MARRIAGE OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY CONCEPT OF TIME IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S ‘TO THE LIGHTHOUSE’

Abstract

This article is an attempt to study Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse with reference to the modern theories of time and temporality propounded by Henri Bergson, and Heidegger. The study traces the influence of Bergson’s theory of time on Virginia Woolf’s fiction by investigating the nature of narrative time and the technique(s) used by Woolf to dismantle the traditional notion of time. As such, the focus of investigation, in this project, is the affinity of Bergson’s philosophical conceptualization of the category of time and Virginia Woolf’s literary presentation of the new notion of time through the spatial and temporal experience of her characters.In the process of investigating the narrative flow of time, this paper attempts to address the two crucial questions: First, does there exist systematic relationship, and hence interdependence, between French philosopher Bergson’s theorization of time and English novelist Virginia Woolf’s narrativization of structures of time? and Secondly, what narrative technique(s) has Virginia Woolf used in her fiction to bring out Bergsonian concept of time?In order to address these two significant questions, the paper begins with articulating main postulations of Bergson’s theory of time. Next, to forge a marriage of philosophy and literature, To the Lighthouse is analyzed comprehensively to study the application of the philosophical concept of time upon the literary art of Woolf. How Woolf has explored and integrated into her fiction the innovative conceptualization of time, the study argues, is one of the features of Woolf’s departure from the traditional art of novel-writing. The dissertation concludes pointing out the striking similarities, as well as peculiarities, between the eminent philosopher’s conceptualization of time and the intellectual novelist’s treatment of time in the fictional world of To the Lighthouse.