Audiobook

'To the Lighthouse' by Virginia Woolf: Contemporary Reviews (1927)

Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse was published in May 1927 in both Britain and the United States. The publication of Mrs. Dalloway a year earlier had secured Virginia Woolf's reputation as an experimental writer. To the Lighthouse was, consequently, widely reviewed in the British and American press in the months following its publication. Most reviewers praised Mrs. Woolf's genius, although they found evidence of it in varied aspects of the book. For some, the book was a flawed masterpiece, although they did not agree on what the flaws were. A few recalcitrant reviewers failed to see anything of significance in Woolf's new book at all. This collection of contemporary reviews, by reviewers including Louis Kronenberger, Conrad Aiken, Edwin Muir, Zona Gale, Ruth Sucknow and Arnold Bennett, is sourced from the Woolf Online web site. It includes standalone reviews of To the Lighthouse, extracts from longer reviews of new fiction, and in the last section, Edwin Clark's full New York Times review of new fiction published in the first half of the year. Listeners may be surprised at just how varied 30 reviews of a single book can be! (Summary by Phil Benson)

Year of Publication: 1927Genres: Literary Criticism

Running Time: 03 hours 03 minutes 49 seconds

#	Chapter Name
1	Mrs. Woolf's New Novel, The Times Literary Supplement Phil Benson	7:37
2	Virginia Woolf Explores an English Country Home, Louis Kronenberger, The New York Times Phil Benson	12:48
3	From Virginia Woolf and Others, Rachel A. Taylor, The Spectator Phil Benson	5:45
4	The Novel as Work of Art, Conrad Aiken, The Dial Phil Benson	11:01
5	Sensitives, A. M., The Manchester Guardian Phil Benson	3:13
6	Review, Edwin Muir, The Nation and Athenaeum Phil Benson	4:09
7	Woman as Artist, Mary M. Colum, The New York Herald Tribune Phil Benson	22:19
8	An Allegorical Novel, Francis Brown, The Daily Herald Phil Benson	2:15
9	From The Editor Recommends, The Bookman Phil Benson	2:21
10	Unsigned Review, The English Review Phil Benson	1:54
11	Unsigned Review, The New Age Phil Benson	1:50
12	Review, C. S. & M. A., The Bookshelf Phil Benson	2:15
13	From Books and Persons, Arnold Bennett, The Evening Standard Phil Benson	3:42
14	The Cauldron of Perception, Zona Gale, The Saturday Review of Literature Phil Benson	7:01
15	From Notes on Recent Books, Elizabeth Brown Cutting, The North American Review Phil Benson	3:03
16	From Mr. Chesterton and Others, Gerald Gould, The Observer Phil Benson	2:27
17	Lyrical Fiction, The Glasgow Herald Phil Benson	3:14
18	Nothing is simply one: Virginia Woolf’s surprising new story, Lydia Languish, John O'London's Weekly Phil Benson	7:34
19	Done in the Round, Mary Ross, The Nation Phil Benson	4:35
20	Poetic fiction: Mrs. Virginia Woolf’s novel experiment, The Morning Post Phil Benson	4:35
21	From Novels and Stories, M. Robinson, The New Adelphi Phil Benson	5:21
22	Unsigned Review, Punch Phil Benson	1:49
23	Review, F. W. K., The Sewanee Review Phil Benson	5:17
24	Review, John Sydenham, The Empire Review Phil Benson	7:25
25	Unsigned Review, The Bookman Phil Benson	2:50
26	Mrs. Woolf's Way, Time Magazine Phil Benson	4:06
27	Unsigned Review, Country Life Phil Benson	2:29
28	Civilized people in life and fiction, Charles R. Walker, The Independent Phil Benson	8:10
29	From New Fiction, T. Earle Welby, The Saturday Review Phil Benson	6:04
30	Six months in the field of fiction, Edwin Clark, The New York Times Phil Benson	26:40