Woolf s Darkness Embracing The Inexplicable Essay

The dark is often a scary place. It is a place that is inherently uncertain and obscure and is therefore perceived as an unfortunate state to be in. Yet in Rebecca Solnit’s essay on Virginia Woolf, entitled Woolf’s Darkness: Embracing the Inexplicable, Solnit disagrees with this perception of the dark and on the contrary labels it as something to celebrate, using Woolf’s writing as evidence. Solnit frequently refers to Woolf in her writing as the basis for what she has to say and uses Woolf’s ideas to expand her own thinking. While there are many clear arguments being made by Solnit, it is unclear where Solnit’s essay as a whole is leading the reader. The exact destination seems undefined but there is significance in the journey on the way. She makes good points as she asks the reader to dive deeply with her into the concepts of uncertainty and imagination but where she is going with her thoughts is hard to pinpoint. The way she flows from concept t o concept, intertwining the thoughts of others with her own but with no clear final goal, ties nicely into the idea of what an essay is. Overall, Solnit’s journey seeks to analyze Woolf by drawing on principles of uncertainty and the future and using such analysis to inspire the reader’s writing, to enable their imagination. Solnit does this effectively by using an investigative and critical narrative that celebrates the mysteries of uncertainty and all it contains. One of the main characteristics of Solnit’s essay that really