Woolf's Greatest Elegy?
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'One sees a fin passing far out. What image can I reach to convey what I mean? Really there is none, I think.'
Woolf writing in her diary of 1925 reveals her life long concern with the problematic representation of experience. Her sense of reality's ineffability haunted all her major novels and in To the Lighthouse perhaps her art found its greatest expression.
The novel begins with a promise, a promise made by a mother to her small child that he can go and visit the lighthouse near where the large family holiday each year. It ends with the Lighthouse being reached finally years later after the mother's death. The process that takes us from a casual promise to its manifestation is for me one of the most magical journeys in literature. I'll be braver- one of the most magical journeys of my life! For like Proust, Woolf is preoccupied with remembrance, with ways in which the past is never finished with and recurs.
Questioning the exact generic title for her 'novel' Woolf wrote:
'I have an idea that I will invent a new name for my books to supplant 'novel'. A new - by Virginia Woolf. But what? Elegy?'
An elegy is exactly what To the Lighthouse turns out to be. It takes place before and after the First World War and the 'elegy' understatedly suggests the complex processes of mourning that individuals experienced in the aftermath of the Great War. The brilliance of Woolf lies in her fluid, suggestive style which captures often in parenthesis, the seemingly insubstantial moments of experience and renders them extraordinary.
'With her foot on the threshold she waited a moment longer in a scene which was vanishing even as she looked, and then, as she moved and took Minta's arm and left the room, it changed, it shaped itself differently; it had become, she knew, giving one last look at it over her shoulder, already the past.'
Woolf's protagonist Mrs Ramsay poises quite literally at a 'threshold' between reflection and conjecture. Her 'moment of being' exists for her outside of linear 'lived time' and communicates her sudden awareness of the miracle of spatial, 'outside' time. The complexity of this realisation is mirrored in the intricacy of the sentence itself, with its welter of subordinate clauses. The sentence hesitates as the experience is experienced and this halting of the 'flow' of the sentence proves revelatory .
The careless tenderness of the reference to 'Minta's arm' coalesces the intensely private thoughts of Mrs Ramsay, with her public role as hostess, and engenders a poignancy that haunts the rest of the novel. For this is a farewell, and ironically it is a farewell to Mrs Ramsay which will remain unappeased until the last scene of the narrative.
The final scene of the text shows the artist Lily Briscoe searching for a means to complete her picture, a picture begun years before, in the early stages of the novel. Suddenly she is is 'visited' by Mrs Ramsay once again and acknowledges her dead friend's haunting centrality; and her extraordinary gift of love.
'With a sudden intensity, as if she saw it clear for a second, she drew a line there, in the centre. It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue. I have had my vision.'
Fabulous!
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An extraordinary edition of a classic
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Woolf's mastery of the stream of consciousness technique certainly is something to be admired, but that being said, I still find the novel rather boring and written (deliberately, I believe) in a way not particularly easy to read. Just like this sentence, actually.
I really wanted to write this review, however, to praise this particular edition (Oxforld World's Classics) for including the most ingenious notes I have ever seen. They are obviously very painstakingly researched, incredibly detailed and astonishingly pointless. When a character looks at a picture of Vesuvius exploding, an asterisk encourages the reader to read the appropriate note which is a comprehensive list of all Vesuvius eruptions from 1850 to 1920 (pointing out the most likely one). Upon Mr Ramsey being likened to a walrus, the note helpfully identifies (by name!) a walrus Virginia Woolf could have seen in the London Zoo, complete with his dates of birth and death. Sometimes the note directs you to a relevant passage elsewhere in the book; in one case, this relevant passage (quoted in full in the note, by the way) is as far as three lines away. And the list could go on and on.
Either the notes are an elaborate joke or a clear proof that Oxford professors are rather curious people. Either way, they are hilarious. I never thought I would laugh out loud reading a Woolf novel.
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Great minds against themselves conspire
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Why anybody talks about a storyline when reviewing Woolf is beyond me. TTL doesn't dress up its themes in a storyline. The book is a reflection on those things in life (both tragic and miraculous) which are on the lowest plain of being yet on a higher plane of detection (if that makes any sense to anyone else!).
The middle section is amazingly beautiful. Her insight into life was like reading what I had been trying to put into words for so long. She gives life to those things I couldn't pin down before.
I really can't praise this book enough. It was my first venture into Woolf and it's not as difficult to read as people make out; just plow on through it and everything will come together as you go.
This is also a good edition as the notes are very concise and give a better overall feel for the background of the novel.
Just read it.
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Not easy reading*
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This is not a review about the novel written by Woolf. *It's about this edition being very hard reading, because the book has been shortened down to just 154 pages (other editions have as much as up to 300 pages). This means that the typing used are very small, there are almost no air between the lines, and A LOT of text printed on each page. I think this might be for consideration for students, like myself. On the other hand, this edition is cheaper than other versions. Now knowing the reason.
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The best book I have ever read
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Is it a cliche to argue that books can alter your life? I firmly believe that 'To The Lighthouse'(TTL) does. I first read this when I was 14 and rather uneducated Literature wise, but I believe this book is what sparked off my interest in Literature, and I've gone back to read TTL repeatedly and I am yet to be bored by it.
The plot is basic. It centers around the lives of a family who holiday up in Skye one long summer. The book is split up into 3 sections. There is relatively little action in the whole of the novel. In fact, I'd say about 50% of the novel is in 1 day or afternoon, and about 10% of the novel skips time about 10 years.
To really get to grips with TTL it is essential you come to the novel with an open mind. Really appreciate the focalisation on individuals. Woolf is famous for her place in the stream of conciousness movement which included Joyce etc. The beauty of this novel comes from the interactions between different characters. She can focus on the thoughts of the young son in the family, then she can zoom out and focus on the reactionary thoughts of the mother who is engaged in conversation with her son.
Moments like these are what makes TTL a masterpiece. If you haven't read any Woolf then I would recommend TTL as a good initiation. You could read 'Mrs Dalloway' which receives more publicity, but frankly I find it slightly dull.
TTL, however, is far from it and I firmly believe that this will be a book that comes back to haunt you long after you close it.
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