1. Topic: Art as a means of preservation, with special reference of Lily Briscoe in To the
Lighthouse.
Paper: 9
Paper Name: The Modernist Literature
Prepared by: Drashti Mehta
Roll No:8
PG Enrollment No:PG13101021
Sem:3
Email id: drashti.mehta.111993@gmail.com
Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi, Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinghji
Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar(Gujarat-India)

2. Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf was born
on January 25, 1882
She was a novelist, critic,
essayist and publisher.
She was one of the
foremost modernists of
20th century

3. Most famous work:

4. To the Lighthouse
To the
Lighthouse is
included among
the list of
hundred best
English language
novels of the
20th century.
Stream of
Consciousness
technique
To the Lighthouse
is the 21st most
critically
acclaimed work of
fiction ever made.

5. The Book
• The book is divided
into three parts.
• 1)The Window
• 2)Time Passes
• 3)To the Lighthouse

6. Woolf’s view
Novelist tries to express
her own views on the
problems of artistic
creation and sensibility
Novelist’s sister was an
Artist.

7. The Clash of
Gender
The Clash of
gender ideologies
permits much of
the novel and
Woolf
emphasizes a
subversion of
traditional female
gender roles
through the
character of Lily.

8. Lily Briscoe
She paints a
portrait of
Mrs. Ramsay.
A young
unmarried
friend of the
Ramsays.

9. Lily’s Determination:
Lily’s mission of life is
painting.
Lily’s devotion to art,
she prefers to
remain single.
Lily believes that-
“ A Brush is the only ally in
this life full of fret and hurry
and rough and tumble of
our daily existence”.

10. A Woman Artist
Lily’s status as middle
aged woman, who
values artistic
achievement over the
prospects of marriage
becomes increasingly
difficult to maintain
against the
circumscribed
expectations of
society.

11. Struggling Artist
Lily suffers from
a moral crisis
over her desire to
pursue art as a
vocation because
of gender
inequality and
male prejudices
imposed upon
women.

12. Art as a Vocation
She is challenging the
status by picking up a
paintbrush and experiences
a pervasive sense of guilt as
if committing a heinous
crime.

13. Male Hegemony
•“Woman can not
Paint orWrite.”
•She is not confident
enough in her abilities to
showcase this controversial
work to a judgmental
public.
•Her personal
independence from the
negative influences of male
hegemony is directly linked
to the aesthetic
development as an artist.

14. Art as a Unifying Object
•Lily represents Woolf’s
ideal artist, who mingles
“Masculine” rationality
with “Feminine”
sympathy.
•Here art is defined by Lily
as something able to
unify disparate elements
into a cohesive whole.

15. Transitory nature

16. Art as a means of Preservation

17. Art as a means of Preservation
Mr. Ramsay –
progression
Mrs. Ramsay - social
interaction.
Art is, perhaps, the only hope of
surety in a world destined and
determined to change: for a while
mourning Mrs. Ramsay’s death, and
painting on the lawn, Lily reflects
that:
“Nothing stays, all changes; but not Words, not
Paint.”

18. Need of concentration
• Lily was getting a whole host of hazy notions, she
was unable to grasp and tame on her canvas.
• She was finding problem of filling one empty
space on the canvas.

19. Seclusion and Isolation
• Art is provided by the life, led by the people,
artist must reflect the progressive urges of his
time.

20. Identifying with people
• She loses consciousness of the world around,
lost completely in her picture.

21. Moments of vision and fulfillment
First-She sees mother and
children among hedged and
house
Third- She recalls memories-last
ten years ago- a little
sprig or leaf pattern on the
table cloth.
Second-She saw her picture
in flash and put the tree
further, avoid awkward
space.
Fourth- At last she drew a
line there in the centre, and
says,
“I Have had my
Vision”.

22. Conclusion: Video
• Art lives in one or another way and a
person becomes immortal through
art.
• As Charles Tansley tells-Woman
cannot Write or Paint.
• But Lily Proves herself.