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Panken, S. (1983). “Working Through” and the Novel. Psychoanal. Rev., 70:4-23.

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(1983). Psychoanalytic Review, 70:4-23

“Working Through” and the Novel

Shirley Panken, Ph.D. Author Information

Introduction

In Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (1927) Mrs. Ramsey is the central figure, both heroic and flawed, integrating the disparate passions in the family. A recent psychoanalytic study (Wolf and Wolf, 1979) that views her as a “narcissistic disorder,” narrows and misrepresents her character as well as the scope of the author's vision. Foregoing psychiatric diagnosis an attempt will be made to present Mrs. Ramsey in her multifacetedness, as guests and members of the household view her; as she sees herself, experiences others, or ruminates in private; and, as the author as omniscient narrator perceives her. Her relationship with her children emerges as concerned and caring though she evidently favors her youngest child. Towards her husband she is both mocking and nurturing. The novel's opening delineates the oppositional stance of the parents towards one another; the mother's vicarious acquiescence to the son's excited request for a trip to the lighthouse; the

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