Deformance,
according to Samuels & McGann (1999), is a mode of interpretation that
breaks the mold of traditional conceptual analysis and enters an alternate form
of performative and imaginative art. In Emily Dickinson’s example of
deformance, Backward Reading allows us to see her poetic work in a new light
and gain a deeper appreciation for the thematic messages and focal points. Kabe
Wilson’s work is intriguing because she cuts up the pieces of Virginia Woolf’s
story and presents an artistically reconstructed and performative piece that
illustrates the cultural and societal changes that have brought to bear since Woolf’s
A Room of One’s Own was published in
1929.