«A voice answering a voice»

Il dialogo della poesia in Virginia Woolf

Authors

  • Angela Locatelli

Keywords:

Virginia Woolf, Lirica, Dialogismo, Orlando, Modernismo

Abstract

“Was not writing poetry a secret transaction, a voice answering a voice?” (Orlando). This apparently rhetorical question is, on the contrary, a challenge to explore the dialogic nature of poetry, and concerns a variety of discourses on “the poetical” that have characterized the literary and philosophical scene of the 20thCentury. This essay focusses on Martin Heidegger’s observations on language and on some of Gilles Deleuze’s views on literature, and aims to show that they are instrumental to a novel understanding of Woolf’s works and vice versa. A philosophical approach to Virginia Woolf’s universally acknowledged masterpieces, such as To the Lighthouse, The Waves, Orlando, Mrs Dalloway, allows an assessment of   the conceptual depth of her writing, while it sheds light on the poetic quality of her novels, as well. Moreover, it makes clear why Virginia Woolf belongs to the “poets” that have influenced some of the major philosophers of the age. This interpretative exchange between contemporary literature and philosophy confirms - and this is the main thesis of this essay - that thought and poetry intrinsically convoke each other, and that they belong to each other.

 

References

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Published

2022-02-22 — Updated on 2022-02-22

Versions

How to Cite

Locatelli, A. (2022). «A voice answering a voice»: Il dialogo della poesia in Virginia Woolf. Ticontre. Theory Text Translation, (16). Retrieved from https://teseo.unitn.it/ticontre/article/view/2078

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Section

Saggi