This comment was written by Sarah Laanani on 18 Sep 2022.

Micro-Landscapes of the Anthropocene

Virginia Woolf's Eco-criticism in 'To the Lighthouse'

Virginia Woolf’s novel 'To the Lighthouse' is acutely invested in highlighting the innate interconnectedness of the natural world and the human world. As part of her eco-critical approach, Woolf radically challenges human exceptionalism as she seeks to undermine the dichotomy of life and materiality (Lostoski 56). As such, Woolf explicitly engages with Jane Bennett’s theory of Vital Materialism and Bill Brown’s concept of 'thing power' to liberate nonhuman entities from the constraints of anthropocentric values and create an equitable space for them in the foreground of her narrative. In the “Time Passes”, Woolf subversively omits the inclusion of human characters to focus her attention on the nonhuman elements that inhabit the “empty” Ramsay house. In describing the Ramsay house as “empty”, Woolf paradoxically appeals to readers' anthropocentric bias by way of challenging their human-centred perspectives. However, Woolf quickly demonstrates to readers the vitality of various materialities that continue to thrive and exist in the ”empty” Ramsay house through copious descriptions of furniture pieces: “hangings that flapped, wood that creaked, the bare legs of tables, saucepans and china already furred, tarnished, cracked.” Here, Woolf’s draws upon Bennett’s theory of Vital Materialism to allow seemingly passive objects to exceed their human-imposed boundaries and limitations. Ultimately, Woolf revises the epistemological derivation of human-made word “empty”, precariously suggesting that the “empty” house is rather full of vitality radiating from inanimate objects. Moreover, Woolf continues to toy with this notion of 'thing power' via her eco-critical representation of sunlight as an autonomous agent extending its unspoken influence on human sensibility. For example, Mrs Ramsay articulates that she feels deep injustice to “break up the shaft of sunlight, lying level across the floor”. In personifying the sunlight “lying” on the floor, Woolf’s aestheticization of the natural world renders commodities as vibrant and spirited ‘things’ that are capable to transcend their human defined roles.

References:

Lostoski, Leanna. “"Imaginations of the Strangest Kind": The Vital Materialism of Virginia Woolf.” The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, vol. 49, no. 1, 2016, pp. 53–74, JSTOR Journals, https://doi.org/10.1353/mml.2016.0022.

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