THE BIOGRAPHY: Virginia Woolf (1882-194)

LIFE

Virginia Woolf was born in London.

She was educated in her father’s library and met many Victorians. Her father himself was a Victorian biographer and when he died, in 1904, she moved away to the district of Bloomsbury.

Virginia was bisexual: after her marriage to the journalist Leonard Woolf, she felt in love with the aristocratic Vita Sackville-West. The relationship between the two women gave rise to the brightest of her novels, Orlando.

She and her husband founded the Hogarth Press, in 1917. It published some of the most interesting literary works of the time.

She committed suicide in 1941, as a result of the fear of the Second World War.

LITERARY METHOD

She rebelled against “materialism” and reacted against the traditional literature. She refused conventions and experimented with fiction through innovative techniques. She develops her own style: it dealt with the stream of consciousness. The writer explored the problems and significance of personal identity and relationships.

She was particularly interested in the condition of professional women.

She wrote several essays concerning the topic, such as A Room Of One’s Own and The Three Guineas.

Novels such as Mrs Dalloway, Jacob’s Room and The Waves were were written when her personal method was fully developed.

The Common Reader and The Second Common Reader are part of her many reviews and critical essays.

She also wrote volumes of letters and personal diaries.