Interpreting To The Lighthouse From The Perspective Of Aestheticism

This thesis will analyze Woolf’s To the Lighthouse from the perspective ofAestheticism in the method of textual analysis. To the lighthouse is the representativework of modernism fiction and for a long time has received extensive attentions. In thepast the critics focus on the interpretation of psychoanalysis and feminist themes of thisnovel, but few people study it from the perspective of Aestheticism. Aestheticism is animportant literature trend, whose theory regarding beauty and art has a far-reachingimpact on literary theory and literary creation. And especially under the influence ofAestheticism, the academic circle Bloomsbury take a positive attitude to aesthetic ideasand Woolf, as its core member, makes a bold attempt on literary works.This thesis will interpret To the Lighthouse from the perspective of Aestheticismwill be divided into five chapters: The introduction part is a brief survey of variousaspects of To the Lighthouse and its author Virginia Woolf from the perspective ofAestheticism; Chapter One provides the overview of Aestheticism theory by introducingPater and Oscar Wilde’s viewpoints and its influence on the Bloomsbury Group andVirginia Woolf, framing the theoretical basis for the creation of the novels; Chapter Twofocuses on the structure of the novel from four aspects: the stream of consciousness, theunusual narrative approaches, imagism and the musicality by exploring its aestheticdimensions. Chapter Three illustrates themes explanation in the novel, namely, beauty,art, life，etc. from time-space dimension of beauty and its eternity, impressionistic lightand color, and aesthetic highlights. Finally, the thesis summarizes the main ideasdiscussed above concerning the Aestheticism embodied in the novel, and furthersunderstanding of Woolf’s theory on the fictional creation and the uniqueness and charmunderlying in this novel.