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knitting in her chair as she sat when the story opened—all this,
though finely wrought, seems something of a tour de force.
The life of the novel has died with Mrs. Ramsay.
“To the Lighthouse”; the expedition, planned by Mrs. Ramsay,
longed for by her little boy, frustrated by Mr. Ramsay’s
cruel prediction of bad weather, forms the opening episode.
And to the Lighthouse Mr. Ramsay goes at last, in
memory of her desire—the Lighthouse that had been through all
the years part and symbol of her inner happiness.
“Pray heaven that the inside of my mind be not exposed!”
So pray Mrs. Rsmsay’s [sic] guests, and well may they pray! For
To the Lighthouse is a notable contribution to that “understanding
of Mrs. Brown” which Mrs. Woolf once defined as the aim
of the novel. F. W. K.