Representing the ‘Self’ in the Personal Writings of Virginia Woolf

Abstract

The paper explores the idea of the ‘self’ through a reading of Virginia Woolf’s select diaries and letters. In order to examine the ‘self’, the paper reads three important works by French philosopher, Michel Foucault to arrive at an understanding of the self. The self, as one understands, is constructed through a constant engagement with oneself as well as through one’s interactions with the others. The paper argues how the self of the author, Virginia Woolf is revealed through her practice of diary and letter writing (as Foucault says writing means to show oneself) which displays various facets of her character be it as a writer or a wife or a master to her servants.