Faculty of philology department of english philology viktorija mi

 Conceptual E Natural  
time  R time 
N 
A 
L I 
Recalled N Present 
Time  T Time 
(memories) E 
R 
N 
A 
L 
Figure 4. The Dynamics of Relationship between Different Time Systems 
As demonstrated in the figure above, in general, it is possible to distinguish two kinds of time, 
namely: internal time and external time. Internal time is the time occurring in the mind; it is the 
time that each person possesses in his or her thoughts. The time of memories and flashbacks 
contains our experience, while the time of plans and dreams is mainly related to the future 
perspectives. Internal time also includes the time of decisions and considerations, hopeful moments 
and sorrows. Although this explanation may sound strange at the first glace, we must accept the fact 
that people treat passing time in different ways on the basis of their own experience, attitudes, and 
beliefs. On the other hand, external time is the time of reality that is more or less the same for the 
entire human race and is independent from personal factors: experience, attitudes, and beliefs. This 
time, which is usually understood as history of the world, includes all the historic events and the 
ever changing circle of natural phenomena (seasons, the division of time into years, months, and 
days).

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Moreover, it is possible to claim that both internal and external time may be further 
subdivided into conceptual, natural, recalled, and present time. Recalled time is closely related to 
memories and flashbacks into the past, whereas present time deals with the impressions or reaction 
to the present situation, events, and human experience. For the definition of conceptual and natural 
time, see Figure 3. at the beginning of Chapter 3.
In her study of Virginia Woolf’s fiction, Lee points out (1977:86) that that the treatment of 
time is kernel issue in the writer’s novels as she broke with the traditional chronological narration.
Without doubt, it is necessary to understand that time itself is and has always been a problematic 
concept which has been subject to philosophical discussion. People have been obsessed with control 
and domination of time. They measure it and create linear segments, such as days, minutes, and 
seconds. The theorist John Ginger (1973:86) complements Lee by adding that in Modernism, new 
concepts of time appeared and especially the concept of fragmented time influenced modernist 
writers. Woolf as a modernist writer and critic was also strongly influenced by these new concepts. 
This can be seen in her experimental fiction and her usage of time in her novels. Indeed, Woolf 
concentrated especially on the distinction between moments of being and non-being that she 
defined as the basis of human life. Thus, all her literary works can possibly be analyzed with a 
special focus on the innovative treatment of time.
The theorist Christine Froula (1997:12) supports Lee’s ideas about the important role that time 
has in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. Froula complements Lee by stating that indeed, time is an 
essential component of experience and daily reality, thus, it is possible to say that the whole novel is 
about the passage of time. There is enough evidence to claim that at the first glance the elaborate 
and systematic study of the notion of time and of the ways if affects characters’ life in the novel 
seems no less than accurate repetition of the modernist philosophers’ insights and conclusions 
achieved long before the period of Woolf’s writing. Probably the most important application of 
philosophy occurs in the portrait of the protagonist of the novel Mrs. Ramsay whose spiritual 
development and declines are shown throughout the book. However, I would like to claim 
repeatedly that as a modernist writer, Woolf does not represent time in a traditional way. In the 
novel, she rejects conventional understanding of steady unchanging time and depicts the everlasting 
constantly changing flow of time that has immeasurable influence on people’s decisions and 
destinies.
With no doubt, we can call To the Lighthouse great representation of literary Modernism. 
Judging from the external temporal perspective, the novel encompasses a period of ten years. The 
first section takes place on one day before the First World War, the middle period in which all the 
action is not described and remains hidden form the reader’s eyes occurs during the war , while the 

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last section again covers the period of only one day after the war. Indeed, the text, centring on the 
Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland skilfully manipulates temporality and 
psychological exploration. 
Although To the Lighthouse is a radical departure from the conventional nineteenth-century 
novel, it is, like its more traditional counterparts, intimately interested in developing characters and 
advancing both plot and themes. In Lee’s opinion (1977:54), Woolf’s experimentation was 
influenced by great scientific developments and technological inventions that occurred during the 
period of her life. One of the most important innovations that reflected itself in Woolf’s fiction was 
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The scientist rejected an unquestioned faith in God that had 
been nearly universal and suggested a completely new understanding of the history of the world. By 
comparison, the rise of Psychoanalysis, a movement led by Freud, introduced the idea of an 
unconscious mind. Such innovation in ways of scientific thinking had great influence on the styles 
and concerns of contemporary artists and writers like those in the Bloomsbury Group which Woolf 
belonged to. I agree with Lee’s insights and dare to claim that To the Lighthouse exemplifies 
Woolf’s style and many of her concerns as a novelist. All things considered, Lee argues 
convincingly that in the pictures of her characters, the writer offers some of her most penetrating 
explorations of the workings of the human consciousness as it perceives and analyzes, feels, and 
interacts. 
Indeed, according to Lee, Woolf wrote innovative pieces of fiction where she used the stream 
of consciousness and experimented with different point of views. In To the Lighthouse, she does not 
directly describe the physical appearance or important features of the characters but shows her 
readers how the characters characterize one another by revealing their thoughts by application of 
both internal and external time dimensions. This can be clearly seen in the following extract from 
the given novel (2006): 
(14) She could not say it. . . . As she looked at him she began to smile, for though she