A Novel With No Ultimate Meaning

As an outstanding British modernist writer and the major representative ofstream-of-consciousness novels, Virginia Woolf is also a brilliant literary theorist andcritic. Jacob’s Room is generally considered as a turning point in Woolf’s career.Being Woolf’s first stream-of-consciousness novel, Jacob’s Room is also the preludeto her later famous steam-of-consciousness works. The publication of Jacob’s Roomproduced a sensation in the academic world and attracts the attention of many critics.Studies on it never cease, concerning stylistics, narrative method, feminism and so on.This thesis aims to analyze Jacob’s Room from the perspective of deconstruction,especially under the guide of Jacques Derrida’s deconstructive ideas. By analyzing theundecidablity and uncertainty of language and the instability of binary oppositions inthe novel, this thesis dismantles the existence of ultimate meaning. Meanwhile, by thedismantlement of logos-centrism, this thesis discloses the falsehood of westernrational civilization.This thesis consists of six parts including introduction and conclusion. Chapterone briefly introduces Woolf and her influence, offers a brief introduction of Jacob’sRoom and its literary review. Chapter two gives a brief introduction to Derrida’scritical position on Western metaphysics and his deconstructive strategies ofanti-logocentrism, anti-hierarchical opposition and emphasizing différance, togetherwith the brief explanation to the general characteristics of deconstructive criticism.Chapter three analyzes the indeterminacy of language. Through the illustration ofundependability of language, the absence of omniscience narrator and theself-contradictory narrative discourse in the novel, this chapter intends to unveil theuncertainty and undecidability of language. Chapter four deconstructs two binaries inthe novel. Through analyzing the presence and absence of characters, the emptinessand fullness of the room, this chapter illustrates the openness of meaning and the absence of ultimate meaning. Chapter five discloses the falsehood of andro-centrismand anthropocentrism, illustrates the absence of logos-centrism in western rationalcivilization, and further reconstructs the relationship between man and woman, humanand nature. The conclusion part sums up the analysis of the previous chapters andreaffirms the lack of ultimate meaning and the absence of logos-centrism in the novelwith the purpose of encouraging more fresh understanding and ideas towards thisnovel.