Is Clarissa Dalloway Special?

Clarissa Dalloway seems to hold an odd, panpsychist version of extended-mind theory; for her, consciousness can "spread out" into the world, enabling a person to think together with another mind or even feel herself within the trees she passes. If Clarissa could really do this, she would b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy and literature 2017-07, Vol.41 (1), p.233-271
Main Author: Anderson, R. Lanier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
British & Irish literature
Consciousness
English literature
Interiority
Literary criticism
Mimesis
Novels
Reading
Woolf, Virginia (1882-1941)
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Clarissa Dalloway seems to hold an odd, panpsychist version of extended-mind theory; for her, consciousness can "spread out" into the world, enabling a person to think together with another mind or even feel herself within the trees she passes. If Clarissa could really do this, she would be quite special. I argue that the novel forces the question of Clarissa's exceptional psychological sensitivity onto the reader but provides seriously conflicting evidence bearing on it. Qua reader, I endorse Clarissa's special capacity on the strength of effects arising from the style of Woolf's presentation of her patterns of thought.
ISSN:0190-0013
1086-329X
1086-329X
DOI:10.1353/phl.2017.0032