Week 11: Introduction to "To the Lighthouse" BY VIRGINIA WOOLF

Historical Context of To the Lighthouse

At the turn of the nineteenth century, new scientific developments usurped long-held worldviews and raised new questions about the nature of reality and human experience. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection subverted traditional beliefs in a world governed by God, and, as Darwin’s work contradicted people’s understanding of the world around them, Sigmund Freud’s theories of the unconscious undermined people’s understandings of themselves by pointing out a mysterious region of the mind to which no one had conscious access. In To the Lighthouse, Woolf’s interest in the equal unknowability of the world and the human brain reflect the influence of such contemporary scientific theories.