Melville House Books

“The historic lighthouse which inspired novelist Virginia Woolf‘s most famous work could be switched off,” according to a report from The Scotsman. Sam Marsden reports that Woolf’s novel To The Lighthouse “drew on memories of childhood holidays spent in St Ives, Cornwall, and the striking view of Godrevy Island and its life-saving sentinel,” which has been in operation since 1859. But now the U.K. lighthouse authority has proposed putting it out of service by 2010. However, as Marsden also observes, the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain may have something to say about that: The organization recently successfully opposed plans for a £2 million apartment block to be build “next to the house in St. Ives where Woolf spent her summers as a child.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.