A Review of Studies on Virginia Woolf from the Perspective of Psychology〔＊〕

Zhu Yanyang

（College of Literature ＆Journalism Jishou University，Jishou Hunan 417000）

Virginia Woolf is regarded as the most prominent female writer in English literature for the profoundness and complication of her literary thoughts as well as the experiment and innovation of her writing skills.Over a century，scholars have made diverse comments on Virginia Woolf and her works.Besides，modern studies on Virginia Woolf strive to investigate relations among Woolf，the Bloomsbury Group，modern British society，femalism movements and modernist literature.Such studies have been continued since foreign scholars combined studies on her with psychology in 1950s.And the psychological studies turn to be hot recently.

Ⅰ.Psychological studies on Virginia Woolf in the West

In the West，psychological analyses of Virginia Woolf in the last century were mainly published in forms of biographical studies.The edition and publication of her diary and letters began in the 1950sand 1970s.The book Virginia Woolf：A Biography written by her nephew Quentin Bell in 1972and materials about her left by Leonard Woolf made biographical studies of her psychology much easier.On this basis，several scholars launched influential studies，so psychobiographical studies on Virginia Woolf have been formed.〔1〕

A group of critics of psycho-biographical studies analyzed Woolf from the aspect of her psychology.Starting from her life experience，they explored her inner world and causes of her inner world.Here are psycho-analytic biographies：Virginia Woolf：the Origin of Madness and Art by Jean Love（1977），The Unknown Virginia Woolf by Roger Poole（1978），Virginia Woolf and Grievous Quarrels by Mark Spilka（1980），All That Summer She Was Mad by Stephen Trombley（1981），Virginia Woolf ：The Impact of Childhood Sexual A-buse on Her Life and Work by Louis Desalvo（1989），Virginia Woolf：the Combination of the Heaven and Hell by Peter Dally（1999）.〔2〕Among those，The Unknown Virginia Woolf by Roger Poole，Virginia Woolf：The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work by Louis Desalvo and Virginia Woolf and Grievous Quarrels by Mark Spilka are three masterpieces of psychobiographical studies，and they demonstrate two opposing views.The Unknown Virginia Woolf discloses lewd behavior conducted to young Woolf by her two half-brothers.The book doesn’t hold the idea that such experience made her deranged；on the contrary，it deems the experience to be a trial help for her to attain the wisdom of understanding the life，the courage to struggle against the life and motivations to mirror the life skilfully.Charms of her works lie in the authentic representation of difficulties in life.Virginia Woolf：The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Workalso focuses on the sexual abuse suffered by her.To a certain extent，miserable descriptions of the childhood are reflections of her own experience.〔3〕Virginia Woolf and Grievous Quarrels regards Woolf as apsychiatric patient as well.In most cases，characters portrayed by her cannot handle their emotions well.Even the disuse of traditional narration and the adoption of modern fragment narration rather than complete narration owe to the mental scars likewise.

Another group of critics put their emphasis on the relation between Woolf’s literary work and her life.For instance，Virginia Woolf：a Writer’s Life by Lyndall Gordon（1984）insists that Woolf has poured all of her life and emotional experience into writing.Hence，her work and life are correlated and corroborated.〔4〕Virginia Woolf：A Kind of Literary Career by John Mepham （1991）is another representative of such studies.In Mepham’s opinion，Woolf is a writer pursuing innovation in the arts constantly.Each work of hers is a new attempt，and each new attempt is to search for new ways of reflecting life and thoughts.Efforts to express life and her understanding of life run through her literary career all the time.〔5〕In addition，Methods for Studies on Virginia Woolf’s Life by Ellen Hawkes（1974）indicates that writing is a constant exploration into herself.

Some scholars noticed the impact of psycho-analytic theories of Freud and Melanie Klein on Woolf and manifestations of the impact in her works.Critics took two characters in To the Lighthouse for example.Still some scholars wrote monographs from the perspective of psychology and mentality to analyze Woolf’s literary works.The monograph Virginia Woolf and Psychoanalysis Novels （1989）by Elizabeth Abel is a paragon.It points out that the narrative pattern of Mrs.Dalloway and To the Lighthouse corresponds to that of the psychoanalysis of Freud and Melanie Klein respectively.Virginia Woolf：Feminism，Originality and Unconsciousness （1997）by John Maze analyses the theme of psychopathology in Woolf’s works in details.

A number of foreign scholars combined studies on Virginia Woolf with psychology since the 21st century and there are three masterpieces.“Till taxis dance with daffodils”：Combination of the Inner and Outside World in Woolf’s later works（2004）by S.A.Smith is an important supplement for psychological studies on Woolf.It takes The Years，the Acts and Three Guineas as its objects of study，indicating that Woolf concerns about wars and emphasizes the influence of objective events on one’s inner world in her writing.〔6〕Therefore，she seeks a narrative pattern integrating the truth and fiction.Retrieve Your Stories：Proust，Joyce，Woolf，F(xiàn)aulkner，and Morissen （2006）by A.L.Weinstein manifests that readers perform better in finding those innermost and unperceived stories by reading the works of writers like Proust，because those masterpieces always reflect the inner world of readers.In the analysis of Mrs.Dalloway and To the Lighthouse，Weinstein mainly stresses the importance of highlighting the relation in the exploration of writers themselves.Psychological symbolism in works of Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath （2008）by J.Schmalfuss focuses on the analysis of The Bell Jar of Sylvia Plathas well as Mrs.Dalloway，To the Lighthouse and The Waves of Virginia Woolf.It compares methods of psychological symbolism in those works and concluded that both writers combined their works with psychoanalytic theories intentionally.

Psychoanalytic methods used to cure trauma in medical field have been introduced to literary studies since 1980s.There is only one book specifically analyzing Woolf’s works in this perspective，and that is Virginia Woolf and Trauma coauthored by Suzette Henke，etc.The book mainly discusses the impact of sexual abuse on Woolf’s aesthetics，the syndrome of trauma of war in Mrs.Dalloway and the expressive form of trauma of death in The Waves.Besides，Mixing Memory with Trauma in the Works of Sigmund Freud，D.H.Lawrence，Virginia Woolf and Malc by Tsai explores the profound influence of disastrously histori-cal events like the world war in the 20th century on the mentality of modernism writers and the way they express the trauma in the form of modernism.〔7〕These works no longer limit themselves in studying the trauma of Woolf by biographies，but turn their eyes on analyses of the text.However，relevant frontier theories are needed to support such analyses.

Ⅱ.Psychological studies on Virginia Woolf in China

Affected by critics in the West，the majority of studies on Virginia Woolf in China are to explore Woolf’s psychological features，mental traits and literary works to express the understanding and interpretation of Chinese scholars.Such trend has been started since the late 1980s.

Virginia Woolf，a Novelist of the Stream of Consciousness by Qu Shijing was published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 1989.The fifth chapter of the book “The Influence of Psychology and Philosophy”investigates the impact of Freud’s psychoanalysis on Woolf.〔8〕In To the Lighthouse，she likens Mrs.Ramsay’s penetrating gaze to a light projecting in the water，which shows three layers of the water.The rhetorical device indicates that，just like Freud，she regards human being’s minds as multilevel.In Orlando，Woolf wrote that one can have 2000of oneself.Thus Qu Shijing concluded that the so-called“changes of human nature”is influenced by Freud，and it is a product of psychoanalysis.Virginia Woolf refuses the pansexualism advocated by Freud，and she often tends to avoid sexual descriptions in her works.It is obvious that the conclusion drawn by Qu Shijing is different from the one of western academia that“changes of human nature”owe to influences of post-impressionism，demonstrating independent thinking and original ideas of Chinese scholars.

There are several biographies about Virginia Woolf published successively in China since 1990s.How Woolf Read and Write （1998）by Lu Yang and Li Dingqing holds the view that the neurosis of Woolf is relevant to the sexual abuse and the death of family members suffered by her in her childhood.In the chapter“Decoding Wars”，the book states specifically influences from wars on her mentality and writing.“What Woolf interpreted from wars is fear and mental disorder.Such fear and mental disorder is unforgettable and indelible.The opinion of violence and conflicts of the outside world is the reflection of her inner thoughts.Wars in the reality will end，yet impacts brought by them won’t vanish…She perceived the trauma caused by wars and knew that the trauma will not disappear till the death comes.”The book comments that“Virginia believes that the art can go through miserable wars to the eternity，that’s why she kept writing under great stress”as well.In the fourth chapter“Stream of Consciousness”，impacts of Freud’s psychoanalysis on Woolf and her writing are discussed at length.“It seems to both Virginia Woolf and Freud that the unconscious motivation and desire always affect our conscious thought and behavior.”〔9〕Virginia Woolf：Moments of Her Existence by Wu Houkai（1999）analyzes the formation of Woolf’s mental disease exhaustively，and reckons that there are genetic factors in such disease and the death of family members is the crucial trigger directly to her mental disorder.In addition，the sexual abuse conducted by her brothers that strongly distorted the development of her personality is related to her disease too.While Elegance and Madness—the Biography of Virginia Woolf by Yi Xiaoming（2002）describes the life，development in literature and pursuit of the arts of Woolf，it stresses the relation between her life and writing.It considers her an innovative writer who leans to constantly make breakthrough instead of sticking to convention，even to newly-set rules.As a result，all of her works are based on innovation.Her ultimate aim does not lie in the innovation of writing techniques，but in the approach of life by new rules，trying to fully represent daily activities and efficiently convey her understanding and views of life.

In recent years，some Chinese researchers have begun to write theses on psychological analyses of Virginia Woolf and her works.The Master’s thesis Unhealed Trauma— An Analysis of Septimus Smith’s Hapless Fate from the Perspective of Trauma Theory of Li Wei takes modern trauma theory as an instrument and adopts close reading，pointing out that factors leading to the suicide of Septimus Smith are the inference or exclusion of the authorities and the public which make him unable to speak out his experience in the war.From the viewpoint of trauma sufferers，the Master’s thesis Yesterday Once More：An Analysis of the Theme of Trauma in Virginia Woolf’s“Between the Acts”of Wu Yanmei discusses the theme of trauma in Between the Acts by dividing it into individual and group trauma.What’s more，there are over 10journal articles investigating Woolf’s psychology in writing，relations between psychosis and her writing as well as between psychoanalysis and her works.All of these show that with their eyes turning to text rather than biographies，more and more Chinese scholars begin to focus on psychological studies on Virginia Woolf and her works.

Ⅲ.Reviews of current status of psychological studies on Virginia Woolf

A new field of studies on Virginia Woolf is opened by combining the studies with psychology.Compared to studies like modernism，feminism，Marxism，the studies are in-depth，helping further explore her inner world and psychological traits.Meanwhile，psycho-biographical studies on Virginia Woolf indicate that scholars don’t neglect the relation between Woof and the society.The studies are a combination of inward exploration and outward extension，and it is good for showing Woolf’s profile in several respects.

Nevertheless，from the above it’s easy to find that there are still problems in psychological studies on Woolf.First，psycho-biographical studies are the majority of psychological studies on Woolf.Academic do not pay close attention to the psychology of Woolf’s works，and that can be seen from scarce monographs on the works.Second，a small number of monographs striving to analyze the works by psychoanalysis only focus on her masterpieces.Till now，there have been no comprehensive and systematic studies on Woolf’s works in the perspective of psychology.Third，taking factors such as family，society，gender，genetics，culture and war into consideration，psychoanalytic critics discuss the formation of Woolf’s trauma，mental disease，and the reflection of trauma in her works，but don’t make further exploration into how Woolf tries to cure the trauma by writing.Just as the comment on modernism studies of Woolf from the critic James Naremore，critics haven’t realized the fact that works of Woolf are not limited in“consciousness”，but beyond it.The comment also can be used to psychoanalytic criticism towards Woolf，which means that the psychological studies on Virginia Woolf need to be deepened.Forth，the present studies show that most of psychoanalytic studies on Virginia Woolf are conducted by the psychoanalysis represented by Freud，or are only generally theory-lacking description and disclosure.Yet the vital part of Freud’s theories— theory of trauma— is the essentially theoretical resource for the analysis of trauma in literature by now.It has been developed and perfected in modern academia，forming a set of theories of trauma.In the field of studies on Woolf，there are scarce scholars interpreting her works theoretically.Hence，psychoanalytic studies on Virginia Woolf lack the support of theories.

In short，unlike external studies on Virginia Woolf such as her modernism and feminism which are the the majority of the studies，studies on her works from the aspect of psychology are internal，and have attained achievements and development.But they are out-competed by studies on her modernism and feminism in the scale of studies and number of fruits.Hence，while unsystematic methods of studies need to be reorganized and consolidated，the application of theories needs to be reinforced as well.All of those problems call for scholars’follow-up efforts.

Translated by Zhao Qiuchen

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