The Unknown Virginia Woolf

This new edition of a classic study contains a specially written preface evaluating contemporary feminist criticism.

'Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown' is an essay by Virginia Woolf published in 1924 which explores modernity. Woolf addresses what she sees as the arrival of modernism, with the much-cited phrase "that in or about December, 1910, human character changed", referring to Roger Fry's exhibition Manet and the Post-Impressionists. She argued that this in turn led to a change in human relations, and thence to change in "religion, conduct, politics, and literature". She envisaged modernism as inherently unstable, with society and culture in flux. She develops her argument through the examination of two generations of writers. Her argument is that as times change, writers and the tools that they use must evolve, "the tools of one generation are useless to the next". She places Bennett in the Edwardians, and the subjects of his attacks as "Georgians" to reflect the change of monarch in 1910 that coincided with Fry's exhibition. She characterizes Georgian writers in modernist terms as impressionistic, and those that are "telling the truth."

Virginia Woolf's career was shaped by her impression of the conflict between poetry and the novel, a conflict she often figured as one between masculine and feminine, old and new, bound and free. In large part for feminist reasons, Woolf promoted the triumph of the novel over poetry, even as she adapted some of poetry's techniques for the novel in order to portray the inner life. Woolf considered poetry the rival form to the novel. A monograph on Woolf's sense of genre rivalry thus offers a thorough reinterpretation of the motivations and aims of her canonical work. Drawing on unpublished archival material and little-known publications, the book combines biography, book history, formal analysis, genetic criticism, source study, and feminist literary history. Woolf's attitude towards poetry is framed within contexts of wide scholarly interest: the decline of the lyric poem, the rise of the novel, the gendered associations with these two genres, elegy in prose and verse, and the history of English Studies. Virginia Woolf and Poetry makes three important contributions. It clarifies a major prompt for Woolf's poetic prose. It exposes the genre rivalry that was creatively generative to many modernist writers. And it details how holding an ideology of a genre can shape literary debates and aesthetics.

Who, if anyone, was responsible when Virginia Woolf wandered across the water-meadows and threw herself in the river Ouse? By examining the various strains which led to Woolf's tragically ending her life — the true nature of her marriage, her complex relationship with Vita Sackville-West, the pangs of sexual insecurity, and the lack of self-esteem —noted psychoanalyst Alma H. Bond illustrates how these influences coalesced to bring Woolf's life to a logical ending. “…a masterpiece of its kind—a brilliant, original book that not only gives the reader new understanding of why Virginia Woolf committed suicide but also brings him new depths in the understanding of his own life…A flowing, emphatic style of writing that keeps you turning the page to learn more of the torment in Woolf’s life from infancy on that drove her to kill herself.” —Lucy Freeman, past President of Mystery Writers of America and author of The Beloved Prison: A Journey Through the Unknown Mind (St. Martin’s Press, 1989) “Alma Bond’s work on Virginia Woolf and the relationship between her early life experience and her profound creative talents is a tour de force.” —Natatlie Shainess, M.D., New York, New York “Outstanding—a profound and in-depth presentation.” —Barry M. Panter, M.D., Ph.D., President, American Institute of Medical Education, Burbank, California

Virginia Woolf dreamed of the Day of Judgment. The "great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen" come to receive their rewards - crowns, laurels, names carved on marble. But, when he sees people coming with books under their arms, God turns to Peter and says: "Look, those need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. "They have loved reading." And this is the essence of her essay - sheer love for the written word: a joy in exploring the thoughts and imaginings of the author. If you sometimes get bogged down in a book, Woolf has produced the perfect self-help manual and motivational guide to reading. If you enjoyed 'How Should One Read a Book?', try 'How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading', by Mortimer J Adler. "To read a novel is a difficult and complex art," says Virginia Woolf. Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) made an impact during her life, but her fame grew in the decades after her death. The English writer helped launch the use of stream-of-consciousness in literature and was a pioneer of 20th century modernism. Arguably her greatest legacy, though, comes from how her writing helped to inspire the feminist movements of the second half of the 20th century. Along with members of her family and other authors, Woolf helped found the Bloomsbury Group. After she married the political theorist and author Leonard Woolf in 1912, they went on the found the Hogarth Press. Virginia also had a long relationship with the writer Vita Sackville-West. The affair featured in the 2018 movie Vita and Virginia', starring Gemma Arterton and Elizabeth Debicki, He best-known works include the novels 'Mrs Dalloway', 'To the Lighthouse' and 'Orlando'.