\ w 54 EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY AND MODERNISM - Bri To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 0 oi When we are introspective, we examine our thoughts, impressions and feelings deeply. Virginia Woolf puts these introspective moments into words, Answer the following questions. 1 Are you very quite, alittle or not at all introspective? 2 What are the things you think most deeply about? 3 Are there times of the day when you are more introspective than others? 4 Are there situations which make you introspective? ‘Have you ever written your thoughts down? Ifso, why? INTRODUCTION @ In an era when women were fighting to gain recognition for their role in society, Virginia Woolf emerged as one of the finest writers in the language. To limit her achievement, however, to that of influential literary spokesperson of the women’s movement is to totally undervalue her work. Few other writers have managed to enter the inner depths of character with such subtlety and delicacy. She follows the stream of consciousness or thought patterns of her characters so that the reader feels he can see inside their minds. This approach to writing, which was also used by James Joyce, was to revo- lutionise novel writing (> Visual Links G14 and G19). ~GHARACTERS. THE STORY AND STRUCTURE Miwa 0 The book is divided into three parts Ramsay In the first, ‘The Window’, the Ramsays are on holiday with their children and some friends, +The eight | including Lily Briscoe. AI the action takes place over one day and much of itis seen through e eye . the eyes and mind of Mrs Ramsay (> Text G12). Although there are many digrssions, as is painter common when the stream of consciousness technique is used, the main unifying element in Ms Carmichael, ¢ | the plot is the children’s desire to go to the lighthouse the following day and their father's ieee objection to going because the weather wil not be good. | he second pat, Time Passes’, takes place afer the First World War. Mrs Ramsay is dead and Lily and Mr Carmichael come to stay in the abandoned holiday home, | {nthe last ection, "The Lighthouse, Mr Ramsay and two of his children jon Lily Briscoe and Mr Carmichael. They realise ther long-awaited dream of gong tothe lighthouse wh | use while, on | the shore, Lily paints and thinks of her dead fend, Mrs Ramsay (> Text G13), | mae Why Must They Grow Up? | Mrs Ramsay is with one of her children, James, ands thinking g | whe al her children have grown up "about how sad it willbe Chapter X - The Window fon) Ob, but she never wanted James to | two she would have liked to keep Srow a day older! Or Cam either These 7 Cam eit} for ever just as they were demons of y i | j |* ¥ e ° tne novel describes his intellectual evelopment, his search for an identity as a ‘eriter and his realisation that before he can be a verter he must fee himself from the suffocating vifects of Irish religion, provineialism and narrowemindedness (P Visual Link G13), In this work Joyce uses & stream-of-consclousness technique called interior monologue’, a literary device that portrays a character’s thoughts, emotions and reasonings. Ulysses Joyce attained international fame with the publication of Ulysses in 1922, The time span of this long and complex novel is one single day, 16th June 1904, the day Joyce met Nora Bamacle. The novel describes a day in the life of two main characters: Leopold Bloom, an unsuccessful advertising agent and a modern | futon, Te fim i bosed on ones oye short ry Ulysses wandering through the streets of Dublin, _| ftom the colction Dubliner. and Stephen Dedalus, the young writer of the Portrait. In Ulysses, Joyce describes both the interior and exterior worlds of his characters. The realistic descriptions of the external events are mixed with historical, literary, religious and geographical allusions, while interior monologue is used to recreate the characters’ most intimate and random thoughts. Word play, puns and gross jokes are mixed with highly intellectual verbal exchanges. The triviality of everyday life is sometimes described in minute detail, while elsewhere there are intensely poetic passages and a variety of styles that range from the literary to the journalistic. Finnegans Wake In his last and most complex work, Finnegans Wake (1939) (» Visual Links GS and G15), Joyce carries his linguistic experimentation to the limits of comprehensibility. The novel recounts a single night’s events in the life of one character, Humphrey Earwicker, a publican in a village near Dublin. The plot is apparently simple: Humphrey goes to bed, falls asleep, has a dream, is awakened by the cries of one of his children and falls back asleep. The next day life goes on as usual. There are, however, no fixed events, characters, times or places and everything is described in highly manipulated language, which includes idioms, curses, nursery shymes, literary quotations and new words made by combining parts of words from various languages. Despite the immense richness of the language, the book's complexity and impenetrability intimidated both the critics and the reading public, TASK — Prepare a short report on Joyce's life and works, Make references to: | ~ his family and educational background; | his life in exile from Irelands; | = his most celebrated works; | - his literary innovations.YR rH To the Lighthouse - Virgi wickedness’, angels of delight, never to see them grow up into long-legged monsters Nothing made up for? the loss. When she reads: just now to James, ‘and there were numbers of soldiers with kettle-drums? and trumpets,’ and his eyes darkened, she thought, why should they grow up and lose all that? He was the most gifted’, the most sensitive of her 10 children. But all, she thought, were full of promise. Prue, a perfect angel with the others, and sometimes now, at night especially, she took one’s breath away with her beauty. Andrew ~ even her husband admitted that his 15 gift for mathematics was extraordinary. And Nancy and Roger, they were both wild creatures now, scampering’ about over the country all day long. As for Rose, her mouth was too big, but she had a wonderful gift with her hands. If they had charades*, Rose made the dresses; made everything; liked best arranging tables, flowers, anything. She did not like it that Jasper should shoot birds; but it was only a stage; they all went through stages. Why, she asked, pressing her chin on James's head, should they grow up so fast? Why should they go to school? She would have liked always to have had a baby. She was happiest carrying cone in her arms. Then people might say she was tyrannical, domineering, ‘masterful, if they chose: she did not mind. And, touching his hair with her lips, she thought, he will never be so happy again, but stopped herself, remembering how it angered her husband that she should say that. Stl, it was true. They were happier now than they would ever be again. A tenpenny” tea set made Cam happy for days, She heard them stamping’ and crowing? on the floor above her head the moment they woke, They came bustling” along the passage. Then the door sprang open" and in they came, fresh as roses, staring, wide awake, as if this coming into the dining-room after breakfast, which they did every day of thelr lives, was a positive event to them, and so on, with one thing after another, all day long, until she went up to say good-night to them, and found them netted in their cots'? like birds among cherries and raspberries, still making up stories about some bit of rubbish - something they had heard, something they had picked up in the garden. They had all ther little treasures.) fee crerante thee Sm Sy or i PY again. And he was angry, Why take such a gloomy"? view of life? he said, It is not sensi odd"; and she believed it to be true; that desperation he was happier, more helpful on the wh exposed to human worries - perhaps that was it. He to fall back on'S, Not that she herself was cen ae though life ~ and a titel Y years, There it was be le, For it was h all his gloom and ‘ole, than she was, Less " hhad always his work Pessimistic’, as he accused her le strip of time presented itself fore her ~ life, » 2s 30 45 0 45 Woolf 55 ‘Why must they grow up and lose it ll?” Mary Cassatt, Inthe Garden (1904). percussion instruments, timpani 4, gifted: talented . scampering: running playfully 6. charades: family games 7, tenpenny: cheap 8, stamping: walking heavily 9. crowing: shouting 10.bustling: burning with activity sprang open: opened suddenly 12,netted in their cots: ‘wrapped in the sheets in thet litle beds 1B.gloomy: pessimistic 14.044: strange 15.fall back on: go back 1. wickedness: {innocent and childish bad behaviour 2. made up for: could compensate for 3. Kettledrums: simple to for comfort56. EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY AND MODERNISM ~ Brit COMPREHENSION 1 Link the names of Mrs Ramsay's children to the qualities she atributes to them, gifted in mathematics most gifted kind to the others creative ‘most sensitive, in harmony with nature breathtakingly beautiful 2 Why was Mrs Ramsay not pleased with jasper? ANALYSIS. 11 Focus on the narrative technique. a. The passage is an example of stream of consciousness". Do Mrs Ramsay's thoughts follow a pattern of logical connections or free associations? b. Mrs Ramsay's thought patter is formed by one predominant thought, which she retums to several times, and digressions which are linked to the central idea. What is the central thought? Give some examples of the digressions. 2 Consider how childhood is presented in the passage. ‘4. What metaphorical expressions are used to represent childhood and adulthood in lines 2-4? What associations do they evoke? b. Focus on lines 30-35. Which words, in particular verbs, convey the boundless energy of childhood? © What aspect of childhood is highlighted in lines 37-397 3 Underline the sentences where reference is made to Mrs Ramsay's husband. Which of the following adjectives would you use to describe him? 2 Strict Sympathetic Domineering ‘Short-tempered 8 Detached Selt-centred 2 Stern Other: Justify your choices. 3 When was Mrs Ramsay happiest? 4 Why did she try to stop herself from thinking thay the children would never be as happy again? 5 What did the children do in the morning at breakfast time? What did they do at night before going to sleep? 6 When Mrs Ramsay expressed her opinions about | the children to her husband, what did he accuse her of? | 4 Focus on the character of Mrs Ramsay. a. In lines 25-26 she says that other people may accuse her of being ‘tyrannical, domineering, masterful. Is there any evidence in the passage | that suggests that she may possess these traits? (Consider her attitude towards her son Jasper.) b. What type ofa relationship does Mrs Ramsay seem | to have with her husband? Which of the two has the more dominant character? . Mrs Ramsay believes that childhood is the happiest | time in life. What does this indirectly suggest about her own experience of adulthood? | 4. Inline 47 Mrs Ramsay sees her ife a5 alittle strip | of time’. What is highlighted by this image? | The brevity of lite | | | The insignificance of life 9 The suffering of life 2 The joy of ite 3 Other: ns aenasnnhaesntiineenitenieteasansTo the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf 57 q WRITERS WORKSHOP ‘Characterisation The term characterisation refers to the way in which a writer creates a character. A writer may focus on extemal aspects of the character, i. how he looks, what he says and what he does, or he may concentrate on the character's internal world, ie. his | thoughts, feelings and memories. ‘Techniques which are generally associated with external representation include dia- j logue, description of actions and physical description. Internal representation may be achieved through a variety of techniques including limited first-person narration and interior monologue. External representation is generally linked to more traditional literary forms while internal representation became popular during the experimental period at the begin- ning of the twentieth century. Today, characterisation usualy involves a mixture of the two techniques. HRMS Tox 612 focuses almost exclusively on Mrs Ramsay's internal world of thoughts felings and memories, The characters external world is represented by two simple gestures, In which lines are they mentioned? HEXZESEOR CIN #24 Text C6. nthe final paragraph the witer focuses pray on the external word ofthe character and describes her actions. Rewrite the passage in the form of an interior ‘monologue, focusing on the internal world of the character. Start ike this: How she hated sleeping in a strange place. Everything seemed to pose a threat. She fastened the window shutters and locked the door. Was there anything else she should lose and bolt? oe Do you know any small children? Can you understand the joy that Mrs Ramsay gets from her children? What qualtes do young children have that are often lost in later life? Add to the example: They have a sense of wonder at everything they see.ht 58 EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY AND MODERNISM - British Fiction i (QW The Formidable Ancient Enemy The First World War is aver and Mrs Ramsay is dead. Lily Briscoe, Mr Carmichael, Ramsay and two of his children are staying inthe holiday home. In this passage, Lily | painting beside the sea, | Chapter Ill - The Lighthouse | bo) With a curious physical sensation, as if she were urged forward and at the same time must hold herself back, she made her first quick decisive ———* Gossary stroke’, The brush descended. It flickered brown? over the white canvas; it left a running mark, A second time she did it - a third time. And so > Visual Link GU | | 1, strobe: movement of | the puintbresh pausing and so flickering, she attained a dancing rhythmical movement, : bipartite | as if the pauses were one part of the rhythm and the strokes another, and | town all were related; and so, lightly and swiftly pausing, striking, she scored* 3 reateg connewedo | the canvas with brown running nervous lines wihich had no sooner settled 4. sored: mashed | there than they enclosed (she felt it looming out at her) a space’, Down in 3. which had no the hollow® of one wave she saw the next wave towering higher and 10 caaae higher above her. For what could be more formidable than that space? were drawn, they Here she was again, she thought, stepping back to look at it, drawn out of” es gossip, out of living, out of community with people into the presence of me out ofthe the formidable ancient enemy of hers - this other thing, this truth, this Z cae eee reality, which suddenly laid hands on her, emerged stark® at the back of 15 7. drawn out of | appearances and commanded her attention, She was half unwilling, half g Smnediom |, __|_ feluctant. Why always be drawn out and haled away®? Why not left in encoemproeting peace, to talk to Mr Carmichael on the lawn? It was an exacting!” form of 9 ald away: calles fercourse!! anyhow. Other worshipful”? objects were content with nearing trsome, | WOFSHIP; men, women, God, all let one kneel prostrate"; but this form, 29 mean | Lu only the shape of a white lamp-shade' looming on a wicker! — le, roused one to perpetual combat", challenged one to a fight in Peet | sai Pound ‘0 be worsted”, Always (it was in her nature, or in she did not know which) before she exchanged the fluidity of life alte one koe Prosirate they only teeta ou kn din in submission tebe 1.ump shade str covering the bulb table lamp 1S.wicker ces of od ed together expecially ‘sed oma aden fomitre towed one to | erpetval combat fused penon vo fp endesy 17omas bound tobe morte as defeated nae ward Hopper, The Lighthouse at the Two Lights (1929),10 | words without be , so that one repeats ly spoke them. body, hesitating on 16. reftof having no 19-bast winds SOMPREMENSOMJ—— 1 What is Lily doing? What is the result of her first stroke? 2 What creates the ‘dancing rhythmical movement” ‘mentioned in line 5? 3 What does Lily leave behind when she is drawn towards the space on the canvas? 4 What is her formidable ancient enemy’? (Line 14) ANALYSIS — 1 Which of the following concepts are associated with the process of artistic creation in the text? 5 Combat ‘Creativity Zimagination Liberation 5 Danger Worship «Suffering Find line references to justify your choices. 2 Inlines 12-16 and lines 24-25 painting is Contrasted with living. Which appears to be less demanding for Lily? ‘Astis often portrayed as a form of escape from the hardship of life. How is this view paradoxically reversed in tis passage? o00 Lily Briscoe may never get recognition for her, by an innate passion for her art Do you have any creative artistic passions? Do you ever paint or write, oF make obj 5 Is she enthusiastic about engaging in the creative Process or does she feel driven against her will? {6 How does she always fel just before she begins to paint? 7 Does she believe that the finished product of her artistic endeavour will be appreciated? '8 What does the voice she hears say? 3 The creative process of painting seems to cast a spell over Lily. Undertine sentences in the text which suggest that she is unable to resist her creative vocation. Which sentences convey her desir to resist the temptation? 4 Lines 23-24 focus on Lily's insecurities as an artist, ‘What striking image does she use to convey her sense of vulnerability and selt-doubt? ‘The voice she refers to in line 31 questions her talent asan artist. What does it say? The words may have been said by someone who poise ‘Colt was one of the leaders of the literary an él ; Gertrude tin, ames Joye za Pound and rg tagger ot wiles and poets that includedee monologue In her works, Woolf's main emphasis is not on events or characteri- sation but on the characters’ emotions and feelings, which are conveyed to the reader through the use of the stream of conscious. ness technique called interior monologue. This literary device represents an attempt to capture in words the workings of human con- sciousness by recording the characters’ thoughts, feelings, impressions and memo- ties, The novel Mrs Dalloway, for example, is formed by the web of thoughts of various people during the course of a single day. ferme A scene from the fllm Mrs Dalloway (1997). To the Lighthouse In her most celebrated novel, To the Lighthouse (1927), Virginia Woolf explores \ the creative and intuitive consciousness of Mrs Ramsay, the central figure in the Ramsay family. The | novel highlights the differences between the male perspective as represented by the tragic and self- ; pitying philosopher Mr Ramsay, and the female perspective as represented by the warm and | maternal Mrs Ramsay. Mr and Mrs Ramsay were probably modelled on Woolf's parents, and the novel contains many autobiographical references. | {As in all Wools works there is little action, The story revolves around a single event: a planned i expedition to a lighthouse. The style of the novel is both realistic and symbolic; the central symbol, | the lighthouse, represents spiritual and moral salvation, and the story ends on a note of optimism as the family's younger generation makes the long overdue expedition. Further experimentation Woolf carried the stream of consciousness* technique even further in The Waves (1931), her most difficult work, where she does not limit herself to one conscious flow of thoughts but slips from the mind of one character to another. The novel presents in soliloquies the lives of six characters from childhood to old age. Feminist writings While an activist in the campaign for women's suffrage, Woolf wrote a series of notable feminist essays. In her most celebrated essay, A Room of One's Own (1929), she examines the prejudices and financial disadvantages that have held women writers back through the centuries. She criticises the male domination of society and urges women to gain economic independence in order to pursue their own goals (> Visual Links G2 and G14) Reputation Virginia Woolf is today considered to be one of the most innovative novelists of the twentieth century. Many ofthe experimental techniques she introduced are now widely used in modem fiction (> Visual Link G19). She is also highly acclaimed as a literary critic and a feminist writer, TASK ee es Prepare a brief oral presentation ofthe lfe and works of Vi organise it: | 'ginia Woolf. These notes will help you to ~ Family background — | ~ Literary critic a msbury group | = Novelist logarth Press | = Mental condition which led to suicide Feminist essayist | ~ Innovative literary technique