摘 要

意识流小说以打破传统叙述方式而著称，看似晦涩难懂，却收获了广泛的读者群体，因此，这一文学类别如何满足读者需求是一个值得探究的问题。本文提出了意识流小说带来良好读者体验的方法是营造生动而和谐的画面感，同时引起共鸣，拉近读者和作者的距离。

本文以弗吉尼亚伍尔芙代表作《到灯塔去》为例，共分为六大部分：第一部分为绪论，介绍已有研究、呈现论文主旨及结构；第二部分指出作家与画家之间的等同关系，分析伍尔芙的生活在小说中的投射；第三部分为“前景”，分析莉莉画布上的意象；第四部分为“中景”，解析男女角色所看到的不同画面；第五部分为“背景”，即从各个跨学科角度来揭示小说中呈现的抽象平衡；第六部分为总结以及对文学创作的展望。

关键词：《到灯塔去》；意识流；读者体验；心理学

Abstract

Stream of consciousness is known for its unconventional use of narration. Despite its obscurity, it gains a wide range of readers. How this literary genre satisfies readers’ requirements is, therefore, worthy of exploring. This paper points out that it brings readers positive experience by creating vivid and harmonious pictures, thus arousing resonance and closing the distance between the author and readers.

This paper takes Virginia Woolf's major work To The Lighthouse as an example and is generally divided into six parts: the first part is an introduction to the current studies of this field, presenting the theme and structure of the paper; the second part points out the equated relation between a writer and a painter and discusses the projections of Woolf’s life in this novel; the third part serves as the “foreground”, which analyzes the images on Lily’s canvas; the fourth part presents the “middle-ground”, manifesting different visions in male and female eyes; the fifth part, which forms the “background”, reveals the abstract balance from interdisciplinary perspectives; the sixth part is a summary and a prospect of future literary creation.

KeyWords: To The Lighthouse; stream of consciousness; reader experience; psychology

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Painter of mind 3

2.1 Woolf's Family Background 3

2.2 Woolf's Romantic Relationships ……………………………………………………....3

2.3 Reflections 4

3 Foreground: Scene 7

3.1 Lily Briscoe 7

3.2 Lily's Canvas: Colors and Images 8

4 Middle-ground: Mentality 10

4.1 Male Vision 10

4.2 Female Vision 11

5Background: composition of balance………………………………………………………. 13

5.1 Plot: Tension and Relaxation …………………………………………………….. 13

5.2 Gender: Androgyny……………………………………………………………….... 13

5.3 Painting: Color and Composition ………………………………………………… 14

5.4 Sonata: Structure of Harmony 15

6 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………. 17

References 18

Acknowledgements 19

Vision beyond Ocean:

To The Lighthouse

1 Introduction

The beauty of stream of consciousness comes from its unique narrative style, which impresses readers by guiding them into the flow of the characters’ consciousness. As a representative of this genre, Virginia Woolf was studied by various methods. Her major work To The lighthouse remains a hot research subject in both artistic and literary fields. The majority of interdisciplinary researches on this novel focused on the application of artistic techniques. Jack F. Stewart’s work Impressionism in the Early Novels of Virginia Woolf, for example, mainly studied the connection between Woolf’s writing skills and artistic skills of impressionist paintings. As to recent researches, Qiu Li probed into a similar aspect in Color Language Concerning Scenes in To The Lighthouse in 2019. Meanwhile, the concept of androgyny has also been the focus of a lot of prominent scholars, such as Marilyn R. Farwell, who made a remarkable beginning by her work Virginia Woolf and Androgyny in 1975, and Arash Khoshsafa, who offered further discussion in Lily Briscoe: A Victim Feminist or a Feminist Radical in 2017, both aiming at the relation between some important characters and the author’s life experience.

It could be seen that the artistic angle and the humanistic angle were seldom put into comprehensive studies as well as brought out as an outstanding factor of the success of stream of consciousness. More specifically, the relationship between visual sense and reader experience was scarcely discussed at length. Researches on painting psychology, aesthetic orientation, and author-reader interaction were rarely discovered.

This paper is, therefore, dedicated to studying how vivid pictures are built by words, and how the pictures build empathy engagement. To reveal the writer-reader communication in stream of consciousness, thus to prove the significant role that visual art plays in this novel’s success. This paper is generally divided into six parts: the first part is an introduction to the current studies of this field, presenting the theme and structure of the paper; the second part points out the equated relation between a writer and a painter and discusses the projections of Woolf’s life in this novel; the third part serves as the “foreground”, which analyzes the images on Lily’s canvas; the fourth part presents the “middle-ground”, manifesting different visions in male and female eyes; the fifth part, which forms the “background”, reveals the abstract balance from interdisciplinary perspectives; the sixth part is a summary and a prospect of literary creation.

The research value of this paper lies in the demonstration of writer-reader relationship, and the application of visual art in the future creative writing.

2 Painter of mind

2.1 Woolf’s Family Background

Virginia Woolf was a well-born girl. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was well known as a prominent scholar and critic. His friends included a great many literary giants, including Henry James and Thomas Hardy. Due to her father’s elevated social circles, Woolf was raised in a strong atmosphere of literature and art. Through her childhood and puberty, she read volumes of books in his library and received valuable advice from him.

Woolf’s mother, Julia Prinsep Jackson, was a gentlewoman chased by a lot of admirers. She had special feminine charm, cared about people equally with tenderness, and was receptive to her husband’s decisions. However, all these traits seemed double-edged to her daughter. Although Woolf admired Julia greatly in many aspects, she still wanted to monopolize her mother’s attention, therefore could never content herself with a traditional motherly love.