Virginia Woolf ou l’opacité de la transparence

Abstract

Woolf is fascinated with gossamer veils and diaphanous textures, turning semi-transparency into a concept, a metaphor for phenomenological consciousness and poetic creation. The dual structure of the lesser known essay The Sun and the Fish plays on the contrast between the gradual darkening of the sun during an eclipse and an incongruous aquarium, exposing the fish, offering a paradigmatic model of the gaze. Like the diary entry depicting the actual eclipse, the essay plays on scientific models and presents the gathering of people as the modern version of some ancestral ritual, half comical, half awesome, and couples images to question the very dynamic of free association. The essay may be read in gendered terms, but it also offers a paradigmatic representation of the dynamic of Woolf’s writing, which plays on opacity to reach transparency, leading to a discussion of structural tensions in Woolf’s novels, from Jacob’s Room to To the Lighthouse.

Keywords

• diary
• essay
• The Sun and the Fish
• Woolf