City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 1989 Escaping the Alphabet: The Reading of Silence in the Novels of Virginia Woolf Patricia Laurence The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3896 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photo­ graph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. 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Ann Aibor, MI 48106 Escaping the Alphabet: The Reading of Silence in the Novels of Virginia Woolf by Patricia Laurence A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York. © 1989 PATRICIA LAURENCE All Rights Reserved iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in English in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. [Signature] date Chairman, Examining Committee [Signature] t)(J 31. m s date Executive Officer [Signature] [Signature] [Signature] Supervisory Committee The City University of New York iv Abstract ESCAPING THE ALPHABET: THE READING OF SILENCE IN THE NOVELS OF VIRIGINA WOOLF by Patricia Laurence Adviser: Professor Mary Ann Caws The exploration of the theme and narration of silence in Virginia Woolf's novels in this dissertation brings under scrutiny nothing less than her perceptions of the nature of gender, being, mind, knowledge and language. Woolf, searching for a language of mind amid changing concepts of mind in the twentieth century, creates a new rhetoric of silence. In defining silence as a "presence" and not just an "absence" in life and narration, Woolf displaces the privileged place of the "speaking subject" and speech or dialogue in the novel. In Chapter 1, there is an attempt to define what "silence" is in a text. It is about a theory of reading silence in any text as well as a reading of silence in Virginia Woolf's novels. Chapter 2, The Reading of Silence, discusses Woolf's notions of the reader and the writer, and how the critical perspective of Deconstruction confers a new kind of "readability" on the element of silence in her novels. Chapter 3, The Writing of Silence, provides a methodology for the identification of "scenes of V silence" through a lexicon of silence, a punctuation of suspension and metaphors of silence. Chapter 4, Narrating Interiority, provides a brief overview of the narration of interiority in the English novel. Chapter 5, Keeping the Silence, demonstrates that silence is viewed as a "ritual of truth" of women in sleeted novels of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Virginia Woolf. Chapter 6, Breaking the Silence, presents women's silences as a "ritual of oppression" in selected novels of Samuel Richardson, Charles Dickens, George Meredith and Thomas Hardy. Chapter 7, Escaping the Alphabet, reinterprets the bodily expression of hysteria and delusion in The Voyage Out and The Waves as another form of silence. Chapter 8, Listening to Silence, establishes alternating rhythm as a fact of Woolf's style, and juxtaposes the harmony of The Waves with the modern counterpoint of Between the Acts. Taken together, the chapters indicate the layers of silence in Woolf's novels. Her narrative experimentation anticipates certain post­ modern critical themes and fictional perspectives on interiority, the unconscious, ineffability, and the limitations of language and interpretation. Vi Acknowledgements In writing acknowledgements, one wishes, like Lily Briscoe, £or "fifty pairs of eyes to see with" for so many people contribute to the making of a dissertation. I want to particularly thank my adviser, Professor Mary Ann Caws, who inhabits always in my mind's eye, a Chagall landscape: she floating by in dazzling blue with book in hand; I, trailing, in flight. She, like Virginia Woolf, adventuring, changing always, led me into kinds of literary criticism that a more cautious advisor would not have dared, and I am indebted to her for the intellectual lesson of "letting go." I also want to thank Professor Jane Marcus for her generosity of time and spirit. Her savvy conversation about Woolf and life and the profession enlightened and enlivened my writing days. I am indebted also to Professor Gerhart Joseph, a fine teacher of literary theory, who taught me to read Michel Foucault, and to Professors Vincent Crapanzano and Jane Tompkins, outstanding teachers, who also helped to ground me in the contemporary literary theory which is the underpinning of this dissertation. Thanks also to Professor Marvin Magalaner who strengthened my exploration of "silence" with direct, knowledgeable and hard questions in a course on Woolf four years ago. Thanks in unforseen ways to my father who did not live to see the first Ph.D. in our Czech family, but who early on, unwittingly, led me to become the independent person I am; to my mother who passed on her strong work ethic which v i i enabled me, I sometimes wonder how, to juggle the writing of this dissertation while teaching at City College and, more or less, keeping things running in my family. When it was less, my husband, Stuart, took up the slack, usually in good-humor, and developed culinary practices and a taxi service for the children while I developed textual practices. Thanks to my humorous son, Jonathan, who, seeing me working at my noiseless computer into the night, feared sometimes that it, like an umbilical cord, was plugged into ay navel; to my teenage daughter, liana, who though sometimes jealous of my work and solitude when writing, in the end, rallied to write me a celebratory poem containing the lines: As your friend and your foe I am congratulating you so On being a nag, and sometimes a proctor, But most of all, for being my mother, the Doctor. Thanks also to my mother-in-lav, Ann Childs, who kept urging me "to finish the thing," and kept practicality in sight when I was being drawn off into the mysticism of silence. Gratitude also to ay friends for their qualities which comforted me during the writing of this dissertation: Bella Halsted, for her unfailing sympathy and for wanting to read the whole bloody thing without being asked; Nili Baider, for her love of walks and talks; Roberta Matthews, for her clarity of mind on intellectual, emotional and City University issues; Marylea Meyersohn, for her lively friendship; Daniela Daniele, for sharing my love of Woolf; and Richard Nochiason, for being one of the loyalest people v iii in the world. M l appreciate with me Woolf's perception that "The beauty of the world has two edges: one of laughter, and one of anguish, tearing the heart asunder." ix List of Illustrations Illustration 1 Max Ernst, Une Sernainc de Bonte 159 Illustration 2 Max Ernst, Une Seaaine de Bonte 160 Illustration 3 Andre Brouillet, MAClinical 164 Lecture at the Salpetriere" Illustration 4 Henry Fuseli, "The Nightmare" 165 Illustration 5 Robert Fleecy, "Pinel Delivering 166 the Madwomen of the Salp£trifcre" Illustration 6 Max Ernst, Une Sernaine §&. 167 Illustration 7 Max Ernst, LLQfi. SemaiDS Sift BsnJfci 168 Illustration 8 Reaedios Varos, "Rheumatism, 209 Lumbago and Sciatica" Illustration 9 Frida Kahlo, "Henry Ford Hospital" 211 Illustration 10 Frida Kahlo, "The Dream" 213 Illustration 11 Leonor Fini, "Chthonian Divinity 215 Watching Over the Sleep of a Young Man" Table of Contents Chapter One 1 Introduction Chapter Two 35 The Reading of Silence Chapter Three 46 The Writing of Silence Chapter Four 81 Narrating Interiority in the English Novel Chapter Five 101 The Keeping of Silence: Silence as a Ritual of Truth in Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Virginia Woolf Chapter Six 142 The Breaking of Silence: Silence as a Ritual of Oppression in Samuel Richardson, Charles Dickens, George Meredith and Thomas Hardy Chapter Seven 157 Escaping the Alphabet: Decoding Women's Bodies and Minds in The Vovaae Out and The Waves Chapter Eight 231 Listening to Silence: Rhythm in The Waves and Between the Acts Conclusion 291 Works Cited 298 1 Chapter 1 Introduction St.