Écriture féminine as an intoxicating epistemological device: queer decolonial reorientations in Virginia Woolf

Abstract

This article re-evaluates Virginia Woolf’s work through queer and decolonial lenses (Ahmed, 2006; Lugones, 2008; Butler, 2017; Mignolo & Walsh, 2018; Butler, 2024), illustrating how it disrupts entrenched gender binaries and colonial structures that reinforce hierarchical power dynamics (Oyěwùmí, 2021), albeit ambiguously. Central to the argument is the concept of “intoxication,” influenced by Derrida’s (2005) phármakon and Hélène Cixous’ (1975) écriture féminine. This concept is a radical force that can potentially dismantle rigid Western epistemologies. Woolf’s feminist writing, particularly in Orlando: A Biography (1928), exemplifies this subversive use of intoxication to challenge oppressive norms and reimagine identity beyond patriarchal and racist colonial constraints. The article also explores the embodiment of (trans)feminine intoxication, offering a framework for understanding how trans (in)existence and queer performativity are often misrepresented or misaligned within literary traditions. Drawing on Zhao Ng’s (2023) analysis, it critiques how trans characters are frequently subsumed into and reduced to romantic metaphors within cisgender or broader queer paradigms. In contrast, the article advocates for a decolonial and transfeminist critique (Nascimento, 2021) that transcends binary gender constructs, proposing a transformative intellectual praxis that embraces diverse epistemologies while resisting the limitations imposed by Western thought.

Keywords: Virginia Woolf; écriture féminine´; intoxication; queer narratives; decoloniality