Word: dalsimerã
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Dalsimer chooses to focus her psychoanalysis specifically on Woolf’s adolescence, when Woolf first decided to become a professional writer. This choice is predicated on two assumptions which are central to the picture of Woolf that emerges from Dalsimer??s analysis: First, that the manic-depressive disorder that afflicted Woolf for most of her life, ultimately leading her to suicide, was primarily formed by the traumatic losses she suffered at a young age. Woolf’s mother died when she was 13. Before she reached age 25, she had lost her sister, father and brother...
...second major assumption that underlies Dalsimer??s account is the claim that Woolf’s decision to become an author is central to her psychological development. Dalsimer sees Woolf’s love affair with books as an internal drive that Woolf is incapable of controlling. In Dalsimer??s analysis, Woolf’s voracious desire to read as a child and her subsequent decision to become a writer are “medicine” for Woolf’s depression. Woolf reads to distract herself from the pain she feels and she writes...
...Dalsimer??s construction, Woolf’s decision to become an author functions as a form of therapy. By finishing To The Lighthouse, for example, Woolf is finally able, in her own words, to stop “obsessing” over her mother’s death. In this way, Becoming a Writer gives credence to the idea that extraordinary talent can be an effective remedy for mental disease...
Because she analyzes Woolf strictly on the basis of her own writings, Dalsimer must assume that Woolf’s account of her own feelings is always trustworthy. As a result, Dalsimer??s attempt to trace the psychological development that led Woolf from her childhood to, ultimately, her suicide is limited by Woolf’s own self-image and by her selective expressions of emotion. But Dalsimer??s skillful organization of Woolf’s expansive body of work and intelligent analysis of Woolf’s literature gives us a thoughtful, nuanced picture...
| 1 |