Walking Virginia Woolf's London

An Investigation in Literary Geography

Lisbeth Larsson

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9783319556710
• eBook ISBN: 9783319556727
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

This innovative volume employs theoretical tools from the field of literary geography to explore Virginia Woolf's writing and the ways in which she constructs her human subjects. It follows the routes of characters from The Voyage, Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and more as they walk around London, demonstrating how Woolf constructs the characters in her stories in a very politically conscious way. As Larsson argues, none of Woolf's characters are able to walk just anywhere, at any time in history, or at any time of the day. Time, place, gender, and class form the conditions of life that the characters must accept or challenge.

Featuring an array of detailed maps, Walking Virginia Woolf's London: An Investigation in Literary Geography brings a fascinating new perspective to Virginia Woolf's work. It is essential reading for scholars of modernist literature or geocriticism.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• Summary
• Contents
• List of Maps
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Dreaming of London—The Voyage Out
• Chapter 3 A Room of One’s Own Behind the Strand—Night and Day
• Chapter 4 A Brief Moment in Bloomsbury—Jacob’s Room
• Chapter 5 Walking in Upper-Class Westminster—Mrs. Dalloway
• Chapter 6 Trials and Tribulations—To the Lighthouse, Orlando, A Room of One’s Own, The Waves and Flush
• Chapter 7 All Over the Map of London—The Years
• Chapter 8 The Map of London Exhausted—Between the Acts
• Bibliography
• Index of Persons
• Index of Places