The Influence of Fridrich Nietzsche on Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room

Mgr. Petra Machová, Ph.D.

Doctoral thesis

Abstract:

Tato práce “Vliv Friedricha Nietzscheho na Jákobův pokoj od Virginie Woolfové” zkoumá vliv Friedricha Nietzscheho na britskou autorku Virginii Woolfovou na základě mé interpretace Jákobova pokoje ve vztahu k Nietzscheho kritice západní epistemologické tradice. Pokud jsou ozvěny Nietzscheho metafor rozpoznány ve zdánlivě odlišných pasážích tohoto románu, Jakobův pokoj odkazuje na kritiku pravdy. Protože se Nietzscheho metafory objevují v románu konzistentně do té míry, že je lze interpretovat jako autorčin záměr, dizertace je pojata jako studie Nietzscheho vlivu na autorku a její dílo.

Abstract:

My dissertation “The Influence of Friedrich Nietzsche on Virginia Woolf’s Jacob's Room” explores Friedrich Nietzsche’s influence on Virginia Woolf as a result of my reading of Jacob’s Room as as a reference to Nietzsche's criticism of Western epistemological tradition. If the echoes of Nietzsche’s metaphors are recovered in the seemingly unrelated passages of the novel, Jacob’s Room can be appreciated for the literary possibilities of Nietzsche’s metaphors related to his criticism of truth. Because the development of the metaphors in the novel is consistent and intentional, the dissertation is conceived as the author-centric study of Nietzsche's influence on Woolf's fiction.

Keywords

Virginia Woolf, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacob's Room, criticism of truth, metaphors, kritika pravdy, metafora, Jákobův pokoj

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 4. 2. 2020

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 17. 9. 2020
• Supervisor: Ph.D. Stephen Paul Hardy
• Reader: doc. Mgr. Janka Kaščáková, PhD., doc. Michael Matthew Kaylor, PhD.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Doctoral programme / field:
Philology (4-years) / Literatures in English