Flush:A Biography and Roger Fry:A Biography. This chapter endeavors to prove that the reality of a life requires biographer to find a proper form for his subject. Orlando:A Biography is a fictional biography with romance elements attempting to establish Orlando as a symbol of universal existence of human being; Flush:A Biograph a fictional biography with two subjects aimed to reshape the true self of Robert Browning; Roger Fry:A Biography a standard biography intending to construct Roger Fry as a hero whose life possesses the possibility of continual existence. Chapter 3 explores reality of biographer embodied in Orlando:A Biography, Flush:A Biography and Roger Fry:A Biography. This chapter tries to indicate that in Woolf s sense, the relation between biographer and his subject is the interaction between one subject to another subject, which forms a communication mode of "you" and "I". Biographer attains self-understanding while he understands his subject. As both a craftsman and artist, biographer discovers reality of his own life in writing the life of the other person.The thesis points out in the conclusion part that Woolf s biographies attempt to reach an agreement among subject, biography and biographer on the nature of biography, namely presentation of reality. Woolf s theory of reality endeavors to deconstruct dual-opposition with the interference of experience in the framework of dualism, which results in her vacillation in biographical writing and biographical forms.