To the Lighthouse (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Virginia Woolf
- First Published: 1927
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1910-1920
- Setting: The Isle of Skye in the Hebrides
- Principal Characters: Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsay, Lily Briscoe, James, Cam, Prue, Andrew, Jasper, Nancy, Roger, William Bankes, Charles Tansley, Minta Doyle, Augustus Carmichael, Mrs. McNab
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Character study
- Subjects: Family or family life, Philosophy or philosophers, Tradition, Gender roles, Art or artists, Marriage, Social life, 1910’s, Islands, Creative process, World War I, Scotland or Scottish people, Parties, Victorian era or Victorianism, Lighthouses
- Locales: Hebrides, Scotland, Isle of Skye, England
Form and Content
Departing from the nineteenth century formalities of literary realism, Virginia Woolf pioneered, along with James Joyce and William Faulkner, the stream-of-consciousness technique employed in To the Lighthouse. Composed of three discrete but intimately related sections, the novel provides a poetic examination of English Victorian domesticity and social roles.
Woolf stealthily weaves through her characters’ psyches to reveal realities that are not necessarily apparent in either their actions or their speech. Section 1, aptly entitled “The...
[The entire page is 1777 words long]
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