Virginia Woolf was born in London in 1882 and received her education at home, primarily through extensive reading in the library of her father, Sir Leslie Stephen , a prominent Victorian literary critic and philosopher. Her early intellectual development was influenced by frequent contact with scholars, critics, and exposure to classical studies, including Greek. The death of her mother in 1895 marked the beginning of a long struggle with depression and emotional instability, which would continue throughout her life. After the death of her father in 1904, Virginia and her siblings moved to the Bloomsbury area of London, where their home became a meeting place for a group of writers, artists, and intellectuals later known as the Bloomsbury Group . This group was characterized by its rejection of Victorian conventions, its liberal views on art, society, and politics, and its skepticism toward religion. In her later years, Woolf experienced recurring mental health crises, often marked ...

At the beginning of the 20th century intellectuals attitudes were changing and people found it difficult to believe in anything. First of all, an explosion of new ideas changed man’s view of himself and of the universe. In 1905 Albert Einstein published “Theory of Relativity” in which he dealt a further blow to the belief that objective reality and science as a substitute for religion could give an explanation of the universe. British writers were inspired by the philosophical ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche who proclaimed existing abstract values such as the “good” and the “beautiful” were decadent. These ideas were incorrectly late linked with Nazism and Fascism. Another important influence on British artists came from Sigmund Freud and his theories on the structure and workings of the human mind, which are known as psychoanalysis, in order to treat hysteria and neurosis. Freud, then, explored new areas of sensibility which cae to be known as the unconscious. 20th century liter...

In the symbolic novel To the lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, the lighthouse occupied a relevant position both as physical element and a metaphorical one. On the one hand, its light marks the passing of time and reassures the sailors, or the people looking at it. According James Ramsay and her mother Mrs. Ramsay, the lighthouse is, moreover, the favorite place for children, where they have the possibility of amusing themselves. On the other hand, the lighthouse represents a safe shelter and a landmark or a guide for people. In a certain sense, it could be argued that Mrs. Ramsay is like a lighthouse, the essential point of reference in her family’s life. In the novel, she is showned as a beautiful, charitable, hospitable, sympathetic woman, who holds several characters, with their own ideas, together through her sympathy and cleverness. From the beginning of the novel, she is structurally and psychologically a cohesive force, whose purpose is the creation of a balance in her family and...

James Joyce (1882-1941) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) belonged to the first generation of Modernists and it’s possible to make a comparison between their literary production analyzing their masterpieces: Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway . Ulysses Ulysses is one of the greatest examples of reworking of myth in Modernist literature. Joyce uses the epic model to stress the lack of heroism, ideals, love and trust in the modern world. The plot utterly takes place in Dublin in a single day which involves the life of three characters: Leopold Bloom, an advertising agent, Sthephen Dedalus, a sensitive young man with literary ambitions, and Molly Bloom, Leopold’s wife. Leopold Bloom, compared to Homer’s Ulysses, makes common actions: he wanders throughout the day in the streets of Dublin making errands, stopping at the advertising office and joining a funeral. He is distressed with two deep emotional burdens: the unsolved grief over his baby son’s death and the crumbling relationship with his unfa...

       James Joyce (1882-1941) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) belonged to the first generation of Modernists and it’s possible to make a comparison between their literary production analyzing their masterpieces: Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway. Ulysses Ulysses is one of the greatest examples of reworking of myth in Modernist literature. Joyce uses the epic model to stress the lack of heroism, ideals, love and trust in the modern world. The plot utterly takes place in Dublin in a single day which involves the life of three characters: Leopold Bloom, an advertising agent, Sthephen Dedalus, a sensitive young man with literary ambitions, and Molly Bloom, Leopold’s wife. Leopold Bloom, compared to Homer’s Ulysses, makes common actions: he wanders throughout the day in the streets of Dublin making errands, stopping at the advertising office and joining a funeral. He is distressed with two deep emotional burdens: the unsolved grief over his baby son’s death and the crumbling r...

Henri Bergson (1859–1941) is, together with Maine de Biran, one of the greatest representatives of a philosophical French movement called Spiritualism . Spiritualism opposes materialism and positivism, i.e., the metaphysical attitude of scientists who systematically put religion and spirituality aside. Spiritualism is inspired by the philosophy of Augustine, Descartes, Pascal, focusing on ethical problems. In the essay Matter and Memory (1896), the philosopher has a deep interest in human cognitive power and in the role of memory and memories. According to French philosopher, memories are distinguished in pure memories, which are accumulated by consciousness in our memory, and in memory-images, which are articulated by perception into a series of representations. In this way, when we observe something, we activate a series of images and consequent actions that depend on our previous experiences. Another key element of Bergson's thought is the theory of élan vital , developed in h...