This article argues that Virginia Woolf brings the nonhuman world to the forefront of Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse in order to challenge the primacy of human agency in her decentering of the human and her recognition of the vitality of all matter. Focusing on the character of Septimus Warren Smith in Mrs. Dalloway and the “Time Passes” section of To the Lighthouse, this article demonstrates how Woolf’s rendering of the relationships between the human and the nonhuman worlds embodies Jane Bennett’s theory of “vital materialism.” Moving beyond traditional ecocritical approaches to literature, Bennett’s vital materialism considers the agencies of inorganic, nonhuman materialities and objects—as well as organic, natural materialities and human beings—and their roles in shaping the world. Reading Woolf’s works through the lens of vital materialism brings a deeper understanding to Woolf’s vision of the world in which all life and matter are connected and intermeshed.

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“最奇怪的想象”：弗吉尼亚伍尔夫的重要唯物主义

本文认为弗吉尼亚伍尔夫将非人类世界带到了达洛维夫人和灯塔的最前沿，以挑战人类能动性的首要地位，即她对人类的去中心化和她对所有物质生命力的认识。本文以《达洛维夫人》中塞普蒂莫斯·沃伦·史密斯的性格和《去灯塔》中的“时间流逝”部分为中心，论证了伍尔夫对人类与非人类世界之间关系的渲染如何体现简·贝内特的“生命唯物主义”理论。超越传统的生态批评文学方法，贝内特的重要唯物主义考虑了无机的、非人类的物质和物体——以及有机的、自然的物质和人类——以及它们在塑造世界中的作用。