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Anti-Egotistic Autobiography in Virginia Woolf’s A Sketch of the Past

Abstract:  is a key text in the history of modern autobiography. This paper is aimed at interpreting its unique thoughts and methods from the perspective of anti-egotism. With its autobiographical practice, A Sketch of the Past thoroughly criticizes the tradition of egotistic autobiographies and developes a differentiated project for the autobiographical self. On the one hand, Woolf emphasizes the influence of the others and the world on the autobiographical ego, trying to represent her self in relation to the non-selves. On the other hand, by dividing the autobiographical self into “I now” and “I then”, she conceives her self as a self in a dynamic process with the interaction between “I now” and “I then”. Ultimately, by reaching the status of “the nonegotistical sublime,” Woolf revives Anon’s anonymous singing to express the universals of human beings, and thus transcends the limited self and individuality by uniting with the masses.


Key words: A Sketch of the Past; anti-egotism; autobiography; ego


Yan Fang is a Ph.D. candidate in Literature Theory atSchoolofLanguageand Literature,Central China Normal University,China.