Virginia Woolf's Novels and the Literary Past

Jane de Gay

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November, 2007
Paper, 232 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-7486-3302-9
Edinburgh University Press
$38.00

This is the first book to explore Virginia Woolf’s preoccupation with the literary past and its profound impact on the content and structure of her novels.

It analyses Woolf’s reading and writing practices via her essays, diaries and reading notebooks and presents chronological studies of eight of her novels, exploring how Woolf’s intensive reading surfaced in her fiction. The book sheds light on Woolf’s varied and intricate use of literary allusions; examines ways in which Woolf revisited and revised plots and tropes from earlier fiction; and looks at how she used parody as a means both of critical comment and homage.

Related Subjects

• Literary Criticism and Theory

About the Author

Jane de Gay is Senior Lecturer in English and Director of the MA in Victorian Studies at Trinity and All Saints' College, Leeds. She is co-editor, with Lizbeth Goodman, of four books on gender and theatre, including Languages of Theatre Shaped by Women.

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