Virginia Woolf and other honest writers

[duszek]

"To the Lighthouse" is full of impressions and insights that V. Woolf shares with the reader.
She sounds very honest to me which I respect and appreciate a lot.
It is poetic philosophy of life.

Another honest writer (not afraid to speak his mind) could be André Gide, I just started to listen to his autobiography.

Spending time in the company of great minds helps to forget that one lives a life which is not particular in any way a feels accordingly.

[Walker]

I can't comment on the writers, but your observation about honesty sounds like what’s behind the movie, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

It's about a couple that plays games to just get along with one another, and in the process uncover raw, unfiltered honesty.

[meno_]

I like the hidden metaphor that pits the big bad wolf against the neurotic sheltered girl in a romantic , Victorian mold.
The contrast is notable between the book and the film, sight and sound coming together to come to harmony.

Gide is surely on my bucket list!

[duszek]

I can't comment on the writers, but your observation about honesty sounds like what’s behind the movie, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

It's about a couple that plays games to just get along with one another, and in the process uncover raw, unfiltered honesty.

Emotional intelligence enables us to understand each other, words usually fail to do so.
Some people try hard to hide their true feelings and intentions, they deceive.

A good writer like Virginia Woolf can show what really goes on between two people, even if some readers may not enjoy reading about such things because they don´t confirm their stereotypes.

In one scene Mr Ramsay, a widower who misses his wife a lot because she used to support him and to give him force to go on, expects an unmarried friend of the family (Lily Briscoe, an artist painter) to give him what he used to get from his wife. Lily refuses, she is not his wife, why should she do it ? Such things always happen in a non-verbal way, of course.
In order to escape the situation somehow she compliments Mr Ramsay on his new shoes. And to her big surprise he interprets this compliment as exactly what he needed, a support. He starts to elaborate on the exquisite quality of his shoes and feels happy and alive while doing so.
The reader gets Lily´s stream of consciousness, so we don´t know if Mr Ramsay delludes himself intentionally in order to satisfy his urgent need.
Virginia Woolf must have observed such interactions in her life and she honestly shared them with her readers in her works of fiction. Not everyone is interested and appreciates, I do a lot.

[Alexiev]

My favorite scene in To the LIghthouse is the boeuf en daube dinner party. The Ramseys are hosting a variety of artistically and intellectually inclined guests. The guests (and the readers) anticipate a dull party, and as the dinner commences they appear to be trenchant in their fears.

Then Mrs. Ramsey turns on the charm, and everything changes. It's as if, in a movie, black and white changes suddenly to color. Mrs. Ramsey is like a lighthouse whose beacon guides the party guests to safety and comfort (along with, of course, the boeuf en daube). The honest is the revelation that true charm is not necessarily wit, or interesting conversation, but a brilliance -- like that emanating from a lighthouse, that guides others.

[duszek]

Thank you Alexiev.

What you say about Mrs Ramsay reminds me of Ortega y Gasset´s explanations about the essence of love, in his "Estudios sobre el amor".

If we love someone we wish this person to thrive and so we eminate positive energy towards them. We wish this person to live and to be happy.
This energy is palpable, without words or gestures, and has effects.

Mrs Ramsay loved everybody and wished everyone well, also Mr Carmichael who was reluctant to her offers of buying him stationary or tobacco, because of some previous bad experiences in the past that she was a witness to.
Mr Carmichael found more reliable relish in an extra portion of soup and food in general. Many people do. But he must have felt the warmth eminating from Mrs Ramsay, otherwise he would not be able to enjoy the soup he was eating.