Synopsis
Born into a privileged English household in 1882, writer Virginia Woolf was raised by free-thinking parents. She began writing as a young girl and published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915. Her nonlinear, free form prose style inspired her peers and earned her much praise. She was also known for her mood swings and bouts of deep depression. She committed suicide in 1941, at the age of 59.
Early Life
English writer Virginia Woolf wasraised in a remarkable household. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was anhistorian and author, and also one of the most prominent figures in the goldenage of mountaineering. Woolf’s mother, Julia Prinsep Stephen (née Jackson), hadbeen born in India and later served as a model for several Pre-Raphaelitepainters. She was also a nurse and wrote a book on the profession. Woolf hadthree full siblings and four half-siblings; both of her parents had beenmarried and widowed before marrying each other. The eight children lived underone roof at 22 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington.
Two of Woolf’s brothers had beeneducated at Cambridge, but all the girls were taught at home and utilized thesplendid confines of the family’s lush Victorian library. Moreover, Woolf’sparents were extremely well connected, both socially and artistically. Herfather was a friend to William Thackeray and George Henry Lewes, as well asmany other noted thinkers. Her mother’s aunt was the famous 19th century photographerJulia Margaret Cameron. For these reasons and more, Virginia Woolf was ideallysituated to appreciate and experiment with the art of writing.
From thetime of her birth, on January 25, 1882, until 1895, Woolf spent her summers inSt. Ives, a beach town at the very southwestern tip of England. The Stephens’summer home, Talland House, which is still standing today, looks out at thedramatic Porthminster Bay and is a short walking distance to the Godrevylighthouse. In her later memoirs, Woolf recalled St. Ives with a greatfondness. In fact, she incorporated scenes from those early summers into hermodernist novel, To theLighthouse (1927).
As a younggirl, Virginia was light-hearted and playful. She started a family newspaper,the Hyde Park Gate News,to document her family’s humorous anecdotes. She had, however, been traumatizedat the age of six when her half-brothers George and Gerald Duckworth sexuallyabuse her. This dark spot was only made deeper and more permanent when hermother suddenly died at the age of 49. The hormones of early adolescence andthe undeniable reality of this huge loss spun Woolf into a nervous breakdown,only made worse when two years later, her half-sister Stella also died.
Despite her misery, Woolf managed totake classes in German, Greek and Latin at the Ladies’ Department of King’sCollege London. Her four years of study introduced her to a handful of radicalfeminists at the helm of educational reforms. In 1904, her father died. Hispassing was climatic; during this time she was institutionalized.
Virginia Woolf’s dance betweenliterary expression and personal desolation would continue for the rest of herlife.
When Virginia was in her early 20s,her sister Vanessa and brother Adrian sold the family home in Hyde Park Gate,and purchased a house in the Bloomsbury area of London. Through her siblings’connections, Virginia became acquainted with several members of the BloomsburyGroup, a circle of intellectuals and artists who became famous in 1910 fortheir Dreadnought hoax, a practical joke inwhich members of the group dressed up as a delegation of Ethiopian royals andsuccessfully persuaded the English Royal Navy to show them their warship, theHMSDreadnought. Woolf disguised herself as a bearded man. After theoutrageous act, Leonard Woolf, a writer and a member of the group, took a fancyto Virginia. By 1912, she and Leonard were married. The two shared a passionatelove for one another for the rest of their lives
Writings
Severalyears before marrying Leonard, Virginia had begun working on her first novel.The original title was Melymbrosia.After nine years and innumerable drafts, it was released in 1915 as The VoyageOut. Woolf used the book to experiment with several literary tools, includingcompelling and unusual narrative perspectives, dream-states and freeassociation prose. In 1925, Mrs.Dalloway, her fourth novel, was released to rave reviews. The mesmerizingstory interweaves interior monologues and raises issues of feminism, mentalillness and homosexuality in post-World War I England. Since it first wentpress, Mrs. Dalloway has been turned into a movie (1997)and been the subject of a Michael Cunningham novel and film, The Hours (2002).
Throughout her career, Woolf spokeregularly at colleges and universities, penned dramatic letters, wrote movingessays and self-published a long list of short stories. By her mid-forties, shehad established herself as both an intellectual and an innovative thinker andwriter. Her ability to balance dream-like scenes with deeply tense plot linesearned her incredible respect from peers and the public alike. Despite heroutward success, she continued to regularly suffer from bouts of depression anddramatic mood swings.
Death
Woolf's husband,Leonard, always at her side, was quite aware of any signs that pointed to hiswife’s internal demise. He saw, as she was working on what would be her finalmanuscript (published posthumously), Betweenthe Acts, she was sinking into a bottomless pit. Leonard, who was Jewish,was certainly in danger of being captured by the Nazis, and the couple’s Londonhome had been destroyed during the Blitz. These seemingly insurmountable factsmotivated Woolf's decision to, on March 28, 1941, pull on her overcoat, walkout into the River Ouse and fill her pockets with stones. As she waded into thewater, the stream took her with it. The authorities found her some three weekslater. Although her popularity decreased after World War II, her stories rangtrue again for readers during the feminist movement of the 1970s. Woolf remainsone of the most well known authors of the 21st century.
Note : she is me favorite writer سحاب
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