Textual Archaeology. A Contextual Reading of the 1942 Nuri Mass thesis on Virginia Woolf

Abstract

My thesis recovers, reads and contextualises a long-lost early Australian thesis on Virginia Woolf submitted by University of Sydney MA student Nuri Mass in 1942. Through its careful reading and contextualisation, my thesis aims to reveal the significance of the Mass thesis for both contemporary Woolf studies (early textual readings) and consequently for transnational modernist studies at large, also producing new, fine-grained insights into the 1930s Australian context for Woolf’s reception and Australian engagement with literary modernism. I will contend that the Nuri Mass thesis was written at, and fundamentally shaped by, a pivotal transition in the reception of Woolf’s writing, marking a shift in Woolf’s place in the literary modernist canon following her death, the rupture presented by world war, and the rise of Leavisite canon formation. Likewise my analysis of the Mass thesis sheds new light on academic, institutional and cultural contexts of 1930s Australian modernism. In addition to the Mass thesis itself, previously unexplored contextual manuscript and documentary materials are introduced, opening new lines of enquiry in the field of transnational/Australian modernism.