The catastrophe of memory in Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room

Abstract

Following the principles of phenomenology, which establish that the acts of perception allow the inner consciousness to observe objects through different angles, the French philosopher Jacques Derrida(1930-2004) explored the notion of subjective time
concerning the power of senses to elicit different impressions in the blink of an eye. This paper will focus on Jacques Derrida’s theories whereby he challenged Western philosophies, especially Edmund Husserl’s theory of transcendental-phenomenological reduction. Derrida applied the notion of “the trace” and “the supplement” seeking to dismantle Western metaphysics of binary structures - centres vs. margins- With this end in mind, the French philosopher questions pure ideal abstractions showing that the acts of repetition create an endless chain of different models. In terms of structure, this essay deems postmodernism as a continuation of modernism not only because its root -post- indicates a logical development from the previous movement (modernism), but also because postmodernism followed the futility of life propelled by modernist authors seeking for a rupture in coherence, meanings and boundaries in a fragmented world. Likewise, Derrida’s idea of play develops in a similar way to both postmodernism and modernism exploring the multiplicity of reality and playing with the idea of order and universal truths. In Jacob’s Room, a novel written by Virginia Woolf, impressionists and post-Impressionist forms of art also present a disjointed microcosm, where centre (men) and margins (women)are deconstructed by inquiring as to whether the Victorian-Edwardian tropes conditioned the outbreak of the First World War. In an elegiac tone the novel grieves the destiny of Greek culture and its transformation for emblems by modern civilizations. In view of the above, this paper uncovers that external perceptions are not effective in offering a complete picture of Greek myth and of the two cultural prototypes portrayed in the novel: Jacob and Fanny. The novel shows that true self can only be captured partially, as in Derrida’s theory of traces. This is so because moments of mystical unity only allow individuals to be connected to one another at certain moments.