**This class will be taught In-Person**
Revisit perception and perspective in a guided reading of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. Published in 1927, this keystone work of early-20th-century Modernist literature is also a deeply affecting portrait of a woman and a family beset by the forces of the modern world. We'll read this masterful novel together over six weeks, finding joy and insight not only in the text but in the experience of reading deeply with a group of peers. Each session will open with a short lecture contextualizing Woolf's life and work, but discussion is the order of the day, so don't be shy. Study questions will be sent in advance of each class to guide both our exploration of the text and our search for new ways of perceiving (for it is nothing if not a novel of perception) the world around us and ourselves.
WEEK 1: An introduction to Virginia Woolf's life and work, and to Modernist literature and the world of the early 20th century. No reading is necessary before the first class begins.
WEEK 2: Streams of Consciousness: Diving into Virginia Woolf's writing style. The intellectual milieu of the Bloomsbury Group. Discussion of the first half of Part One (pages 1-62).
WEEK 3: Virginia Woolf and music. Perception and the artistic process. Discussion of the second half of Part One (pages 62-124).
WEEK 4: Virginia Woolf at home. The Hogarth Press. Discussion of Part Two (pages 125-144), and Virginia Woolf's essay on modernism and modernity: “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown.”
WEEK 5: Frames of reference: Henri Bergson, time, and relativity. Discussion of Part Three (pages 144-209).
WEEK 6: Looking back on To the Lighthouse. Virginia Woolf, feminism, and A Room of One's Own. Discussion of "A Sketch of the Past."
