‘Burning in this Clumsy, this Ill-fitting Body’. Corporeality in Virginia Woolf’s Writing

Master’s Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, University of Nottingham (School of English Studies), language: English, abstract: After the introduction, which dwells on the relation between corporeality and spirituality, the first chapter explores how the significance of corporeality for the individual is illustrated in Woolf’s novels Mrs Dalloway and The Waves as well as in her theoretical writing. Thereby, similarities between Woolf’s writing and Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception are pointed out. Chapter two examines to what extent Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection as described in Powers of Horror is applicable to Woolf’s novels. The characters’ attitudes towards sexuality, food, illness and death are analysed. Chapter three focuses on the social and linguistic difficulties which need to be overcome in order to write about corporeality. Woolf’s narrative craft is analysed and briefly compared to James Joyce’s writing style in Ulysses.