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anefI've always had a bit of a blank about Virginia Woolf. I'd read Orlando, (and fallen asleep in the film) but it hadn't really clicked with me, and I know more about her sister Vanessa Bell's paintings and the house at Charleston, due to living in Brighton for 10 years. So when I got an email from Literature Cambridge who are I think the outreach part of the English faculty, offering short on-line courses, I thought "What the hell, I should at least try to read some Woolf" and signed up for a couple of hours on "To the Lighthouse". So I needed to read it first.
From the first page I was immediately drawn in. The narrative is from various points of view, of people on holiday in a summer house on the Isle of Skye. There's the hostess, Mrs Ramsay, with her eight children, her insecure academic husband, various hangers on of said husband, and an artist called Lily who is trying to paint Mrs Ramsay and her youngest son, James. There's an unvocalised struggle between James and Mr Ramsay for Mrs Ramsay's attention.
There's isn't a plot, as such. James wants to go to the lighthouse, but Mr Ramsay says they won't be able to, as it will be wet. And this is what happens. The adults sit down to dinner. Ten years pass, WW1 happens, Mrs Ramsay and two of her children die [abruptly, in parentheses]. The house, unvisited, starts to fall into ruin, but is eventually rescued to perform its old function as Mr Ramsay, the children, Lily and a couple of the hangers on come back for a visit. James gets his boat trip to the lighthouse with his father and his sister Cam.
You see the action from various different points of view, and the fascination is trying to piece together what's going on in the various relationships. Visually I imagined everything as impressionist paintings. The gardens, the boats on the sea, the dinner party with the posh clothes and the ladies in their jewellery.
The book covers a lot of themes: motherhood, the tensions between Mrs Ramsay and her demanding husband, the individuality of children, grief. Lily's the outside observer, but the book is also about art, how an artist (or a writer) works, and the importance of creativity in a life. How people think about each other changes from minute to minute, as they behave well or badly. The children hate and resist their father, and then are won over by him. It's a shimmering book, and I don't think one could ever come to the end of reading it.
From the first page I was immediately drawn in. The narrative is from various points of view, of people on holiday in a summer house on the Isle of Skye. There's the hostess, Mrs Ramsay, with her eight children, her insecure academic husband, various hangers on of said husband, and an artist called Lily who is trying to paint Mrs Ramsay and her youngest son, James. There's an unvocalised struggle between James and Mr Ramsay for Mrs Ramsay's attention.
There's isn't a plot, as such. James wants to go to the lighthouse, but Mr Ramsay says they won't be able to, as it will be wet. And this is what happens. The adults sit down to dinner. Ten years pass, WW1 happens, Mrs Ramsay and two of her children die [abruptly, in parentheses]. The house, unvisited, starts to fall into ruin, but is eventually rescued to perform its old function as Mr Ramsay, the children, Lily and a couple of the hangers on come back for a visit. James gets his boat trip to the lighthouse with his father and his sister Cam.
You see the action from various different points of view, and the fascination is trying to piece together what's going on in the various relationships. Visually I imagined everything as impressionist paintings. The gardens, the boats on the sea, the dinner party with the posh clothes and the ladies in their jewellery.
The book covers a lot of themes: motherhood, the tensions between Mrs Ramsay and her demanding husband, the individuality of children, grief. Lily's the outside observer, but the book is also about art, how an artist (or a writer) works, and the importance of creativity in a life. How people think about each other changes from minute to minute, as they behave well or badly. The children hate and resist their father, and then are won over by him. It's a shimmering book, and I don't think one could ever come to the end of reading it.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-18 05:20 pm (UTC)TILDA SWINTON
I rest my case
no subject
Date: 2020-05-18 06:13 pm (UTC)