A CITY OF ONE’S OWN: APPROPRIATING LONDON IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S PORTRAIT OF A LONDONER
A CITY OF ONE’S OWN: APPROPRIATING LONDON IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S PORTRAIT OF A LONDONER
Author(s): Ivana DragoşSubject(s): Studies of Literature, Other Language Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara / Diacritic Timisoara
Keywords: London; anti-modernist representation; private and public space; subjectivity; constructed space;
Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the anti-modernist representation of London, as revealed by Mrs. Crowe, the protagonist of Virginia Woolf’s essay “Portrait of a Londoner”. Despite being sketchy and highly descriptive, the essay foregrounds London not only as a setting, but also as a symbolic image, constructed by the female heroine, who maps out the city through gossip and anecdotes related by the guests she welcomes in her Victorian home. I claim that Mrs. Crowe creates a mental cityscape which enables her to act metaphorically both as an urban historian and as a biographer of London who makes the fragmented and discontinuous modernist city comprehensible.
Journal: B.A.S. British and American Studies
- Issue Year: 28/2022
- Issue No: 28
- Page Range: 83-88
- Page Count: 6
- Language: English