“Flush: A Biography” by Virginia Woolf: Fiction or Non-Fiction?

The aim of the study is to reveal genre peculiarities in “Flush: A Biography” by Virginia Woolf, the eminent twentieth-century English modernist writer. The paper focuses on her innovative techniques in an attempt to overcome the limitations of traditional biography by blending hard fact and fiction in her book about the life of Elisabeth Barrett Browning, the mid-nineteenth century English poet. The novelty of the research lies in exploring the combination of dominant features of nonfictional genre, most importantly the use of Browning’s authentic correspondence, and creative depiction of her lifeline through the perspective of Flush, her cocker spaniel. Thorough analysis of the style discloses peculiarities of the account of events by the anthropomorphic character as a means of creating a mock biography. As a result of the study, a conclusion can be made that the use of estrangement, a narrative technique unconventional in a biography, allows the biographer to present the heroine and her world from a new angle, as well as to vividly describe woman’s position and other social issues in Victorian society and convey criticism.