The Dilemma of Woolf's Androgyny: A Close Look at Androgyny in <em>A Room of One's Own</em> and <em>Orlando</em>.

<p>This thesis explores Woolf's concept of androgyny through a comparison of her nonfiction essay <em>A Room of One's Own</em> and her fiction-fantasy novel <em>Orlando</em>. Recent and past critical writings on Woolf and androgyny have been consulted, as well as primary sources including her works, private letters, and diaries. Woolf's concept of androgyny embodies a fundamental dilemma. In <em>A Room of One's Own</em>, Woolf calls for spiritual and mental androgyny while avidly supporting physical, social, and cultural differences between men and women. In <em>Orlando</em>, Woolf creates a character who is unable to reach mental androgyny because of social conditioning of gender and sex roles. The dilemma lies in Woolf's embrace of stereotypical ideas that distinguish men and women, while in the end, such differences inhibit the mental and spiritual androgyny she exalts. The findings shed new light on Woolf and the controversy of her "androgynous vision" by exposing the fundamental dilemma.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MA (Master of Arts)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Holman, Crystal Gail

• A Room of One's Own
• gender
• androgyny
• Orlando
• Virginia Woolf
• Arts and Humanities
• Classics
• English Language and Literature

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/106

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-1156