USES OF THE CATEGORY OF FREE INDIRECT THOUGHT PRESENTATION IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S NOVEL TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

This paper deals with the use of a specific category of thought presentation in Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness novel To the Lighthouse (TTL), called free indirect thought (FIT). Taking a functional perspective on this mode of discourse presentation, the paper is concerned with formal features and stylistic functions of FIT uses in the novel. Samples of FIT presentation of the two main characters have been analyzed within the framework of discourse analysis and pragmatics, taking contextual factors into consideration (external relations of a discourse, social relations between discourse participants). The aim is a qualitative discourse analysis of FIT samples which reveals a correlation between formal features and stylistic functions of FIT, including social differentiation of characters, imitating spoken discourse, as well as provoking empathy or irony on the side of the reader and many more.