(B)ut how grow flowers [...] if one kept hens?": the transgressing role of bird imagery in Virginia Woolf's "The Years (original) (raw)

This paper explores the transgressive use of bird imagery in Virginia Woolf's "The Years" against the backdrop of 1930s Britain, marked by rising fascism and patriarchal oppression. Through the grotesque and carnivalesque elements in the narrative, Woolf critiques the hegemonic forces of her time, proposing a reimagining of societal norms that facilitates the blossoming of new values. The analysis particularly focuses on characters symbolizing oppression and the potential for social and cultural regeneration through subversion and a reversal of existing conventions.