Woolf’s Dialogue with the New Sciences

In this paper I will argue that Woolf’s narrative strategies in her short stories, especially the distance with which she describes reality, have been influenced by the scientific and philosophical context of her time. Indeed, Russell wrote about the multiperspectival nature of reality which included empty and occupied perspectives, the former implying an absent but potential observer. Besides, astronomy developed fully in the early twentieth century as scientists like Jeans and Hubble explored the limits of the universe thanks to the evolving technology. One often has the impression that reality in Woolf’s short fiction is depicted by a distant narrator who seems to be looking at the external world through a telescope, a powerful device which also helps to look back in time, sometimes plunging the reader in a ghostly atmosphere.