To the Lighthouse

　　《燈塔行》為自傳意味濃厚的作品，書中雷姆塞夫婦影射吳爾芙自己的父母。小說第一部份〈窗〉精確刻畫日常生活中夫妻之衝突與衝突後心靈契合之和諧狀 態。第二部分〈歲月流逝〉以快速筆調描寫十年之變遷。第三部分〈燈塔〉敘述喪偶之雷姆塞先生與其子女完成其妻生前未竟之燈塔之行，以及受雷姆塞夫人影響之 莉莉完成其畫。全書文辭精鍊，象徵意味濃厚，並充滿吳爾芙揮之不去的女性意識關懷。

　　*此中文簡介取自<<燈塔行>>由聯經出版公司出版

　　To the Lighthouse, considered by many to be Virginia Woolf's finest novel, is a remarkably original work, showing the thoughts and actions of the members of a family and their guests on two separate occasions, ten years apart. The setting is Mr and Mrs Ramsay's house on a Scottish island, where they traditionally take their summer holidays, overlooking a bay with a lighthouse.

　　An experimental work that pushes the limits of what we know about the world and ourselves, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is one of the most beautifully crafted of all novels written in the English language.

　　This Macmillan Collector’s Library edition features an afterword by Sam Gilpin.

維吉尼亞．吳爾芙（Virginia Woolf 1882~1941）

　　二十世紀重要的英國小說家、散文家，也是文學史上現代主義與女性主義的先鋒；她與倫敦文友創辦「布倫斯伯里文化圈」並在其中扮演要角，對二十世紀初期的英國文化影響極深。

　　吳爾芙出版多部長篇傑作，包括《達洛維夫人》，乃至充滿詩意與高度實驗色彩的《浪潮》。她同時也著墨於文學批評、短篇故事、傳記與報導寫作，包括充滿戲謔顛覆意味的《歐蘭朵》，《自己的房間》、《三枚金幣》則是激昂的女性主義論文。

　　吳爾芙天性敏感，少女時因母親與姐姐離世遭受精神創痛，之後長年受憂鬱症所苦，並於六十歲時投水自盡。

　 　Virginia Woolf was born in 1882, the youngest daughter of the Victorian writer Sir Leslie Stephen. She was educated at home with her sister, Vanessa, in a literary environment. The death of Woolf’s mother in 1895 and her father in 1904 led to the first of the serious nervous breakdowns that would come to feature heavily in her life. Shortly afterwards she moved with her sister and two of her brothers to 46 Gordon Square, which was to be the first meeting place of the circle of writers and artists known as the Bloomsbury Group. In 1912 Virginia married Leonard Woolf, with whom she would later establish the Hogarth Press, and also published her first novel, The Voyage Out. It would be followed by eight others, including Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927), which together establish her position as one of the most important modernists of the twentieth century. Woolf committed suicide in 1941.