VIRGINIA WOOLF

Prominent English writer, central figure of Bloomsbury Group of

intellectuals

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD Born Adeline Virginia Stephen on

January 25, 1882 in London Her father, Leslie Stephen (1832-1904),

was a man of letters who came from a family distinguished for public service

Her mother, Julia (1846-95), from whom Virginia inherited her looks, was the daughter and niece of the six beautiful Pattle sisters (Julia Margaret Cameron was the seventh: not beautiful but the only one remembered today)

Henry Thoby Prinsep of London. Photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1866.

"Annie, my first success", 29 January 1864. Cameron's first print with which she was satisfied.

Ellen Terry photographed in 1864 by Julia Margaret Cameron.

She was also the niece of the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and first cousin of the temperance leader Lady Henry Somerset. Julia moved to England with her mother, where she served as a model for Pre-Raphaelite painters such as Edward Burne-Jones.

 Both parents had been married before: her father to the daughter of the novelist, William Thackeray (Harriet Marian (Minny)), by whom he had a daughter Laura (1870-1945) who was intellectually backward; and her mother to a barrister, Herbert Duckworth (1833-70), by whom she had three children, George (1868-1934), Stella (1869-97), and Gerald (1870-1937). Julia and Leslie Stephen had four children: Vanessa (1879-1961), Thoby (1880-1906), Virginia (1882-1941), and Adrian (1883-1948). All eight children lived with the parents and a number of servants at 22 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington. 

Sir Leslie Stephen's eminence as an editor, critic, and biographer, and his connection to William Thackeray, meant that his children were raised in an environment filled with the influences of Victorian literary society

Long summer holidays were spent at Talland House in St Ives, Cornwall, and St Ives played a large part in Virginia’s imagination. It was the setting for her novel To the Lighthouse, despite its ostensibly being placed on the Isle of Skye. London and/or St Ives provided the principal settings of most of her novels.

EDUCATION Virginia was allowed uncensored access to

her father’s extensive library, and from an early age determined to be a writer

Her education was sketchy and she never went to school. 

Vanessa trained to become a painter. Their two brothers were sent to

preparatory and public schools, and then to Cambridge. There, Thoby made friends with Leonard Woolf, Clive Bell, Saxon Sydney-Turner, Lytton Strachey and Maynard Keynes.

BREAKDOWNS

In 1895 her mother died unexpectedly, and Virginia suffered her first mental breakdown. Her half-sister Stella took over the running of the household as well as coping with Leslie’s demands for sympathy and emotional support. Stella married Jack Hills in 1897, but she too died suddenly on her return from her honeymoon. The household burden then fell upon Vanessa.

MORE BREAKDOWNS Leslie Stephen died in 1904, and Virginia

had a second breakdown. It provoked her most alarming collapse

and she was briefly institutionalized Modern scholars have suggested her

breakdowns and subsequent recurring depressive periods were also influenced by the sexual abuse to which she and her sister Vanessa were subjected by their half-brothers George and Gerald Duckworth (which Woolf recalls in her autobiographical essays A Sketch of the Past and 22 Hyde Park Gate).

Following a trip to Greece in 1906, Thoby died of typhoid and in 1907 Vanessa married Clive Bell. Thoby had started ‘Thursday evenings' for his friends to visit, and this kind of arrangement was continued after his death by Vanessa and then by Virginia and Adrian when they moved to 29 Fitzroy Square

MARRIAGE

Leonard Woolf had joined the Ceylon Civil Service in 1904 and returned in 1911 on leave. He soon decided that he wanted to marry Virginia, and she eventually agreed. They were married in St Pancras Registry Office on 10 August 1912. They decided to earn money by writing and journalism.

DEATH

Virginia Woolf died on March 28, 1941 near Rodmell, Sussex, England. She left a note for her husband, Leonard, and for her sister, Vanessa. Then, Virginia walked to the River Ouse, put a large stone in her pocket, and drowned herself. Children found her body 18 days later.

FAMOUS WORKS Voyage Out (Novel--1915)  Night and Day (Novel--1919)  Monday or Tuesday (Short Stories--1921)  Jacob's Room (Novel--1922)  Mrs Dalloway (Novel--1925)  The Common Reader (Essays--1925)  To the Lighthouse (Novel--1927)  Orlando: A Biography (Novel--1928)  A Room of One's Own (Essay--1929)  The Waves (Novel--1931)  Flush: A Biography (1933)  The Common Reader Second Series (Essays--1935)  The Years (Novel 1937)  Three Guineas (Essay--1938)  Between the Acts (Novel 1941)  Collected Essays  Collected Short Stories 

WORKS A1 THE VOYAGE OUT 1915

Novel.• A2 THE MARK ON THE WALL 1917This short story was included in the first publication of the Hogarth Press entitled Two Stories (the other was by her husband Leonard). Reprinted in The Complete Shorter Fiction (A60).• A3 KEW GARDENS 1919This short story was reprinted in The Complete Shorter Fiction (A60). • A4 NIGHT AND DAY 1919Novel. • A5 MONDAY OR TUESDAY 1921This collection of short stories was reprinted in The Complete Shorter Fiction (A60). • A6 JACOB'S ROOM 1922Novel. • A7 MR. BENNETT AND MRS. BROWN 1924This essay was reprinted in The Essays, Vol. III (A65). • A8 THE COMMON READER 1925This collection of essays was reprinted in The Essays, Vol. IV (A74). • A9 MRS. DALLOWAY 1925Novel.

• A11 ORLANDO: A BIOGRAPHY 1928Novel. • A12 A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN 1929Extended essay: a woman must have £500 a year and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. • A16 THE WAVES 1931Novel. • A18 THE COMMON READER: SECOND SERIES 1932Essays. • A19 FLUSH: A BIOGRAPHY 1933A fictional biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s dog. • A22 THE YEARS 1937Novel. • A23 THREE GUINEAS 1938Extended essay on the interrelationship between war, masculinity, and women’s education and employment. • A25 ROGER FRY: A BIOGRAPHY 1940

POSTHUMOUS • A26 BETWEEN THE ACTS 1941 

(ed. by Leonard Woolf) Novel.• A27 THE DEATH OF THE MOTH AND OTHER ESSAYS 1942(ed. by Leonard Woolf) • A28 A HAUNTED HOUSE AND OTHER SHORT STORIES 1943 [i.e. 1944](ed. by Leonard Woolf) This collection of short stories was reprinted in The Complete Shorter Fiction (A60). • A29 THE MOMENT AND OTHER ESSAYS 1947(ed. by Leonard Woolf) • A30 THE CAPTAIN'S DEATH BED AND OTHER ESSAYS [1950](ed. by Leonard Woolf) • A31 A WRITER'S DIARY 1953(ed. by Leonard Woolf) Extracts from the complete diary. • A34 GRANITE AND RAINBOW 1958(ed. by Leonard Woolf) Essays. • A35 CONTEMPORARY WRITERS 1965(ed. by Jean Guiguet) Essays.

• A37, A39 COLLECTED ESSAYS: VOLUMES 1-4 1966-1967(ed. by Leonard Woolf) A reprinting and re-ordering of the essays in A8, A18, A27, A29, A30, and A34. • A41 A COCKNEY'S FARMING EXPERIENCES 1972 [i.e. 1973](ed. by Suzanne Henig) Juvenilia. Reprinted in 1994. • A42 MRS DALLOWAY'S PARTY 1973(ed. by Stella McNichol) This collection of short stories was reprinted in The Complete Shorter Fiction (A60). • A44 THE FLIGHT OF THE MIND 1975(ed. by Nigel Nicolson with Joanne Trautmann) Collected letters, Vol. I, 1888-1912. • A45 MOMENTS OF BEING 1976 (ed. by Jeanne Schulkind) Autobiography. * A46 FRESHWATER [1976](ed. by Lucio P. Ruotolo) Play. • A47 THE QUESTION OF THINGS HAPPENING 1976(ed. by Nigel Nicolson with Joanne Trautmann) Collected letters, Vol. II, 1912-1922. • A48 THE DIARY OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: VOLUME I 1977(ed. by Anne Olivier Bell) 1915-1919 • A49 BOOKS AND PORTRAITS 1977(ed. by Mary Lyon) Essays. 

• A51 A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE 1977(ed. by Nigel Nicolson with Joanne Trautmann) Collected letters, Vol. III, 1923-1928. • A52 THE DIARY OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: VOLUME II 1978(ed. by Anne Olivier Bell with Andrew McNeillie) 1920-1924.• A53 A REFLECTION OF THE OTHER PERSON 1978(ed. by Nigel Nicolson with Joanne Trautmann) Collected letters, Vol. IV, 1929-1931. • A53.1 WOMEN AND WRITING [1979](ed. by Michèle Barrett) Selected essays. • A54 THE SICKLE SIDE OF THE MOON 1979(ed. by Nigel Nicolson with Joanne Trautmann) Collected letters, Vol. V, 1932-1935. • A55 THE DIARY OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: VOLUME III 1980(ed. by Anne Olivier Bell with Andrew McNeillie) 1925-1930.• A56 LEAVE THE LETTERS TILL WE'RE DEAD 1980(ed. by Nigel Nicolson with Joanne Trautmann) Collected letters, Vol. VI, 1936-1941. 

• A57 THE DIARY OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: VOLUME IV 1982(ed. by Anne Olivier Bell with Andrew McNeillie) 1931-1935.• A59 THE DIARY OF VIRGINIA WOOLF: VOLUME V 1984(ed. by Anne Olivier Bell with Andrew McNeillie) 1936-1941.• A60 THE COMPLETE SHORTER FICTION [1985](ed. by Susan Dick) • A62 THE ESSAYS: VOLUME 1 [1986](ed. by Andrew McNeillie) 1904-1912. • A63 THE ESSAYS: VOLUME 2 [1987](ed. by Andrew McNeillie) 1912-1918. • A65 THE ESSAYS: VOLUME 3 [1988](ed. by Andrew McNeillie) 1919-1924. • A66 CONGENIAL SPIRITS [1989](ed. by Joanne Trautmann Banks) One-volume selection from the collected letters. 

• A67 A MOMENT'S LIBERTY 1990(ed. by Anne Olivier Bell) One-volume selection from the complete diary • A68 A PASSIONATE APPRENTICE [1990](ed. by Mitchell A. Leaska) The early journals, 1897-1909. • A69 PAPER DARTS [1991](ed. by Frances Spalding) Selected letters with many illustrations. • A70 A WOMAN'S ESSAYS [1992](ed. by Rachel Bowlby) Selected essays. • A71 SELECTED SHORT STORIES [1993](ed. by Sandra Kemp) • A72 THE CROWDED DANCE OF MODERN LIFE [1993](ed. by Rachel Bowlby) Selected essays. • A73 TRAVELS WITH VIRGINIA WOOLF [1993](ed. by Jan Morris) Travel writings. • A74 THE ESSAYS: VOLUME 4 [1994](ed. by Andrew McNeillie) 1925-1928. • THE ESSAYS: VOLUME 5 [2009](ed. by Stuart N. Clarke) 1929-1932.• THE ESSAYS: VOLUME 6 [2011](ed. by Stuart N. Clarke) 1933-1941.