An analysis of Virginia Woolf's feminist stand from the narration of To the Lighthouse

This paper makes an analysis of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse by using the theory of narrative authority proposed by Susan Lancer,one of the representatives of narratology.Woolf composes on the open level of narration a narrator who hides himself but on the concealed level of narration a narrator who seems everywhere.By analyzing what the narrator does on the concealed level of narration,it can be proved that the narrator of the novel is just like the omnipotent God highly praised in those classic realistic novels of the 19th century.Such a powerful narrator relies on and shares the narrative authority of male writers.Woolf's pursuit and dependence of this authority explains why she established her status in both modernist and feminist movements.