Virginia Woolf was an early to mid-20th century writer known as a proponent of the modernist literary movement.<\/a> The modernist movement covered the era of the early 1900s into the early 1940s. Modernist writers rebelled against the clear-cut storytelling and formulaic verse of the 19th century. They experimented with new styles of writing that emphasized character over plot and aestheticism over realism.<\/p>\n Woolf, along with writers James Joyce<\/a> and Katherine Mansfield<\/a>, wrote in a stream of consciousness style, revealing the free-flowing inner monologue of their characters. This style can be seen through the title character of Woolf\u2019s modernist classic, \u201cMrs. Dalloway,\u201d which spans the timeframe of one single day in June and follows Clarissa Dalloway, a society hostess, as she plans a party. Her thoughts and life are paralleled with a soldier returning from WWI and suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Explorations of the fallout of World War I appear regularly in Woolf\u2019s prose.<\/p>\n Editorial Note: <\/i>Read our full review of \u201cMrs. Dalloway\u201d here<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n Woolf also examined the changing lives of women. In her seminal essay \u201cA Room of One\u2019s Own,\u201d originally given as a speech at Newnham and Girton women\u2019s colleges, Cambridge,<\/a> she discussed the ways in which women\u2019s voices had been marginalized. She suggested this suppression was due to literature and history being male constructs. In the essay, later published in book form, she introduces a hypothetical sister to Shakespeare, \u2018Judith,\u2019 who is discouraged from using her creativity because of the constant domestic tasks she must complete. She encouraged women to go out and \u2018write all kinds of books, hesitating at no subject, however trivial or however vast.\u2019<\/p>\n One of her most famous philosophical statements around women and writing taken from \u201cA Room of One\u2019s Own\u201d was: \u2018All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point\u2014a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.\u2019<\/p>\n Woolf insisted that to be a successful author, a writer must embrace an androgynous style of writing. She believed that women and men must transcend binaries of writing in a masculine or feminine voice, suggesting that the mind contained two sexes. Woolf believed that the male-female brain must co-operate for a synergy of creativity to proliferate.<\/p>\n Part of her insistence on this argument may have been influenced by the famous Bloomsbury Group,<\/a> a group of artists and writers within Woolf\u2019s milieu. Living and working in the Bloomsbury area<\/a> of London, the members of the group<\/a>, such as writers E.M. Forster<\/a> and Lytton Strachey<\/a>, and Woolf\u2019s sister, the artist Vanessa Bell<\/a>, were known for their same-sex relationships and contributions to modernist ideas around sexuality and gender.<\/p>\n Woolf wrote a total of nine published novels during her lifetime, with a tenth, \u201cBetween the Acts,\u201d published posthumously. She also wrote short stories, publishing around forty-six in collections, with more in journals and periodicals. Her five-volume diary collection was published after her death. She wrote regular reviews for Time Literary Supplement (TLS)<\/a>. Her writing for TLS spanned 30 years and provided her with a regular income.<\/p>\n Whilst Woolf did dabble in poetry, this writing appears to have been mostly for enjoyment and for her family.<\/a><\/p>\n Woolf\u2019s first novels, \u201cThe Voyage Out\u201d in 1915 and \u201cNight and Day\u201d in 1919, were published by Duckworth & Co, a company owned by her half-brother, Gerald Duckworth. Her later novels were published by her own publishing house, The Hogarth Press<\/a>. Woolf and her husband, Leonard Woolf<\/a>, founded the company in 1917 and named it after the couple\u2019s house in Richmond, UK<\/a>. At first they hand-printed books and then went on to publish the work of other writers, including T.S. Eliot<\/a>, Katherine Mansfield and Vita Sackville-West<\/a>. It later became a more conventional publishing house.<\/p>\n Born Adeline Virginia Stephen in 1882, Woolf was the daughter of Julia<\/a> and Sir Leslie Stephen,<\/a> prominent members of the Victorian arts and literary scene. One of the defining moments in Woolf\u2019s life came when she was just 13 with the sudden death of her mother. This tragedy was cited as the cause of her first mental breakdown later that same year.<\/p>\n The Stephens were a blended family, with Woolf having four half-siblings from her parents\u2019 first marriages, and three full-siblings. Her father had been previously married to Harriet Thackeray<\/a>, daughter of the famous novelist, William Makepeace Thackeray<\/a>, and brought one daughter Laura<\/a> to the marriage. Laura suffered with mental health difficulties and was later institutionalized.<\/p>\n Her mother, Julia Stephen, was a Pre-Raphaelite<\/a> model who had been widowed at the age of 24. She brought three children to the marriage, George, Gerald<\/a> and Stella<\/a>. Together the couple then had Vanessa<\/a>, Thoby<\/a>, Adrian<\/a> and Virginia, making a total of eight children. Woolf\u2019s half-sister Stella, the child of Julia Stephen and her first husband, Herbert Duckworth,<\/a> helped to raise the younger children after their mother\u2019s death. Sadly she also died a few years after her mother. Through her writing, Woolf spoke about the sexual abuse she suffered<\/a> at the hands of her two older half-brothers, George and Gerald.<\/p>\n Being denied the education of her brothers, as was usual at the time, led Woolf to some of the themes around women\u2019s lives and writing later in her life.<\/p>\n Woolf faced challenges with her mental health throughout her life. Following her father\u2019s death in 1904, she suffered another breakdown. This incident led to the family\u2019s move from their home at 22 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington, London<\/a> to 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury<\/a>. This area is where she became acquainted with many of the artistic intelligentsia who went on to impact both her writing and her lifestyle.<\/p>\n In 1909 \u2014 following the death of her brother Thoby and the marriage of her close sister, Vanessa \u2014 Woolf moved with one of her brothers, Adrian Stephen<\/a>, to share a house at Fitzroy Square, London<\/a>, continuing the meetings of artists\u2019 and writers here. They also took in three lodgers during this time, providing rooms for their artistic friends. One of these was Leonard Woolf, whom Woolf would go on to marry in 1912. Due to her fragile mental state, particularly affected by the horrors of news of WWI, Leonard moved Virginia to Richmond<\/a>, a suburb outside of London. Here he hoped the countryside would aid her recovery.<\/p>\n Although the couple shared a loving and gentle marriage, Virginia Woolf struggled with male intimacy. She relayed the sexual abuse she suffered<\/a> at the hands of her two older half-brothers, George and Gerald Duckworth, through her letters and diaries.<\/p>\n She did, however, enjoy a passionate 10-year love affair<\/a> with the short story writer and aristocrat Vita Sackville-West. Despite both women being married, they frequently sent one another passionate love letters<\/a>. Although West had experienced extra-marital relationships with women before, this was likely Woolf\u2019s first. The relationship influenced Woolf\u2019s novel, \u201cOrlando,\u201d which she wrote as a love letter to Vita. Woolf\u2019s novel returns to her ideas around gender and androgyny, with the titular character changing gender partway through the narrative.<\/p>\n Leonard and Virginia also spent much of their marriage living at Monk\u2019s House, East Sussex<\/a>, purchased in 1919. The address became their permanent residence in later life.<\/p>\n On March 28th 1941, Woolf died by suicide at the age of 59. Filling her pockets with stones, she waded out into the river Ouse<\/a>, close to the couple\u2019s home. She left behind a letter<\/a> explaining that she had loved her life with Leonard, but that she could no longer continue with her failing mental health.<\/p>\n Editorial Note: Image Credit to The Charleston Trust<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div> Woolf\u2019s debut novel tells the story of a party of English people aboard a ship bound for South America. Rachel Vinrace is the protagonist, a young woman who is totally ignorant of politics, society, books, love, sex and marriage. It is a book of a woman\u2019s self-discovery. The book has sometimes been criticized for its lack of pace and weak characterization<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Reviews<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Amazon<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> StoryGraph<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Goodreads<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> A love story and social comedy which attempts to subvert both genres. The central protagonist is a privileged woman named Katherine Hilbery, caught between two male lovers. The lives of a women\u2019s rights activist and her mother become impinged on her own, causing interesting consequences. Some critics found the novel \u2018odd,\u2019 and with a \u2018strange confusion of genres, influences, themes and characters\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Reviews<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Amazon<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>Virginia Woolf Brief Biography: Struggle and Success<\/h2>\n
The Books of Virginia Woolf<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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