|
Title |
The Journey of A Room of One's Own: Virginia Woolf's Literary Communication and Gender Space |
|
Author |
Huang, Yi-Kuan |
|
Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Literature and Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature, National Changhua University of Education |
|
|
Abstract |
This paper focuses on how Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own traveled to Taiwan and how it has been translated through extended and indirect translation to become an important enlightenment and reference for new-generation women essayists. Translating Woolf's A Room of One's Own in 1973, Zhang Xiu-ya introduced this feminist classic to Taiwan. Acting as a pioneer, Zhang designated the profound meaning of female subjectivity in her translation. The translation has been widely quoted and extensively enriched by the following feminist creators. The paper excavates several female creators to glimpse their space writing and gender awareness. Zhou Fen-ling, Lin Wei-yun, and maniniwei used quasi-autobiographical ways to write about places of residence, hometowns, and rooms constructed by themselves. Apart from examining the references to the specific classics by women's essays, the paper analyzes the struggle between gender and space. Some Taiwanese singers and feminist bookstores utilized A Room of One's Own as their key visual and cultural codes. Both Shi Chen-lan and Hebe Tien have composed songs and written lyrics based on A Room of One's Own, translating Woolf's female subjectivity. The paper explores the ways how the essays by women and popular lyrics expressed their emotions and expanded space of mind. From the examination of the traveling text of Woolf, to which women’s writing and theories of intertextuality have applied, to the examination of the altered relationship between self and space in the post-pandemic era, the essay combs through contemporary literature and cultural texts and traces how Virginia Woolf's creations spread to Taiwan feminist communities, affecting several generations of women on both sides of the strait. A Room of One's Own has become an important figure and symbol of the women's movement and feminism. |
