The ride to the lighthouse

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German first edition, Insel, Leipzig 1931

To the Lighthouse , current title to the lighthouse ( english To the Lighthouse ) is a novel by Virginia Woolf . The polyphonic story is about the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.

The novel is part of modern literature and uses narrative techniques similar to those of Marcel Proust or James Joyce , whose prose can sometimes be tortuous and difficult to follow. The plot is subordinate to the internal vision of the characters. There is little dialogue in the book and little happens; the text mainly expresses the thoughts and perceptions of the main characters. The focus is on Lily Briscoe, whose observations of the Ramsay family form the backbone of the book, and Mrs Ramsay. The novel recalls the power of childhood memories and emphasizes the volatility of adult relationships. One of numerous topics is constant change.

In 2015, 82 international literary critics and scholars voted the novel the most important British novel after George Eliot's Middlemarch .

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Chapter 1: The Window

The novel is set in the country house of the Ramsays on the Hebridean island of Skye. It sets in as Mrs. Ramsay assures her son James that they will visit the lighthouse the next day. Her husband objects that the weather will be unsuitable, which highlights the tensions within the couple and between father and son. This incident is alluded to on several occasions in this chapter, especially when it comes to the Ramsay couple's relationship.

The Ramsays have taken in a number of friends and colleagues into their home, including Lily Briscoe, who is a young, unsure of herself painter who tries on a painting of the house. Lily constantly doubts herself, which is encouraged by the remarks made by another guest, Charles Tansley, who bluntly claims women cannot paint or write. Tansley is an admirer of Mr. Ramsay and his philosophical treatises.

The chapter ends with a big dinner. Mr Ramsay is annoyed with the poet Augustus Carmichael when he asks for a second soup. Mrs. Ramsay, who strives for the perfect dinner herself, is annoyed by Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle - two acquaintances she wants to establish a marriage between - who show up late for dinner because Minta lost her grandmother's brooch on the beach .

Chapter 2: Time Flies

There are about ten years between the first and third chapters. The second chapter serves the author to give a feeling for the time that has passed. Woolf described this section as an "interesting experiment". The role of this chapter as a link between the two dominant parts of the story is also clear in Woolf's notes on her novel: She wrote "two blocks connected by a corridor" over an H-shaped drawing. During this time the First World War begins and ends . In addition, the reader is informed about the fate of the characters introduced in the first chapter: Mrs. Ramsay has died, her daughter Prue dies in childbed, and her son Andrew is killed in the war. Without the help of his wife, Mr Ramsay remains exposed to attacks of agony and self-doubt.

Chapter 3: The Lighthouse

In the final chapter, some Ramsays return to the country house ten years later, where Mr Ramsay finally wants to make up for the long postponed trip to the lighthouse with his son James and his daughter Cam (illa). It almost never comes to that because the kids are late, but eventually they cast off. On the way, James and Cam are stubbornly silent because they were forced to go along. James manages to handle the boat well, and instead of the usual criticism he expects from his father, he ends up receiving a compliment, which creates a rare moment of understanding between father and son. And Cam's attitude towards her father has changed too.

You will be accompanied by the sailor Macalister and his son, who catches fish on the way. He cuts out a part of a fish that is still alive, which he uses as new bait, after which he throws the rest of the fish back into the sea. Virginia Woolf uses this as a metaphor for the world as a cruel, pitiless environment in which to survive.

While the Ramsays are crossing to the lighthouse, Lily tries again to paint the house. Thoughts of Mrs. Ramsay arise again and again, who supported Lily's artistic ambitions, but on the other hand also tried in a subtle way to control her life. This time Lily succeeds in completing the painting. She realizes that following her own vision is more important than leaving any legacy with her work - a lesson Mr Ramsay has yet to learn.

Narrative style and perspective

The novel has no omniscient narrator; instead, the action unfolds in the stream of consciousness of the individual characters. As a result, the reader does not receive any clear guidelines on how to understand the plot and has to form an opinion for himself based on the development of the characters.

Large parts of Woolf's novel are not about what is seen, but rather examine the process of perception, trying to understand what happens when we see. As her diary shows, Virginia Woolf spent considerable time watching herself think about the words and feelings that rose in her head in response to what she saw.

While the first chapter is about describing the relationships between the characters and their perceptions, there are no acting characters in the second chapter. Woolf wrote this passage from the perspective of a detached narrator, which should make the passage of time clear. This part seems impersonal, an example of what Woolf called "life when we are not part of it".

The scene

Godrevy Point lighthouse near St Ives

Leslie Stephen , Woolf's father and likely the model for the character of Mr. Ramsay, began renting Talland House in St Ives shortly after she was born in 1882 . The family spent the summer vacation there for the next ten years. The scene of the action in the Hebrides is modeled after this. As in the actual bay of St Ives, there are gardens that extend to the sea, a beach and a lighthouse.

However, while in the novel the Ramsays return to the house after the war, the Stephens had long since given up their house by that time. After the war, Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa visited Talland House under the new owners and later, long after her parents died, she repeated the trip.

Release history

When she had completed the manuscript of the most autobiographical of her novels, Woolf described it as "by far the best of my books" and her husband Leonard considered it a masterpiece: "completely new [...] a psychological poem." They published it in 1927 in the Hogarth Press founded by them . The first edition of 3000 contained 320 pages, measured 7.5 "by 5", and was bound in blue linen. The book sold better than any previous Virginia Woolf novel, and the Woolfs were able to buy a car with the proceeds. Before going to the lighthouse , Virginia Woolf had written to Mrs. Dalloway , and Orlando followed suit .

Radio play editing

bibliography

  • Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse . Hogarth, London 1927. (3000 of the first edition were printed, a second edition followed in June.)
  • Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse . Harcourt Brace, New York 1927. (First US edition of 4,000; reprinted at least five times that year)
  • Virginia Woolf: The ride to the lighthouse . Insel, Leipzig undated [1931]. (first German translation by Karl Lerbs). To the lighthouse . Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1993. ISBN 3-596-12019-5
  • To the Lighthouse : 1983 film with Rosemary Harris , Michael Gough , Suzanne Berti and Kenneth Branagh .
  • To the Lighthouse : Play by Adele Edling Shank with music by Paul Dresher. The 2007 world premiere at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, Berkeley, California was directed by Les Waters.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Guardian: The best British novel of all times - have international critics found it? , accessed on January 2, 2016
  2. ↑ BR radio play Pool - Virginia Woolf, To the lighthouse (3 parts)