“IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS THERE WAS SHAPE”: THE SUBJECT-OBJECT RELASHIONSHIP IN AESTHETICS IN TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, BY VIRGINIA WOOLF

Abstract

The literature produced by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) made it possible, in the first half of the 20th century, not only to approach the weaving of human consciousness, but also to challenge the conventions of the novel as a genre. In To the lighthouse, published in 1927, the author dilutes the vicissitudes of everyday life, also conceiving considerations about poetic creation as an element capable of portraying reality. From this perspective, this research analyzes how the character Lily Briscoe is constructed, in order to discuss the role of the creator in the representation of the self (subject) in artistic production (object). Based on the assumptions of Focillon (2001), Abrams (2010) and Lukács (2013), we discuss how aspects of the world – individual and collective – are represented in Art and, through contact with Woolf's diaries and essays, we also highlight how the character in question – who is a painter – alludes to the condition of the writer herself at the time of creating the literary text. The approximation between the real and fictional layers allows a more substantial reading of the Woolfian narrative, expanding the concept of the transfiguration of the creator in the process of aesthetic elaboration.