Setting the Record Queer: Rethinking Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (Lettre)

»To define is to limit«, Lord Henry states, and Mrs. Dalloway »would not say of anyone [...] that they were this or that«. Why then are the respective novels mostly read - and in recent adaptations rewritten - in denial of their genuinely ambiguous designs? Bringing the two literary classics together for the first time, their shared concerns regarding textual and sexual identities are revealed. Challenging an established critical record commonly related to Oscar Wilde's and Virginia Woolf's own mythologised biographies, this study underscores the value of constantly rethinking labels by liberating the texts from the limiting grip of categorical readings. Literature,Queer,Culture,Novel,Wilde,Woolf,Gender,British Studies,Queer Theory,Gender Studies,Literary Studies Contents Acknowledgements 1. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Mrs. Dalloway – A Joint Adventure 2. The Record So Far So Not Good 3. Queer Questioning: Sexed Texts 3.1 Queer Interrogations: What’s in a Name? 3.2 Roland Barthes and Textual Performativity: Against Mythologies 3.3 Judith Butler and Sexual Performativity: As a Matter of Pact 4. Dorian and Dalloway: A Comparison 4.1 The Semiological Value: Discomforting Texts 4.2 The Ideological Substance: Composed So for the World Only 5. Wilde Rewritings 5.1 Jeremy Reed: Dorian. A Sequel to The Picture of Dorian Gray 5.2 Will Self: Dorian. An Imitation 6. Rewriting Woolf 6.1 Robin Lippincott: Mr. Dalloway 6.2 Michael Cunningham: The Hours 7. Conclusion: Con-Fusion 8. Works Cited

»To define is to limit«, Lord Henry states, and Mrs. Dalloway »would not say of anyone [...] that they were this or that«. Why then are the respective novels mostly read - and in recent adaptations rewritten - in denial of their genuinely ambiguous designs?Bringing the two literary classics together for the first time, their shared concerns regarding textual and sexual identities are revealed. Challenging an established critical record commonly related to Oscar Wilde's and Virginia Woolf's own mythologised biographies, this study underscores the value of constantly rethinking labels by liberating the texts from the limiting grip of categorical readings.