ACTED AND UNACTED PARTS
Abstract
9
The turn of the last century was marked by an acute identity crisis
resulting from decisive economical and socio-political changes.
Consequently, the concept of self started to be represented in
literature as fluctuating and fragile, from a subjective and limited
narrative perspective. Crystallising in her novels the image of the
frustrated individual who is never pleased with his/ her life,
Virginia Woolf hailed the modern ascendancy of illusion over
reality. Each of her characters appears to suffer from a self
deprivation, and this makes them all search for alternate egos –
unacted parts, that is (a recurrent phrase appearing in several of the
novels discussed). Instead of enjoying their lives as they are, these
characters prefer to imagine what could have happened, had there
been chance. They are actors performing one role after another,
but they never find the happiness they pursue, nor do they ever
manage to discover their true identity. However, their final
frustration and solitude characterise in fact all of us, because,
histrionic and superficial as they may be, they are nonetheless live
and credible.
Acted and unacted parts
Cioloca Florentina
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