To the LighthouseVirginia Woolf

BackgroundVirginia Woolf (1882-1941) “pushed the light

of English language a little further against darkness.”

To the Lighthouse was written in 1927It is a British novel written after the horrors

of WWI (1914-1918) that decimated a generation of Britons

It encompasses (before, during, after) WWIWoolf had many notable novels and essays

such as Mrs. Dalloway, The Voyage Out, The Waves, and “A Room of One’s Own”

A Room of One’s OwnEssay/lecture in which Woolf directly

addresses the difficulties of female artists and writers

She suggests that for a woman to create, she needs “500 pounds a year and a room of her own.”

Much of Woolf’s fiction and nonfiction was concerned with the difficulty of creativity itself, especially for women

Self in fiction: AutobiographyTo the Lighthouse is substantially

autobiographicalWoolf’s mother died when she was 13 leaving

her devastated and struggling with emotional illness for much of her life

The character of Mrs. Ramsay helped Woolf to express her mother in art/fiction and helped her cope with the loss of a remarkable woman

Woolf’s father, Sir Leslie Stephen, is also much like the character of Mr. Ramsay—needy, philosophical, dictatorial, given to literary outbursts

Setting of the novelA family summer home in the Hebrides—

islands off the northwest coast of Scotland.

CharactersMrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay, their 8

childrenRogerNancyPrue (16)Andrew (14)Rose (10)Jasper (8)Cam (7)James (6)

Characters continuedGuests at their summer home includeCharles Tansley (an aspiring

philosopher/student)Augustus Carmichael (a poet)Lily Briscoe (the protagonist, an artist)William Bankes (a vague scientist/botanist)

Literary style: modernismModernism (late 19th, early 20th Century) A literary movement that

exploded with WWI. It reflects a society cast adrift by change.A re-structuring of literature and the experience of reality it re-

presents. (Art always attempts to 'imitate' or re-present reality; what changes is our understanding of what constitutes reality, and how that reality can best be re-presented, presented to the mind and senses most faithfully and fully.) Modernist literature is marked by a break with the sequential, developmental, cause-and-effect presentation of the 'reality' of realist fiction, toward a presentation of experience as layered, allusive, discontinuous; the use, to these ends, of fragmentation and juxtaposition, motif, symbol, allusion.

Language is no longer seen as transparent, something if used correctly allows us to 'see through' to reality: rather language is seen as a complex, nuanced site of our construction of the 'real'; language is 'thick', its multiple meanings and varied connotative forces are essential to our elusive, multiple, complex sense of and cultural construction of reality.

Literary ElementsPerspectivism: locating meaning from the viewpoint of

the individual; the use of narrators located within the action of the fiction, experiencing from a personal, particular (as opposed to an omniscient, 'objective') perspective; the use of many voices, contrasts and contestations of perspective; the consequent disappearance of the omniscient narrator, especially as 'spokesperson' for the author

Impressionism: an emphasis on the process of perception and knowing: the use of devices (formal, linguistic, representational), to present more closely the texture or process or structure of knowing and perceiving.

Literary style/narrative modeStream of consciousness: a narrative mode

where the thoughts of the speaker are placed before the reader without, necessarily, editing and organization

“and to follow her thought was like following a voice which speaks too quickly to be taken down by one’s pencil, and the voice was her own voice saying without prompting undeniable, everlasting, contradictory things”

ThemesWhat is reality?“Is human life this? Is human life that? One

never had time to think about it.”“She was glad…to rest in the extreme

obscurity of human relationships. Who knows what we are, what we feel? Who knows even at the moment of intimacy, This is knowledge?”

What lasts? “The very stone one kicks with one’s boot will

outlast Shakespeare.”

Themes continuedWhat creates meaning in the world?“What is the meaning of life? That was all—a

simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark”

Structure of the novelThe Window (about 120 pages) takes place

in the space of one day and introduces all characters, setting, conflict (before WWI)

Time Passes (about 20 pages) covers a ten-year period of time in the middle of the novel in which WWI occurs

The Lighthouse (about 60 pages) covers the return to the summer home after ten years; many of the original characters resurface

How to read this novelAllow yourself to be immersed in her words

and what she is suggesting about impressions and reality

Do not dwell upon always having to know exactly what is going on. How often in life do YOU know exactly what is going on and what everyone else is thinking?

(parenthetical comments go between these delightful marks of punctuation and give the author opportunity to comment upon the actions and thoughts of the characters)

A work of artThe protagonist of the novel is an artist

struggling to achieve her vision. The author of the novel is, too.

Art is often impressionistic by nature and asks you to feel and infer meaning. If it were all spelled out for you, it wouldn’t be very interesting.

You should know that this is my favorite book. If you do not understand the book, do not make the mistake of disparaging it. Mr. Ramsay wishes to disparage Shakespeare, you probably don’t want to emulate him.

I hope you get past Q. I have.