To the Lighthouse

Article written by Charles Asoluka

Degree in Computer Engineering. Passed TOEFL Exam. Seasoned literary critic.

Virginia Woolf published her fifth book, ‘To the Lighthouse,’ in 1927. In her two earlier books, ‘Jacob’s Room’ (1922) and ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ (1925) had previously put to the test what readers thought fiction to be like. Similar to ‘To the Lighthouse,’ the focus of consciousness in them swings from one character to the next, from their current impressions of the outside world to their inner lives, associations, and memories.

‘To the Lighthouse’ is a very meticulous body of work. The action in each of the two longer sections, “The Window” and “The Lighthouse,” unfolds over a single day. This is an attempt to represent the multiple, overlapping, differently focused, and expressed layers of consciousness that James Joyce foresaw when he decided to center all of the action in his novel ‘Ulysses’ (1922) on a single day.

Key Facts about To the Lighthouse

• Book Name: ‘To the Lighthouse‘
• Author: Virginia Woolf
• Type Of Work: Novel/Fiction
• Genre: Modernism/Stream-of-consciousness
• Language: English
• Time And Place Written: 1926, London
• Date Of First Publication: 1927
• Publisher: Hogarth Press
• Narrator: Anonymous
• Protagonist: Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe
• Climax: Mrs. Ramsay’s Dinner Party

Virginia Woolf and To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf (born Adeline Virginia Stephen) was born on January 25, 1882, in London, England, into a family of artists. Leslie Stephen, her father, was a well-known biographer and editor. Her mother, Julia Jackson Stephen, was a well-connected, kind-hearted woman who modeled for pre-Raphaelite painters and was renowned for her beauty. At a young age, Woolf founded Hyde Park Gate News, a family newspaper.

Inspired by the life and death of her mother, Woolf began working on ‘To the Lighthouse’ in 1905. ‘To the Lighthouse’ (1927) is Woolf’s most experimental work. Over half of the book is devoted to the activities of one afternoon, while the activities of the ten years that follow are condensed into a small number of pages. ‘To the Lighthouse’ is a novel that many readers find unusual and challenging, especially those who are not familiar with the conventions of modernist literature. Its structure is amorphous, and the language is dense. ‘To the Lighthouse’ appears to have less action than the plot-driven Victorian novels that came before it. The majority of the action takes place inside the protagonists’ heads.

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde tells the story of a youthful aesthete in late 19th-century England, who was the subject of a devastating depiction by Oscar Wilde in this well-known work. The book’s remarkable premise—which combines aspects of the Gothic horror tale with decadent French fiction—is as follows: His body continues to be perfect young and vibrant as Dorian Gray descends into a life of crime and excessive pleasure, but his recently painted portrait transforms into a horrific record of evil that he must keep hidden from the public. This captivating tale of terror and suspense has been incredibly popular for more than a century. It is one of Wilde’s most significant works and one of the most iconic examples of its genre.

Impact of To the Lighthouse

Books Similar to To the Lighthouse

• • Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath details Esther Greenwood’s breakdown: clever, attractive, incredibly gifted, and accomplished, but slowly crumbling—possibly for the final time. Sylvia Plath expertly engrosses the reader in Esther’s breakdown to the point where Esther’s insane behavior seems entirely plausible and approachable, like watching a movie. The Bell Jar is a frightening American classic because of its astounding achievement of penetrating so deeply into the dark and terrifying recesses of the psyche.

• • Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett centers on two individuals who appear to be on the streets and are just waiting for Godot. Estragon and Vladimir wait nearby a tree while acting out a story that they have created in their minds. The end product is a humorous mix of poetry, dreamscapes, and gibberish, which has been seen as the endless search for meaning on the part of mankind. With his pioneering expressionistic minimalism, Beckett caught the existential Europe of the years following World War II. One of our time’s most entrancing and exquisite allegories is still from his play.

• • The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford details the complex social and sexual relationships between two couples—one English and one American—are described in The Good Soldier. The American narrator John Dowell gradually becomes aware of the intrigues and passions hidden behind the couples’ orderly Edwardian façade. The attitude of Dowell, his consternation, his doubt, and the narration’s apparent haphazardness are what give the book its strength and mystique. The novel has many humorous moments despite being a catalog of death, madness, and despair. It also served as an inspiration for several renowned authors, including Graham Greene.

• • Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a work of modern literature that marked her comeback to the literary spotlight. She was well renowned for her outstanding prose, haunting female characters, and astonishing early career. She cleverly illuminates one of fiction’s most fascinating characters—the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre—in Wide Sargasso Sea, her final and best-selling book. Antoinette Cosway, a voluptuous and shielded young woman who is sold into marriage to the arrogant Mr. Rochester, is introduced to us in this captivating piece. In Rhys’ portrayal of Cosway, she lives in a culture that is so rife with hatred and has such distorted sexual norms that it can drive a woman insane.

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde tells the story of a youthful aesthete in late 19th-century England, who was the subject of a devastating depiction by Oscar Wilde in this well-known work. The book’s remarkable premise—which combines aspects of the Gothic horror tale with decadent French fiction—is as follows: His body continues to be perfect young and vibrant as Dorian Gray descends into a life of crime and excessive pleasure, but his recently painted portrait transforms into a horrific record of evil that he must keep hidden from the public. This captivating tale of terror and suspense has been incredibly popular for more than a century. It is one of Wilde’s most significant works and one of the most iconic examples of its genre.

Impact of To the Lighthouse