Other essays and articles in the Literature Archives related to this topic include : Literary Modernism in “Heart of Darkness” and “The Death of Ivan Ilych” • Class and Satire in “The American” by Henry James and “Huck Finn” by Mark Twain • American Literature in Historical Context : 1865 to Roosevelt • Realism in American Literature • Short Biography of George Orwell • Short Biography of Tennessee Williams • Biography of Stephen Crane
The writer that the world knows as Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen in London in 1882 (Pippett 4). Virginia’s family was relatively privileged, and they were a colorful group with a distinct literary heritage that would influence Virginia significantly (Pippett 5). Her parents were 14 years apart in age and their marriage was not the first for either of them (Pippett 5). In addition to the three siblings produced by this marriage, Virginia Woolf grew up with four other stepsiblings conceived in her parents’ previous marriages (Pippett 9).
According to Pippett’s biography of Virginia Woolf, the writer was quite close to her parents, especially her father, and her siblings, especially her older sister, Vanessa. The deaths of family members typically preceded Virginia’s episodes of acute anxiety and depression. The death of Virginia’s father in 1904 was particularly devastating for her, even though their relationship had been tinged by conflict, especially regarding Virginia’s dream of becoming a writer (Pippett 27). His loss, however, was felt deeply by Virginia Woolf, who was institutionalized for a period following his death (Pippett 52).
In addition to the influence that her father’s work as a journalist and biographer exerted over Virginia Woolf, there were a number of other early influences that contributed to her decision to become a writer (Pippett 7). The first wife of Virginia’s father had been one of the daughters of the writer William Makepeace Thackeray (Pippett 5), the Stephen’s home was filled with the literary luminaries of the day, including author of novels such as “Middlemarch” George Eliot and writers of the same period, including Henry James. After the death of her parents, Virginia’s associations with writers became more frequent and more profound. She formed part of the Bloomsbury Group, which initially began as a group of friends but developed, over time, into an influential group of intellectuals and writers, whose members provided one another with feedback and support (Pippett 49; Majumdar & McLaurin 2). It was in the Bloomsbury Group that Virginia Woolf met her future husband, the writer Leonard Woolf.
Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf had an interesting marriage, which was described by Ginsberg and Gottlieb as “a nunnery with a knight in shining armour to guard it” (39). By this, the critics mean that Virginia and Leonard’s partnership was more a literary and intellectual relationship than a romantic and sexual one. In fact, there is evidence that Virginia Woolf sought romantic and sexual companionship through female partners rather than her husband. Nonetheless, Leonard and Virginia’s relationship was important to them both. The couple supported one another’s writing endeavors, and worked together to establish the Hogarth Press, which published most of Virginia’s work. Perhaps more importantly, Leonard shepherded Virginia through various bouts of mental illness. Virginia’s husband was a “person who mothered Virginia Woolf’s body, ordered her daily life and watched over her illnesses” (Ginsberg & Gottlieb 39). Using today’s diagnostic frameworks and nomenclature, Virginia Woolf would likely have been classified as having suffered from bipolar disorder. She experienced frequent and severe mood swings, which inevitably shaped her world view and her writing practice.
Although Virginia Woolf is best remembered and appreciated for her novels and essays, including A Room of One’s Own, To the Lighthouse, and Mrs. Dalloway, her writing was not limited only to novels and stories. Woolf had a prolific and genre-spanning writing career. In fact, Woolf began penning book reviews for the Times Literary Supplement, for which she wrote anonymously (Maumdar & McLaurin 1) before any of the works that we read today were even published. Throughout all of her work, however, the reader observes similar themes. Woolf was deeply preoccupied with the condition of women in Victorian society, and while she was concerned with the position of women in society, she was even more concerned with their interior lives, the roles that they occupied, and the possibilities that they felt were available to them. These concerns are most clearly articulated, perhaps, in A Room of One’s Own, in which Woolf writes an extended treatment on the conditions that are necessary for a woman in order to realize the full potential of her creative and intellectual faculties.
Virginia Woolf’s literary production is a central part of the contemporary canon, and is particularly important to the history of feminist writing. Her works remain popular and many of her best-loved novels have been adapted either for the screen or for the stage. The concerns that she raised and explored in her work have not diminished in importance. Indeed, they remain major themes and motifs of current writers. Woolf marked an important transitional point between romanticism and modernism, and she articulated the position of women clearly and creatively, drawing attention to their needs and their abilities, whether those were creative, sexual, or social.
Works Cited
Ginsberg, Elaine K., and Laura Moss Gottlieb. Virginia Woolf: Centennial Essays. Troy, NY: Whitston.
Majumdar, Robin, and Allen McLaurin. Virginia Woolf: The Critical Heritage. New York: Routledge, 1997.
Pippett, Aileen. The Moth and the Star: A Biography of Virginia Woolf. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1955.
