Originally published in 1990, explores the relationship between madness and the disruption of linguistic and structural norms in Virginia Woolf's modernist novels, opening new ground in Woolfian studies, as well as in psychoanalytic criticism. Focusing on , and , it investigates narrative strategies, showing that Woolf's writings question their own origins and connection with madness and suicide. By combining textual analysis with an original use of autobiographical material, the books cause us to reconsider the full complexity of the articulation between an author's life and work.