by Virginia Woolf 乀乀 To the Lighthouse 乀乀 [الأرشيف]

الزهرة الخضراء

20-04-2008, 01:33 AM

Virginia Woolf

فيرجينا وولف (25 كانون الثاني 1882-28 آذار 1941) مؤلفة بريطانية و رائدة من رواد الحركات النسائية ، تعد من أهم الشخصيات الأدبية الحداثية في القرن العشرين الميلادي. بين الحربين العالميتين كانت وولف من أهم الشخصيات الأدبية في لندن و في مجموعة بلومزبري.

ولدت أدلين فيرجينيا ستيفن في عائلة أرستقراطية و نشأت على قواعد المجتمع الفكتوري الصارم. بعد وفاة والدتها عام 1895 تعرضت لسلسلة من الإنهيارات العصبية.

أقرت في سيرتها الشخصية أنها و شقيقتها تعرضتا للإساءة و الإستغلال الجنسيين من قبل أخوين غير شقيقين.و يعتقد بشكل واسع الآن أنها عانت من مرض عقلي ،طبع حياتها و أدبها و أدى في نهاية الأمر إلى انتحارها. بعد وفاة والدها - السير ليسلي ستفين ، و كان محرراً و ناقداً أدبيا معروفا- عام 1904 ، انتقلت فيرجينيا و شقيقتها للعيش في بلومزبري ، حيث كونت نواة مجموعة بلومزبري التي ضمت مجموعة من المثقفين المؤمنين بقيم الحداثة. يعتقد أن أدب فيرجيينا وولف كان حوارا مستمرا مع أعضاء تلك المجموعة.

في عام 1905 احترفت الكتابة لملحق التايمز الأدبي. في عام 1912 تزوجت من المفكر السياسي ليونارد وولف . في عام 1915 نشرت روايتها الأولى نهاية الرحلة. و من يومها و هي تعد واحدة من أهم الروائيين في القرن العشرين.

تعتبر وولف من أهم المجددين في اللغة الانكليزية، خاصة إسهامها في تشكيل تيار الوعي مع كل من هنري جيمس و جيمس جويس ،حيث تلعب الدوافع النفسية العميقة ، و الحوافز العاطفية و السرد المختلط مع مفهوم تحطيم الزمن. و على حد قول تعبير اي . ام فورستر فأنها دفعت باللغة الانكليزية بعيدا عن الظلمة.

خفت الاهتمام بها بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية ، ثم عاد في السبعينات ،من خلال الحركات النسوية الناشطة التي عدتها رمزا نسائياً و ايقونة لنضال المرأة .

تعتبر قوة وولف الأدبية في ثراء لغتها و شاعريتها ، فرواياتها خالية تقريبا من الأحداث و من الحبكة التقليدية لكنها تعتمد على تداعيات شخوص الرواية و ذاكرتهم .

قي 28 آذار 1941 ، ملئت فيرجينيا جيوبها بأحجار ضخمة و ألقت بنفسها منتحرة في النهر، بعد رسالة مؤثرة تركتها لزوجها، تخبره فيها أن المرض ( العقلي ) قد عاد إليها و أنها تسمع أصواتاً طول الوقت ، و أنها هذه المرة لن تتمكن من العلاج ، و أن ذلك لو استمر فسيحطمه و يحطم عمله ،و تشكره فيها أيضا على" احسن سنين حياتها".

أهم أعمالها:

The Voyage Out
Night and Day
Jacob's Room
Mrs Dalloway
To the Lighthouse
The Waves
The Years
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf

الزهرة الخضراء

20-04-2008, 01:44 AM

To the Lighthouse

Summary
Chapter 1

It has been ten years since they have all been back to the house. Lily wonders what it means to her to be back at the Ramsay’s. Mr. Ramsay, Cam, and James are going to the Lighthouse, but the children are not ready. Mr. Ramsay, as usual, becomes angry because Nancy has forgotten to order the sandwiches. She does not know what to send to the Lighthouse the way her mother did. Lily felt the whole scene aimless and chaotic. Mrs. Ramsay, Andrew, and Prue are all dead, yet Lily feels nothing. She tries her best to avoid Mr. Ramsay. She then remembers the picture that she attempted ten years ago. She decides to paint it now. Neither James or Cam wants to go to the Lighthouse. Lily does not want Mr. Ramsay to come near her or see her painting.

Chapter 2

Mr. Ramsay approaches Lily now needing sympathy from her. She cannot give him sympathy and so praises his boots. Cam and James show up rather melancholy. Only then does she feel any pity for him at all. She realizes that he no longer has Mrs. Ramsay to talk to at night. Then they are off.

Chapter 3

While Lily tries to paint, she recalls Charles Tansley’s voice telling her she cannot paint. She wonders about the meaning of life. She walks to the edge of the lawn and sees the boat on which Mr. Ramsay, Cam, and James are to set sail.

Chapter 4

Mr. Ramsay, James, and Cam are in the boat with Macalister and his son. James and Cam hope the breeze will not come and take them closer to the Lighthouse. They feel their father has forced them to go. Cam looks back at the house as they drift out, and Mr. Ramsay remembers walking along the terrace and people sympathizing with him. Cam shows feelings of loving her father and being proud of him. She also thinks of the past and the people that are now gone. Mr. Ramsay teases her about not knowing the points of the compass. Then he sees that Cam looks frightened and is quiet and wants to make her feel better. James seems to feel nothing for his father, yet he wants his approval. He remembers feeling angry with his mother. Cam is torn because she loves her father, but then remembers the "crash blindness and tyranny of [her father] which had poisoned her childhood and raised bitter storms, so that even now she woke in the night trembling with rage and remembered some command of his; some insolence…his dominance: his ‘Submit to me’" (170). She looks at the shore and feels that the people that used to be there are now free.

Chapter 5

Lily sees them go out and again remembers Mrs. Ramsay. She continues her painting. She thinks of Minta and Paul and how their marriage has not been the best, though they have found a way to make it work. She remembers William Bankes and his admiration for Mrs. Ramsay. She and William have remained good friends. As she remembers more and more, her feelings become more intense, and she cries. She then calls out for Mrs. Ramsay.

Chapter 6

Macalister’s boy mutilates a fish for bait.

Chapter 7

Lily continues painting and thinking of Mrs. Ramsay, relieved that Mr. Carmichael has not heard her. She contemplates how many times she has thought about Mrs. Ramsay after hearing about her death. The boat is now half-way across the bay.

Chapter 8

The boat passengers wait for another breeze to get them to the Lighthouse. Mr. Ramsay is reading. James thinks back remembering his mother and growing angry again at his father. As he thinks about his mother, the wind picks up, and they move on.

Chapter 9

Lily looks out over the sea and can no longer see the boat.

Chapter 10

Cam reflects on the good things about her father, when she felt safe with him.

Chapter 11

Lily is still looking for the boat—the brown speck. She thinks of Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Carmichael, and Mr. Tansley. She feels that Tansley is a hypocrite (197). She thinks of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay together and how he had tired his wife. Yet, they always managed to work through things. She can see Mrs. Ramsay knitting her reddish-brown stocking (202). She goes again to the edge of the lawn looking for the boat and wanting Mr. Ramsay?

Chapter 12

As the group gets closer to the Lighthouse, Mr. Ramsay opens up the lunch. As they eat, Cam feels secure. James sees his father as lonely "which was for both of them the truth about things" (203). When they pass over where three men drowned, Mr. Ramsay does not break into poetry, much to the surprise of James and Cam. When they reach the shore, Mr. Ramsay praises the job James has done steering them like a born sailor (206). James is pleased that his father has praised him, but will not let anyone see it. Both James and Cam want to do something for him, but he does not ask anything of them.

Chapter 13

Lily says to herself that Mr. Ramsay must have reached the Lighthouse. Mr. Carmichael joins her and agrees. She states, "It is finished" (208). She is then able to finish her painting, even though she feels it will be hung in the attics. She has had her vision.
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SETTING

The novel is set on an island in the Hebrides (a group of islands off the West Coast of and belonging to Scotland) at the Ramseys's vacation house. The novel is set in a ten year period, with the first section (and the bulk of the action) taking place in one day before the war, a middle period in which all action takes place "off stage" during the war, and a last section taking place in one day after the war.
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Character List

Mrs. Ramsay - Mr. Ramsay’s wife. A beautiful and loving woman, Mrs. Ramsay is a wonderful hostess who takes pride in making memorable experiences for the guests at the family’s summer home on the Isle of Skye. Affirming traditional gender roles wholeheartedly, she lavishes particular attention on her male guests, who she believes have delicate egos and need constant support and sympathy. She is a dutiful and loving wife but often struggles with her husband’s difficult moods and selfishness. Without fail, however, she triumphs through these difficult times and demonstrates an ability to make something significant and lasting from the most ephemeral of circumstances, such as a dinner party.

Mr. Ramsay - Mrs. Ramsay’s husband, and a prominent metaphysical philosopher. Mr. Ramsay loves his family but often acts like something of a tyrant. He tends to be selfish and harsh due to his persistent personal and professional anxieties. He fears, more than anything, that his work is insignificant in the grand scheme of things and that he will not be remembered by future generations. Well aware of how blessed he is to have such a wonderful family, he nevertheless tends to punish his wife, children, and guests by demanding their constant sympathy, attention, and support.

Lily Briscoe - A young, single painter who befriends the Ramsays on the Isle of Skye. Like Mr. Ramsay, Lily is plagued by fears that her work lacks worth. She begins a portrait of Mrs. Ramsay at the beginning of the novel but has trouble finishing it. The opinions of men like Charles Tansley, who insists that women cannot paint or write, threaten to undermine her confidence.

James Ramsay - The Ramsays’ youngest son. James loves his mother deeply and feels a murderous antipathy toward his father, with whom he must compete for Mrs. Ramsay’s love and affection. At the beginning of the novel, Mr. Ramsay refuses the six-year-old James’s request to go to the lighthouse, saying that the weather will be foul and not permit it; ten years later, James finally makes the journey with his father and his sister Cam. By this time, he has grown into a willful and moody young man who has much in common with his father, whom he detests.

Paul Rayley - A young friend of the Ramsays who visits them on the Isle of Skye. Paul is a kind, impressionable young man who follows Mrs. Ramsay’s wishes in marrying Minta Doyle.
Minta Doyle - A flighty young woman who visits the Ramsays on the Isle of Skye. Minta marries Paul Rayley at Mrs. Ramsay’s wishes.
Charles Tansley - A young philosopher and pupil of Mr. Ramsay who stays with the Ramsays on the Isle of Skye. Tansley is a prickly and unpleasant man who harbors deep insecurities regarding his humble background. He often insults other people, particularly women such as Lily, whose talent and accomplishments he constantly calls into question. His bad behavior, like Mr. Ramsay’s, is motivated by his need for reassurance.
William Bankes - A botanist and old friend of the Ramsays who stays on the Isle of Skye. Bankes is a kind and mellow man whom Mrs. Ramsay hopes will marry Lily Briscoe. Although he never marries her, Bankes and Lily remain close friends.
Augustus Carmichael - An opium-using poet who visits the Ramsays on the Isle of Skye. Carmichael languishes in literary obscurity until his verse becomes popular during the war.
Andrew Ramsay - The oldest of the Ramsays’ sons. Andrew is a competent, independent young man, and he looks forward to a career as a mathematician.
Jasper Ramsay - One of the Ramsays’ sons. Jasper, to his mother’s chagrin, enjoys shooting birds.
Roger Ramsay - One of the Ramsays’ sons. Roger is wild and adventurous, like his sister Nancy.
Prue Ramsay - The oldest Ramsay girl, a beautiful young woman. Mrs. Ramsay delights in contemplating Prue’s marriage, which she believes will be blissful.
Rose Ramsay - One of the Ramsays’ daughters. Rose has a talent for making things beautiful. She arranges the fruit for her mother’s dinner party and picks out her mother’s jewelry.
Nancy Ramsay - One of the Ramsays’ daughters. Nancy accompanies Paul Rayley and Minta Doyle on their trip to the beach. Like her brother Roger, she is a wild adventurer.
Cam Ramsay - One of the Ramsays’ daughters. As a young girl, Cam is mischievous. She sails with James and Mr. Ramsay to the lighthouse in the novel’s final section.
Mrs. McNab - An elderly woman who takes care of the Ramsays’ house on the Isle of Skye, restoring it after ten years of abandonment during and after World War I.
Macalister - The fisherman who accompanies the Ramsays to the lighthouse. Macalister relates stories of shipwreck and maritime adventure to Mr. Ramsay and compliments James on his handling of the boat while James lands it at the lighthouse.
Macalister’s boy - The fisherman’s boy. He rows James, Cam, and Mr. Ramsay to the lighthouse

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http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lighthouse/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Lighthouse