Keywords: discursive practices, queer theory, sexual politics, Virginia Woolf
Modernism was marked by a deep concern with sexuality and gender
identities. Ellis's and Carpenter's works were pioneering in their attempt
to disentangle the hard knot of heteronormativity, while Walter Pater and
Oscar Wilde were regarded by some as a threat to society because they had
taken over "the traditional idiosyncrasies of the feminine rôle" (Lewis 1989:
244). This article will argue that the sexual politics embedded in the works
of Virginia Woolf anticipate the discourse of sexual identity formulated
by queer theory. Depicted as the object of both heterosexual and bisexual
desire, the protagonist of Jacob's Room (1922) explores the multifaceted
nature of gender identity while Between the Acts (1941) deals with issues of
gender and sexual desire within a well-defined cultural milieu.