“Caught Happy in a World of Misery”: Art and Leisure in To the Lighthouse

This essay considers how Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse exhibits the principles of neo-Aristotelian leisure. The introduction uses modern philosophical thought on the concept of leisure as discussed by Hans-Georg Gadamer, Charles Taylor, and Alisdair McIntyre to better understand Aristotle’s notion of leisure as being grounded in arête, or excellence. I then consider how artistic excellence is a central fruit of neo-Aristotelian leisure. Therefore, art must be created primarily for the sake of excellence; artistic creation would be corrupted were it made with any exterior social or monetary benefit in mind. More specifically, I argue that Woolf’s characters in To the Lighthouse who engage in neo-Aristotelian leisure activities with no external motive find a renewing experience and peace, while those who seek other means of leisure become frustrated and restless. This essay also contends that Woolf’s novel, like many modernist works, implicitly challenges Victorian and Edwardian notions of leisure.