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Analysis of Virginia Woolf's Experimental Writing in "To the Lighthouse

Explore Woolf's innovative narrative techniques, themes, and modernist style in "To the Lighthouse." Discuss her use of stream-of-consciousness, portrayal of time and memory, and relationships between characters. Investigate the novel's underlying themes of truth, solitude, and the artistic process.

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Analysis of Virginia Woolf's Experimental Writing in "To the Lighthouse

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  1. Woolf Day 2

  2. Kew Gardens Questions (Friday’s HW) • If this is an experiment, what is Woolf experimenting with? What is she trying to represent? • What stands out to you in the story? • What is the point of view? • What happens in this story? • What themes or ideas can you find in it?

  3. Concerns • Time: moving away from being bound to a strict sequence of events. • Section 1 of To the Lighthouse takes place on one evening, between 6:00 PM and dinner. • Section 2: Time passes. Human element completely removed. Only the house remains. • Section 3: Memory. Relationship between present and the past. • Devices: memory; foreshortening

  4. Ideas • Truth: who faces reality and who avoids it • Men and women • The artist • Marriage (Victorian vs. modern) • Solitude vs. society • Nature • Love (romantic, family, etc.) • Compatibility vs. Incompatibility

  5. Modernist Novel • Argued that the novel needed to be more than popular entertainment • Gatsby, To the Lighthouse, Robert Frost • The “art-novel”: as artistic as a painting • Modernism is interested in the poetry of the sub-conscious life, in the psychological, and how that challenges our rational, real-world expectations • Künstlerroman: Artist’s novel; Novel about an artist’s growth to maturity

  6. Modernist Techniques • Interior monologue: Stream of consciousness • Term comes from William James, philosopher and psychologist • Consciousness not a chain of ideas, but a river or stream, where components are seamlessly merged

  7. Stream-of-consciousness • Best known example: Final 50 pages of Joyce’s Ulysses…unpunctuated, because we don’t think in sentences • Woolf said that this enabled her to show what the interior life is really like and give the reader a deeper intimacy with her characters

  8. To the Lighthouse Pre-Reading • Read chapters1-3. Resist the temptation to use Spark Notes. It’s OK if you’re confused. Read it as she meant it to be read and see what you notice/understand. • When finished, write 2 paragraphs. Also…bring post-its if you have a library copy. • Paragraph 1: Describe the Ramsay family. • Paragraph 2: Describe your experience of reading this text.

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