51 pages • 1 hour read
Virginia WoolfTo the Lighthouse
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1927A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & ResourcesLiterary Devices
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The following materials bring books to life and support both individual and group literature study. Use these resources to draw real-world connections, plan interdisciplinary lessons, inspire unique research projects, create enrichment activities, and support differentiated instruction.
Books and Articles
This reader contains 13 essays by distinguished Woolf scholars analyzing the novel from a range of perspectives, including biographical, thematic, structural, and socio-historical.
Maggie Humm’s novel imagines Lily Briscoe’s life outside the pages of To the Lighthouse and beyond the setting of the Ramsay’s summer home, which is a fictional version of Talland House, Woolf’s childhood summer home in Cornwall.
This New York Times article follows Virginia Woolf’s footsteps around St. Ives in Cornwall, providing historical sketches of the seaside town where Woolf vacationed as a child. The writer draws connections between Cornwall, Woolf, and Woolf’s fictional foray into her past in To the Lighthouse.
In this article from The Nation, Alysa Harad responds with scathing satire to fellow writer André Aciman’s belittling of Virginia Woolf, suggesting similarities between him and Woolf’s character Charles Tansley.
In this Salon article, Peter Orner reflects on how he fell for Lily Briscoe and later learned from her example that failure and loss are fundamental to art.
Videos and Podcasts
This episode of TedEd provides a brief overview of Virginia Woolf’s life, her major works and recurrent themes, and her innovative contributions to twentieth-century literature.
In this episode of the “Crash Course Literature” video series, host John Green presents the basic features of Modernism, and discusses how To the Lighthouse—from its unconventional plot to its radical subjectivity—is an exemplary Modernist text.
This episode of the podcast Literate takes a deep dive into Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse with help from Woolf experts Dr. Urmila Seshagiri and Professor Dame Hermione Lee.
This Turkish Public Broadcasting video guides viewers through a 2018 Tate St. Ives exhibition of works by artists who knew Virginia Woolf or were inspired by her writings.
Produced by the Tate Gallery, this podcast provides historical context for the character of Lily Briscoe by introducing the Bloomsbury Group, a circle of visual artists, writers, and thinkers that included Virginia Woolf.
Related Titles
By Virginia Woolf
