Virginia Woolf and Christian Culture
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Reveals Virginia Woolf’s interest in Christianity, its ideas and cultural artefacts
This wide-ranging study demonstrates that Woolf, despite her agnostic upbringing, was profoundly interested in, and knowledgeable about, Christianity as a faith and a socio-political movement. Jane de Gay provides a strongly contextual approach, first revealing the extent of the Christian influences on Woolf’s upbringing, including an analysis of the far-reaching influence of the Clapham Sect, and then drawing attention to the importance of Christianity among Woolf’s friends and associates. It shows that Woolf’s awareness of the ongoing influence of Christian ideas and institutions informed her feminist critique of society in Three Guineas. The book sheds new light on works including Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and The Waves by revealing her fascination with the clergy, the Madonna, churches and cathedrals; her interest in the Bible as artefact and literary text; and her wrestling with questions about salvation and the nature of God.
Key Features:
Reveals the extent of Woolf’s knowledge of Christianity and her interest in it Presents fresh readings of Woolf’s works by throwing light on this neglected aspect of her thought Takes a strongly contextual approach, looking at Woolf’s engagement with contemporary religious debatesReveals the extent of the Christian influences on Woolf’s upbringing, including an analysis of the far-reaching and multi-dimensional influence of the Clapham SectTakes a wide-ranging and comprehensive approach to the topic, considering the social and political dimensions of religion as well as questions of spirituality and theology
Jane de Gay is Professor of English Literature at Leeds Trinity University and an Anglican priest. She is author of Virginia Woolf’s Novels and the Literary Past (Edinburgh University Press, 2006). She is co-editor of Virginia Woolf and Heritage (Liverpool University Press, 2017) and Voyages Out, Voyages Home: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Virginia Woolf Conference (2010) and a member of the editorial board of the Woolf Studies Annual.