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rt in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse” (158)all focus on the time-space structure in the novel. These papers indicate that memory isan important foundation of the time-space structure in the novel, because it unifiesphysical and psychological times together. 

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2 Woolf’s Theory of “Non-being” and “Being”

2.1 “Non-being” and “Being” as Memory

Virginia Woolf regarded “non-being” and “being” as two types of memory. Whenshe described her childhood life in St. Ives and later life in London, Woolf used“memory” to denote the specific “non-being” and “being”:

These then are some of my first memory…Every day includes much morenon-being than being…my days contained a large proportion of this cottonwool, this non-being. Week after week passed at St Ives and nothing madeany dint upon me. Then, for no reason that I know about, there was a suddenviolent shock; something happened so violently that I have remembered it allmy life. (MB 69-70)

In the description of her first memory about childhood life in St. Ives, Woolf proposedtwo types of memory: One is “non-being”, the memory that she experiences but cannotremember, it occupies a large proportion of her childhood but leaves no impressions.The other is “being”, the memory that she experiences and can remember clearly evenafter decades, it occupies little proportion of her childhood but gives her a violent shock.

In Virginia Woolf’s theory, “non-being” and “being” are two types of memory.“Non-being” refers to the memory recording trivial things in daily life, while “being” refers to the memory recording important and impressive moments. It is important toprobe into these two terms from the perspective of memory.

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2.2 Virginia Woolf’s Definition of “Non-being” Memory and “Being”Memory

“Non-being” memory is defined as:

The things one does not remember…A great part of every day is not livedconsciously. One walks, eats, sees things, deals with what has to be done; thebroken vacuum cleaner; ordering dinner; writing orders to Mabel; washing;cooking dinner; bookbinding. When it is a bad day the proportion of non-being is much larger. (Woolf, MB 70)

According to Woolf’s definition, “non-being” memory has three features: trivial,coherent, and unimpressive. Firstly, it is trivial, it records the bits and pieces of life,including walking, eating, and so on. Secondly, it is coherent because it chronicles lifeand builds the basic framework of life. Thirdly, it is unimpressive because the thingsrecorded by “non-being” memory are always unimportant, and people always don’tremember these things.

Different from “non-being” memory which focuses on recording, “being” memoryis important and impressive. It is defined as “a sudden violent shock; somethinghappened so violently that I have remembered it all my life” (MB 70). It focuses on theimportant and impressive moments in minds. “Being” memory is less than “non-being”memory in quantity, but more impressive than “non-being” in quality. Woolf said: “Ifound that when I recalled the past, I would naturally think of different life scenes, or these representative and impressive scenes would show up on their own” (MB 71), “oneonly remembers what is exceptional” 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。