The Voyage Out: From Pastoral To Post-pastoral

Among Virginia Woolfs literary compositions,The Voyage Out,which Woolf wrote from 1910 to 1912,stands out with its unusual spatial setting.Famous for her urban writings,Woolf nevertheless set the story in a fictional and remote South American colony in her first novel which she took pains in creating.As being suggested by the title of the novel,the story is about the heroine’s travel from London to Santa Marina,and in the resort she gets familiar with the local atmosphere and grows mature.Compared to the rather simple plot,the spatial representation in the novel is quite complex.The basic narrative impetus is to get away from the feeling of being oppressed in the city and to seek a natural space out of the empire that would bring freshness.Because of this,Santa Marina is depicted as a natural pastoral in contrast to London.As the story develops,however,the ideological force behind this pastoral construction and its relevance to the imperial center are gradually disclosed.Woolfs representation of Santa Marina is therefore complicated and is worthy of being paid attention to.In the precedent studies,scholars generally interpret The Voyage Out as a criticism on patriarchy and imperialism,taking Santa Marina as totally being under control of the empire.Yet this interpretation neglects the complexity of Woolfs depiction of Santa Marina.Woolf first admits its difference with the city and the possible alternative order that it could offer,justifying the characters voyage.Later,she also points out the imperialist discipline behind the pastoral representation,indicating that it is England that manipulates the spatial features of this colony according to its imagination of an idealized pastoral.Nonetheless the exposure of the ideology behind the pastoral ideal does not suggest a complete pessimism of Woolf.Instead,Woolf explores the potential of this exotic space,showing how it may resist imperialism and other oppression.While picturing an ideal pastoral and indicating its possibility of countering urban maladies,the novel also reflects over the suppresive discourse inherent of the western pastoral mode,and further tries to establish a de-centered and egalitarian post-pastoral space.This thesis talks about the spatial representation in The Voyage Out and its connection with the theme of the novel from the viewpoint of the writing of pastoral.The body of this thesis is divided into three chapters:Chapter One analyses how the novel forms a basic comparison between the city and the pastoral through spatial movement.The story begins with characters’ walk on the streets of London,and then describes their voyage towards Santa Marina,during which the geography as well as social relations change.The exotic pastoral gives characters a pre-modern experience of time and space,and offers the heroine an ideal place to get rid of the dominant discourse and to develop herself.Chapter Two discusses how Woolf exposes the power relation behind the pastoral construction in an imperialist context.Geographical manipulation is an important dimension of imperialism.England exploits resources from colonies,and represents them as ideal resorts for English people.That the native space is constructed as pastoral further shows the infliction of power upon the exotic other through tourists’ gazes.The criticism of imperialism would be a recurrent theme in Woolfs writings.Chapter Three studies Woolf s exploration of the liberating potential of pastoral.We can understand this with the concept of post-pastoral.The concept of post-pastoral was invented by Gifford.It is an extension of the pastoral tradition engaged with ecocriticism.Although the imperialist force has already permeated through the pastoral space in the novel,the ineffectiveness of western civilization deep in the jungle and the returned stare by the natives indicate the limitation of external power.The construction of post-pastoral space in the novel not only conveys Woolfs stance against imperialism,patriarchy,and anthropocentrism,but also demonstrates her wish for people to reconnect with nature and to reawaken their bodily senses.With the above analysis,this paper seeks to suggest the thematic importance of the pastoral construction in The Voyage Out Through the movement away from the empire and into an exotic pastoral,Woolf first reflects upon the condition of modern English society and people who live within,and offers an alternative lifestyle to the alienated urban dwellers.Her then exposure of the power relation underneath the pastoral representation proves her awareness and criticism of imperialism.Finally,through the writing of post-pastoral,Woolf explores the potential of the exotic space to resist imperial discipline,and expresses her longing for a harmonious ecological relation through the liberating potential of pastoral.