A Posthuman Quest for Establishing Self-Image through Nature in Virginia Woolf’s The Waves

Abstract

Virginia Woolf, in her highly experimental modernist novel The Waves (1931), depicts the psychological depth and texture of human experience through a series of fragmented and disjointed images, interior monologues and soliloquies, highlighting the feeling of loss, disillusionment, and brokenness. Throughout The Waves (1931), the characters strive to express themselves, and engage in a posthuman quest for a construction of a self-image through interactions with human and nonhuman life forms, and co-existence with the environment. This paper explores The Waves from a material posthumanist approach to offer a new perspective to Woolf’s understanding of the interface of nature and culture, self and the environment, the human and nonhuman agencies. This approach would be useful means to analyze the characters’ yearning for unification and their embodiment with nature, and explore the posthuman materiality of living and non-living beings that would help them redefine their shattered images and modern way of living.

Keywords

• Virginia Woolf
• The Waves
• posthumanism
• new materialisms
• ecocriticism

Virginia Woolf’un Dalgalar Romanında Doğa Yoluyla Öz-İmge Kurmak İçin Bir Posthüman Arayış

Öz

Virginia Woolf, son derece deneysel olan modernist romanı Dalgalar (1931) (The Waves)’da, insan deneyiminin psikolojik derinliğini ve dokusunu, bir dizi parçalanmış ve kopuk görüntüler, iç monologlar ve kendi kendine konuşma tekniği (soliloquy) yoluyla tasvir ederek, kayıp, hayal kırıklığı ve kırılmışlık hissini vurgulamaktadır. Dalgalar (1931) romanı boyunca, karakterler kendilerini ifade etmeye çabalarlar ve insan ve insan olmayan yaşam formları ile etkileşimler içine ve çevre ile birlikte var olma yoluyla bir öz-imge inşası için posthüman bir arayışa girerler. Bu makale, Woolf'un doğa ile kültür, benlik ve çevre, insan ve insan olmayan yapılar arasındaki arayüz anlayışına yeni bir bakış açısı sunmak için materyal bir posthüm anist yaklaşımla Dalgalar’ı (1931) incelemektedir. Bu yaklaşım karakterlerin doğayla bütünleşme ve bir olmaya özlem duymak ve canlı ve cansız varlıkların maddeselliğini keşfetmek ve paramparça imajlarını ve modern yaşam tarzlarını yeniden tanımlamalarına yardımcı bir araç olarak görülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Virginia Woolf
• Dalgalar (The Waves)
• Posthumanizm
• Öz-imge
• yeni materyalizm

Kaynakça

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