Beauty and Woolf

Article

Humm, M. 2006. Beauty and Woolf. Feminist Theory. 7 (3), pp. 237-254.
AuthorsHumm, M.
Abstract

The article argues that feminist theory has focused, in the main and for too long, on theories of the body, in a legitimate reaction to a Western masculine coupling of beauty with a female or idealized maternal body and the sublime with male creativity. In consequence there are few productive feminist accounts of female or maternal beauty .However, Virginia Woolf's writings about beauty, mothers and the body, if read through the lens of post-Lacanian theory - particularly the work of Luce Irigaray and Bracha Ettinger - do offer a moving and positive account of women and beauty. The article analyses Woolf's ideas about beauty in general, before focusing on To the Lighthouse and The Voyage Out in relation to the writings of Woolf's mother Julia Stephen.

Keywordsbeauty; Virginia Woolf; feminist theory; mothers; body; Bracha Ettinger; Julia Stephen; post-Lacanian theory; Luce Irigaray
JournalFeminist Theory
Journal citation7 (3), pp. 237-254
ISSN1464-7001
Year2006
Accepted author manuscript
License
CC BY-ND
Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1464700106064422
http://hdl.handle.net/10552/348
Publication dates
Print2006
Publication process dates
Deposited28 Oct 2009
Additional information

Citation:
Humm, M. (2006) ‘Beauty and Woolf’ Feminist Theory 7 (3) 237-254.

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Accepted author manuscript
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License: CC BY-ND

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