Introduction
It is hard to disagree that major historical events have a substantial impact on the further development of different forms of art. Thus, post-war literature not only includes references to the holocaust and other horrors of the military years and experiences but can also be distinguished from literary works of other times by its unique features. Modernism is a way of writing that started at the beginning of the twentieth century but developed greatly after World War I.
Virginia Woolf is considered one of the greatest representatives of literary Modernism. Her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse is a key example of this style, with an emphasis on self-consciousness and the difference between external and internal. In this novel, it is evident that the Great War’s loss and violence shaped Woolf’s perception of nature and time and made her experiment with language, literary form, and the representation of consciousness.
Attitude Towards Nature and Time
To begin with, the effects of World War I impact the author’s attitudes toward nature and time. Firstly, Woolf is somewhat disappointed with nature’s indifference as it no longer mirrors people’s poor experience and the world’s devastation (112). The writer does not allow her characters to find comfort, unity, and inspiration in nature because the latter is “eyeless, and so terrible” (Woolf 113). Natural forces are personified by Woolf and are depicted merely observing how time and war destroy people and their houses (108).
Further, regarding attitudes toward time, the author sees it as an undeniable power and undefinable constant. A day can extend, while ten years can be perceived fragmentarily; moments are unstable, but death and devastation are certain. All these views on nature and time result from the influence of war. The latter disappoints people in their indifferent and unsupportive nature and gets lost in time.
Experiments with Language
When reading the novel, one notices that the author uses language rather interestingly to convey additional information about the characters or describe the situation better, and the effects of war can be seen in this approach. Firstly, in the pre-war and post-war sections, the author uses expressions and terms that refer to military experiences, indicating that they are felt even in peaceful times. For example, a simple trip to the lighthouse is called an “expedition,” “holocaust” is used in a sentence somewhat ironically, and Mrs. Ramsay is jokingly forced by her family to “dismount her batteries” (Woolf 15, 72, 88). Without the effects of World War I, the author would probably not use these terms and words in her novel.
Further, To the Lighthouse is filled with various repetitions, which emphasize that it is important that the characters share the same qualities or make similar actions. For example, Woolf uses epistrophe, which is repeating the same word or construction at the end of successive sentences or clauses, in the following part of the novel: “Lily was listening; Mrs. Ramsay was listening; they were all listening. But already bored, Lily felt that something was lacking; Mr. Bankes felt that something was lacking. Pulling her shawl around her, Mrs. Ramsay felt that something was lacking” (Woolf 82).
Such repetitiveness allows readers to understand the tension in the situation and notice that while the characters are involved as they listen, everyone feels strange or uncomfortable. Therefore, the writer is eager to better show her characters’ inner states and focus more on the duality of their actions (in this case, listening) and actual feelings, which was common for post-war literature. Although repetition is not unique to Modernism, in To the Lighthouse, Woolf uses this technique extremely often. This allows her to highlight that the writing itself is like a flow or stream of her characters’ consciousness.
Quite simple words are repeated in every sentence on several pages, such as “something,” and neither the readers nor the characters themselves can always understand what each “something” refers to (Woolf 81-82). Wars and their horrors are rarely understandable, but they always have a strong impact on people, leaving them confused. The author sometimes makes the sentences short: “She tried. He did not respond. She could not force him. She was disappointed” (Woolf 81).
Listing simple actions and emotions in such an abrupt and fragmentary manner (Kilinç 112) and then writing quite long sentences changes the novel’s pace. It affects how the readers and characters perceive the time: “And as he was grateful, and as he liked her, and as he was beginning to enjoy himself, so now, Mrs. Ramsay thought, she could return to that dreamland, that unreal but fascinating place, the Mannings’ drawing-room at Marlow twenty years ago; where one moved about without haste or anxiety, for there was no future to worry about” (Woolf 81). Thus, in the provided examples, the author purposefully distinguishes between the somewhat chaotic flow of consciousness in the latter and the mere statement of facts in the former.
Literary Form
Referring to the literary form of her writing, Woolf uses several unique approaches to conveying the novel’s message and ideas. Thus, To the Lighthouse is divided into three parts, and the second serves as a bridge from the first to the final section. Noticeably, Woolf’s nineteen and thirteen chapters describe one day before the war and one day in the post-war period in “The Window” and “The Lighthouse” sections, respectively. This is the author’s way of showing that a beautiful and peaceful day may last longer and be filled with many emotions, thoughts, and intentions to discuss.
At the same time, the second section is about World War I, and its title, “Time Passes,” indicates that it is merely a bridge for characters to pass to enter the post-war period. In this section, Woolf highlights the distance between families and their close ones participating in wars. The author does not detail her characters’ deaths, mentioning them casually in parentheses (Woolf 107, 111, 112).
Wars create distance, horror, and even indifference to people’s deaths because so many happen each day, and time passes unnoticeably (Beganović 19). This is evident in the middle section, which covers several years but takes the fewest number of pages. Additionally, when discussing unique features of the novel’s form, it is possible to mention that nine sentences are put in square brackets, which is relatively uncommon for prose.
For instance, consider the following part of the novel:
“Mr. Ramsay stumbling along a passage stretched his arms out one dark morning, but, Mrs. Ramsay having died rather suddenly the night before, he stretched his arms out. They remained empty.” (Woolf 107).
Here, the readers learn about the main character’s death, but the author mentions it rather casually; the situation itself, where Mr. Ramsay fails to find support in his wife as he used to, is tragic. Learning about Mrs. Ramsay’s death like that, the audience is shocked and can feel this sudden emptiness, similar to Mr. Ramsay feeling a lack of his wife’s presence so sharply.
The Representation of Consciousness
Lastly, since writers’ changed views on consciousness mark Modernism, it is essential to discuss how Woolf covers this topic. In To the Lighthouse, there are numerous shifts between the characters whose thoughts are revealed. Noticeably, when the author reveals the characters’ truthful thoughts and inner desires, she mentions that they fail to express themselves properly even when wishing to (Woolf 101-102). However, they still understand each other, meaning that their consciousness is at a high level and somewhat shared (Woolf 84, 155).
Moreover, the example provided above to illustrate repetition shows that characters share the same consciousness as they are listening, but simultaneously lack something important, unaware of experiencing the same concerns (Woolf 82). Consequently, increased self-consciousness is another element in the novel that was added after World War I. The characters must reflect, think, and review their events and feelings, but their attempts are often fragmented or abrupt, turning into a flow of consciousness.
Conclusion
To conclude, there are many examples proving that the loss and devastation of the Great War impacted Woolf’s writing style. Firstly, the author expresses her disappointment with nature and its indifference, highlighting that time can be perceived differently, but death is inevitable. To show that war is integral to people’s lives, Woolf integrates military terms into the pre-war section and uses repetition to deliver the tension and shared consciousness. Regarding her experiments with the form, the writer divides the novel into three unequal sections and uses square brackets to illustrate the distance between people and events.
Works Cited
Beganović, Velid. “’God Damn This War’: Virginia Woolf’s Struggle for Peace between the Wars.” Revue Électronique D’études Sur le Monde Anglophone, vol. 17, no. 2, 2020.
Kilinç, Çağla. “The Idea of Modernism in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.” Journal of Modernism and Postmodernism Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2020, pp. 112-120.
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Vintage Books, 2019.