The Desire To Perform And Deconstruct

Virginia Woolf is an irreplaceable great British writer from the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.Her feminist thought is regarded by the feminist movement as a mountain-cutting hatchet and a guiding light,which has been continuously studied since the 19th century.However,she does not admit that she is a feminist.The author finds that she is unconventional in her life as an androgynous person.She developed "friendship" with women,and strove to get rid of the influence of patriarchy,discourse hegemony,as well as social conventions.All these are coincided with the queer theory emerged in the 20th century.The queer theory challenges the strict division of everything,which mainly includes gender division of male and female,the binary opposition of homosexuality and heterosexuality,and traditional homosexual cognition.This paper interprets,in connection with Virginia’s life,the works which represent her feminist thoughts best:A Room of One’s Own and Orlando.It explores the convergences between her and the queer theory,and analyzes the reflection of queer features in the works.The introduction briefly introduces Virginia and her two works,summarizes the research of Virginia at home and abroad,and then also summarizes the queer theory and its main contents.Later,the thesis analyzes the queer characteristics reflected in Virginia and her two works in three chapters from the three main research directions of queer theory.The first chapter revolves around Virginia’s view of sex and explores her attitude towards male and female and its reflection in her works.The second chapter studies Virginia’s perspective on gender.It also explores her views on the impact of social norms and discourse power on men and women as well as her understanding of the essence of gender.The third chapter focuses on Virginia’s complex sexual orientation and its impact on her works.The conclusion part summarizes the fit between Virginia and the queer theory.In Woolf’s works,there are not only traces and experiences of her life,but also her thoughts and consciousness beyond the ordinary.Virginia’s excellent ideas arise from feminism but transcend feminism.Her feminist thoughts transcend the limitations of the times,and oppose the binary opposition.It hopes that both men and women would be free in the real sense so that the two genders could be androgynous.Her life and works expresse the advanced thoughts to us,which are freedom,equality,independence,tolerance,and liberation.