Virginia Woolf: Lesbian Readings (The Cutting Edge - Lesbian Life and Literature Series)

The last two decades have seen a resurgence of critical and popular attention to Virginia Woolf's life and work. Such traditional institutions as __The New York Review of Books__ now pair her with William Shakespeare in promotional advertisements; her face is used to sell everything from Barnes & Noble books to Bass Ale. **Virginia Woolf: Lesbian Readings** represents the first book devoted to Woolf's lesbianism. Divided into two sections, Lesbian Intersections and Lesbian Readings of Woolf's Novels, these essays focus on how Woolf's private and public experience and knowledge of same-sex love influences her shorter fiction and novels. Lesbian Intersections includes personal narratives that trace the experience of reading Woolf through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Lesbian Readings of Woolf's Novels provides lesbian interpretations of the individual novels, including __Orlando, The Waves__, and __The Years__. Breaking new ground in our understanding of the role Woolf's love for women plays in her major writing, these essays shift the emphasis of lesbian interpretations from Woolf's life to her work.

The last two decades have seen a resurgence of critical and popular attention to Virginia Woolf's life and work. Such traditional institutions as The New York Review of Books now pair her with William Shakespeare in promotional advertisements; her face is used to sell everything from Barnes & Noble books to Bass Ale.

Virginia Woolf: Lesbian Readings represents the first book devoted to Woolf's lesbianism. Divided into two sections, Lesbian Intersections and Lesbian Readings of Woolf's Novels, these essays focus on how Woolf's private and public experience and knowledge of same-sex love influences her shorter fiction and novels. Lesbian Intersections includes personal narratives that trace the experience of reading Woolf through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Lesbian Readings of Woolf's Novels provides lesbian interpretations of the individual novels, including Orlando, The Waves, and The Years.

Breaking new ground in our understanding of the role Woolf's love for women plays in her major writing, these essays shift the emphasis of lesbian interpretations from Woolf's life to her work.

Cover 1 Title 8 Copyright 9 Contents 10 Acknowledgments 12 A Note on the Text 14 Abbreviations 15 Contributors 16 PART I. Lesbian Intersections 20 1. Introduction 22 2. A Lesbian Reading Virginia Woolf 29 3. The Pattern behind the Words 40 4. "The Gift of a China Inkpot" 56 5. Reading Influences 76 6. Lesbian Modernism in the Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein 97 7. The Death of Sex and the Soul in Mrs. Dalloway and Nella Larsen's Passing 114 PART II. Lesbian Readings of Woolf's Novels 134 8. Introduction 136 9. "The Things People Don't Say": Lesbian Panic in The Voyage Out 147 10. Unmasking Lesbian Passion: The Inverted World of Mrs. Dalloway 165 11. Bringing Buried Things to Light: Homoerotic Alliances in To the Lighthouse 184 12. Orlando: "A Precipice Marked V" 199 13. Rhoda Submerged: Lesbian Suicide in The Waves 222 14. "Pearls and the Porpoise": The Years—A Lesbian Memoir 241 15. Entering a Lesbian Field of Vision: To the Lighthouse and Between the Acts 260 Works Cited 278 Untitled 296