Deep Chronotopic and Topoi and Chronotope Maps

The chronotopic maps reinforce the sense of narrative interconnectivity through the proliferation of nodes and edges. The complex  structure of the deep chronotope map, in which the nodal chronotopes are joined via jumps and interrupts (orange lines), register how difference spaces hold different values depending on which subjective consciousness the narrator is depicting. Unlike the more traditional realist novel, the ‘metanarrative’ chronotope is fairly minor, in line with the fact that the narrator, though always present, is always filtered or muted. Narrative control is limited. Overall, the spatial form is cyclical. This mirrors the novel’s structure. The concluding section reconciles the issue first raised at the book’s opening: the planned trip to the lighthouse finally occurs. In the graph, these cycles take the form of ellipses (two flower-like shapes with petals looping out and back), suggesting that return is only possible via another state. This sense of return also attests to the book’s connection with elegy (see Woolf’s Diary, vol. 3, 1925).

The ‘topoi and archetypes’ map highlights the multiplicity of the novel’s keys settings – the lawn and the house. Also, since the two have such distinct chronotopic values, it brings out their oppositional natures. Most dominant are the somewhat oppositional chronotopes: the parlour – stasis, interior, dialogue – and the road – movement, exterior, thought. This aligns with the book’s juxtapositions (Mrs Ramsey’s stillness met with Mr Ramsey’s pacing; Lily Briscoe’s painting versus the Ramsey’s boat trip; inner and outer selves). Overall, the spatial form of the map, in line with the book’s concern with loneliness and companionship, displays disparity and unity.