115 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

What does it mean to make meaning in an indifferent universe? In this episode, we (Nathan and David) are talking Virginia Woolf's 1927 masterpiece To the Lighthouse, a novel where almost nothing "happens" and yet everything does. All of life is here. We talk about Woolf's stream-of-consciousness mastery and her uncanny ability to move between minds; Mrs. Ramsay as the magnetic, self-negating center of the novel; the famous "wedge-shaped core of darkness;" the ruthless, primordial "Time Passes" section; and Lily Briscoe's revelation that art is an act of perception, not creation (and not just because her art sounds like it is bad). Along the way: beehives, terrible daffodils, the window as a frame against chaos, and whether you have to go to the lighthouse to arrive at the lighthouse. Chapters: 0:00 – Opening Quote & Introduction 0:48 – "Nothing Was Simply One Thing" 1:56 – The Plot (Such as It Is) 4:22 – Characters, Haunted Hives, & Grotesque Notions 6:13 – Mrs. Ramsay: The Wedge-Shaped Core of Darkness at the Center of Everything 8:50 – Mr. Ramsay: Tyrant, Philosopher, & Deeply Needy Man  19:15 – The Marriage: Triumph Without Saying "I Love You" 22:52 – She Who Knows: Mrs. Ramsay's Singular Perception 24:57 – Time Stands Still: The Dinner Party, the Window & Making Moments Into Eternity 29:44 – Time Passes: Nature's Indifference, the Brutality of Brackets & a House Left to Rot 38:08 – To the Lighthouse: Distance, Perception & Two Ways of Apprehending the World 46:37 – Art as Perception: The Miserable Machine & the Miraculous Chair 52:19 – The Wedge Core, Lily's Revelation & Virginia Woolf's Hidden Buddhism 55:26 – What Will Stay With Us: Terrible Daffodils, Tansley in Love & the Nowness of Everything 55:28 – Recommendations: Mrs. Dalloway, Ulysses & Light Years 1:00:27 – Final Thoughts & Next Book