Banca de DEFESA: LUCAS LEITE BORBA

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LUCAS LEITE BORBA
DATE: 28/02/2024
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: PPGL-UFPE (on-line)
TITLE:

THE HISTORY RECREATED IN BETWEEN THE ACTS, BY VIRGINIA WOOLF

KEY WORDS:

Keywords: Virginia Woolf. Feminist Criticism. History. Essay. Between the Acts.

PAGES: 154
BIG AREA: Lingüística, Letras e Artes
AREA: Letras
SUMMARY:

In the works of Virginia Woolf, it is possible to find a frequent interest in questioning the historical narratives of the empire. This dissertation aims to analyze the rewriting of the past in the novel Between the Acts (1941/2022), observing how it conveys criticisms of imperial and fascist culture. The novel, set in the summer of 1939, introduces the Oliver family at Pointz Hall, the house where they host guests to watch a pageant. The plot revolves around this spectacle, created by the character Miss La Trobe, a woman described as an outsider. La Trobe represents this past in a non-conventional way, privileging ordinary life and abstaining, for example, from staging the war. The focus of the novel alternates between the actors and the audience's reactions, introducing us to the characters' nature, as some tend to appreciate tradition and are bothered by the play, while those open to new perspectives are marveled by it. This complexity leads us to divide our analysis into two parts: addressing representations of the present, the symbols that indicate the hegemony of imperial culture in the daily lives of these characters, and then exploring how this context influences La Trobe's reading of the past in her pageant. Chapter 1 proposes a mapping of Woolf's literature, arguing that Woolf, in addition to being a fiction writer, was a thinker of her own time. In this chapter, we will delve into how England is represented through fiction in Woolf's work, and the political implications of her aesthetic choices in the context of English modernism. Chapter 2 discusses the three theoretical pillars of the analysis: feminist criticism, history, and the essay genre. To define our understanding of the concepts of the feminine, woman, and femininity, we bring Toril Moi's explanation (1989) along with examples of the use of these terms in Woolf's works. Furthermore, by engaging Woolf's feminist essays with the contributions of Adrienne Rich (2010) and Hélène Cixous (1975), we discuss the idiosyncrasies of feminine authorship in Woolf's work. Additionally, we present discussions by Adkins (2023) and Bennett (2010) regarding nature as an actant in the world. The discussions about Woolf and nature stem from the essay "Anon"(1976), in which Woolf considers nature sounds present in art, a theme also addressed in the novel. Drawing from White (1994) and Said (2007), we explore the tensions and alignments of the author with historical discourse approaches. Finally, we understand that there is a Woolfian theory about history, literature, and feminine authorship conveyed in the author's essays. Thus, based on the contributions of De Obaldia (1995) and Gualtieri (2000), we propose to define our understanding of this genre and explain what Woolfian theory is and how it can be applied. Chapter 3, dedicated to the analysis of the novel Between the Acts, addresses both the artist's role as a provocateur of historical narratives and the aspects of representations of an alternative past. This chapter explores how La Trobe's pageant aligns with Woolf's ideas about rewriting the past through fiction and how this process is grounded in the pursuit of multiple perspectives that question dogmatic truths.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externa à Instituição - MARCELA SANTOS BRIGIDA - UERJ
Externo à Instituição - MARIA APARECIDA DE OLIVEIRA - UFPB
Presidente - ***.243.804-** - ROGERIO MENDES COELHO - UFRN
Interno - 2247579 - YURI JIVAGO AMORIM CARIBE