To the Lighthouse Historical Context 📖

Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ (1925), ‘To the Lighthouse’ (1927), and ‘Orlando’ (1928), and the book-length essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’ (1929). ‘To the Lighthouse’ remains Woolf’s seminal work both commercially and critically. ‘To the Lighthouse’ was ranked No. 15 on the Modern Library’s 1998 list of the top 100 English-language novels. The book was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the top 100 English-language books published since 1923 in 2005.

The Influence of Modernism

The Victorian era officially came to an end in 1901 with Queen Victoria’s passing and King Edward’s ascension to the throne. The Ramsays’ conventionality, whose marriage is examined in ‘To the Lighthouse’, is a reflection of its values. During the Edwardian period, which lasted from 1901 to King Edward’s death in 1910, authors started to break away from the influences of 19th-century naturalism and realism to reflect a more liberated and modern human spirit.

Human nature began to change, according to Woolf, “about December 1910.” Artists took a fresh look at their subjects, frequently from a variety of angles, by criticizing previous conventions and establishing new forms. These modernist ideals were represented in literature’s stream of consciousness. The literary technique known as “stream of consciousness,” which was popularized by psychologist William James, involves conveying a character’s thoughts and feelings in an unbroken stream of consciousness. Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce were among the genre’s early innovators.

Woolf started writing ‘To the Lighthouse’, her fifth book after ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ was published in 1925. The book was published in 1927. The two books continue to be her most well-known and profitable ones as important modernist and feminist works. ‘To the Lighthouse’ is the book in which Woolf “mastered” her statement that “books continue each other, despite our habit of judging them separately,” according to contemporary author Hisham Matar. He also notes that with each book, Woolf grew more preoccupied with language and how speaking frequently falls short of or goes beyond what we intend to say. The accomplishments and failures of the human mind and relationship are examined in Woolf’s sentences, which are “freely moving, extended, broken sequence of observations and discoveries unburdened and unhurried by the need to convey a story.”

The Impact of World War I on To the Lighthouse

Massive destruction and a devasting number of victims were left behind by World War I (1914–18). War was one of the occurrences Woolf said couldn’t be described. She detailed the events of the war, including air strikes, casualties, and sinking ships, in her diary. The “huge events already developing across the water are looming over us too closely and too massively to be worked [in] without a terrible jolt in the perspective,” she remarked of the war.

Women in England filled various domestic roles while the men were at war. In the workforce, “calm mothers of families” and “flighty and giggling little girls” had “changed” into painters, plowmen, and engineers, according to Woolf’s sister-in-law Ray Strachey. Women were unwilling to withdraw after the war because they had gained ground in society beyond the home, including rights and a voice.

The war’s devastating effects, including the deaths of family members and the desolation of the Ramsays’ lives and home, are discussed in ‘To the Lighthouse’s’ second section, “Time Passes.” This paragraph acts as a transition between the past and the present (prewar and postwar). It embodies Woolf’s “indescribable” through its confused approach of time, narrative distance, dramatic metaphor, and understatement of death.

The Influence of Freudian Psychology on To the Lighthouse

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), an Austrian neurologist, invented psychoanalysis, a dialogue-based approach to treating mental illness. His theories, including the concept of the Oedipus complex, were widely discussed during his lifetime and fascinated Woolf, who explored them in ‘To the Lighthouse’. The complex is named after the Greek figure Oedipus, who unintentionally marries his mother and murders his father in Sophocles’ tragedy. A young child’s sexual attraction to the parent of the opposite sex and desire to get rid of the same-sex parent who prevents the youngster from reaching their potential are both explained by the Oedipus complex. The superego, the area of the brain that serves as the conscience based on acquired social standards, develops as a result of the child’s suppression of their sexual urge.

Infantile neurosis may result from not identifying with the same-sex parent, according to Freud. This trauma, which can be caused by the loss of a parent or a hostile environment, may result in comparable responses to the same-sex parent as an adult. The son of the Ramsays, James, feels violent toward his father at the start of the story because he demands his mother’s attention and prevents a trip to the lighthouse.

The unresolved difficulties surrounding Mrs. Ramsay’s death and the misery they caused her family and friends. The organization of the book suggests that James’s growth is convoluted. While his struggle with his father persists, his love for his mother is set in stone. As they approach the previously inaccessible lighthouse, James’s father finally compliments him on his sailing. His sister Cam believes he has at last attained what he has been seeking—his father’s approval—which she interprets as a sign of resolution, growth, and development.

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