INNER AND OUTER SPACES AND THE CREATION OF IDENTITY IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S “JACOB’S ROOM”, “MRS. DALLOWAY” AND “THE YEARS”

Abstract

Space plays an important part in all of Virginia Woolf’s writings, whether we are speaking about her novelistic output or her essays. Space becomes an interstitial realm between modernity and tradition. Solitude, privacy, become the key ingredients of successful artistic creation, with creativity being described as a privilege of the solitary, of those capable, and allowed, to function outside the pressure of larger social groups or even outside the close family circle. Space is never just space in Woolf’s novels – instead it becomes an engine that drives creativity, identity, and one could almost argue that space becomes a deeply political reality in all of her writings. Nowhere is this more evident than in her urban novels, where the cityscape takes on various roles and functions. Space in her fiction is both external and internal, with the two being in constant interaction. Whether we are speaking about the distinction between male and female spaces, spaces meant for creation and spaces meant for work, shared or individual spaces, real or imaginary borders, movement across such borders, mental and internal spaces, space always fulfils important narrative and metaphorical functions in Woolf’s texts. In the present paper we will try to relate Virginia Woolf’s creation of urban landscapes to several theories regarding the creation of space identity from the field of architecture, urban design and renewal, and political studies. Thereby we will attempt to prove that the creation of space equals the creation of identity across the wide spectrum of meaning of the term. Public and private spaces become antithetic, with the public realm mirroring the established cultural and social stereotypes, whereas private spaces are associated with artistic creativity and individual freedom. Public spaces, being the spaces of established social norms, are usually “male” spaces, whereas private ones are perceived as predominantly “female”. Because of this “male”, “traditional” component, urban public spaces are described in distinctive ways which will be analyzed in the novels “Jacob’s Room”, “Mrs. Dalloway”, and “The Years”.