Virginia Woolf Diary Volume 3 Monday 20 July, 1925

A bit more here on the genesis of To the Lighthouse:

"But this theme may be sentimental; father & mother & child in the garden: the death; the sail to the lighthouse. I think, though, that when I begin it I shall enrich it in all sorts of ways; thicken it; give it branches & roots which I do not perceive now. It might contain all characters boiled down; & my childhood; & then this impersonal thing, which I'm dared to do by my friends, the flight of time, 7 the consequent break of unity in my design".

This reads like a recipe, with its references to thickening and boiling down. The result is certainly a very satisfactory repast.

Virginia Woolf Diary - Thu 14 May 1925

"The truth is that writing is the profound pleasure & being read the superficial. I'm now all on the strain with desire to stop journalism & get on to To the Lighthouse. This is going to be fairly short: to have father's character done complete in it; & mothers; & St Ives; & childhood; & all the usual things I try to put in - life, death &c. But the centre is father's character, sitting in a boat, reciting We perished, each alone, while he crushes a dying mackerel - However I nust refrain. I must write a few stories first, & let the Lighthouse simmer, adding to it between tea & dinner till it is complete for writing out".

I enjoy these peeks into the writer's mind. The imagery of simmering a Lighthouse is a lovely picture. This also gives us some insight into the subject matter of To the Lighthouse from the writers own pen.

Keep well fellow Woolfians

Grant

Virginia Woolf Diary Weds 18 March 1925

"At the moment (I have 7 1/2 until dinner)I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realizes an emotion at the time. It expands later, & thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past."

Thought provoking statement here, with a Proustian touch. The value of contemplation becomes apparent when you take this view on our emotional lives. We need to let the expansion occur and then consider the impact.

Have a beautiful day

Grant