Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Virginia Woolf
-
Standard Name: Woolf, Virginia
Birth Name: Adeline Virginia Stephen
Nickname: Ginia
Married Name: Adeline Virginia Woolf
Thousands of readers over three or four generations have known that Virginia Woolf was—by a beadle—denied access to the library of a great university. They may have known, too, that she was a leading intellect of the twentieth century. If they are feminist readers they will know that she thought . . . back through her mothers and also sideways through her sisters and that she contributed more than any other in the twentieth century to the recovery of women's writing.
Marcus, Jane. “Introduction”. New Feminist Essays on Virginia Woolf, edited by Jane Marcus, Macmillan, p. i - xx.
xiv
Educated in her father's library and in a far more than usually demanding school of life, she radically altered the course not only of the English tradition but also of the several traditions of literature in English.
Froula, Christine. Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Avant-Garde. Columbia University Press.
2
She wrote prodigiously—nine published novels, as well as stories, essays (including two crucial books on feminism, its relation to education and to war), diaries, letters, biographies (both serious and burlesque), and criticism. As a literary journalist in a wide range of forums, she addressed the major social issues of her time in more than a million words.
Woolf, Virginia. “Introduction; Editorial Note”. The Essays of Virginia Woolf, edited by Andrew McNeillie, Hogarth Press, pp. vols. 1 - 4: various pages.
ix
She left a richly documented life in words, inventing a modern fiction, theorising modernity, writing the woman into the picture. She built this outstandingly influential work, which has had its impact on both writing and life, on her personal experience, and her fictions emerge to a striking degree from her life, her gender, and her moment in history. In a sketch of her career written to Ethel Smyth
she said that a short story called An Unwritten Novelwas the great discovery . . . . That—again in one second—showed me how I could embody all my deposit of experience in a shape that fitted it.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press.
In Paris Harrison and Mirrlees entertained guests including Virginia
and Leonard Woolf
, with whom they had been friendly for some time, and Jessie Stewart
.
Robinson, Annabel. The Life and Work of Jane Ellen Harrison. Oxford University Press.
9, 296-8
Friends, Associates
Naomi Royde-Smith
Woolf
, going to a party there on 5 June 1921, disliked Royde-Smith and her world at first sight. Never did I see a less attractive woman than Naomi. . . .I fixed her with...
Strachey, Julia, and Frances Partridge. Julia: A Portrait of Julia Strachey. Little, Brown.
105
Frances Partridge
writes that JS
was generally judged by them to be a lively and...
Friends, Associates
Aldous Huxley
This biography's four epigraphs include words from Dennis Gabor
, hoping that AH
will be remembered less for literary achievement than for his heritage to those who really care about the future of the human...
Friends, Associates
Rebecca West
RW
was introduced by Virginia Woolf
to Ethel Smyth
, whom she had ardently looked forward to meeting; West and Smyth discussed Emmeline Pankhurst
, about whom they had both been writing.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press.
Cornford, Hugh et al. “Frances Cornford 1886-1960”. Selected Poems, edited by Jane Dowson and Jane Dowson, Enitharmon Press, p. xxvii - xxxvii.
xxxv
Friends, Associates
Ling Shuhua
Ling Shuhua
began corresponding with Virginia Woolf
, inspired by her reading of A Room of One's Own and her intimate relationship with Woolf's late nephew Julian Bell
during his time in China.
Laurence, Patricia Ondek. Lily Briscoe’s Chinese Eyes: Bloomsbury, Modernism, and China. University of South Carolina Press.
253
Friends, Associates
Berta Ruck
In Virginia Woolf
's novel Jacob's Room, 1922, a tombstone is inscribed with the name Bertha Ruck. Ruck writes that it is inscribed to The Memory of Berta Ruck.
Ruck, Berta. A Story-Teller Tells the Truth. Hutchinson.
In 1921 RM
was spending several nights a week in a room she rented in the large house of writer Naomi Royde-Smith
at 44 Prince's Gardens, Kensington.
Emery, Jane. Rose Macaulay: A Writer’s Life. John Murray.
191
Babington Smith, Constance. Rose Macaulay. Collins.
100
Chosen by Royde-Smith as a...
Friends, Associates
Enid Bagnold
Bagnold's biographer Anne Sebba
writes that try as [EB
] might to belong to the artists' milieu, she could not release her other foot from the smart set.
Sebba, Anne. Enid Bagnold: The Authorized Biography. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
148
Bagnold's friends included socialist...
Friends, Associates
Dorothy Brett
Brett moved in various distinct social circles. Augustus John
was an admired acquaintance. Virginia Woolf
, a friend, nevertheless commented in 1921 on Brett being one of the entourage of Lady Ottoline Morrell
, and...
Friends, Associates
Ling Shuhua
He also introduced her to both Vanessa Bell
and his maternal aunt Virginia Woolf
, who became important correspondents for her.
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling. A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journeys of Two Chinese Sisters. Rowman & Littlefield.