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Virginia Woolf

Author

Bio

Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) née Stephen, was an English writer, publisher and feminist. She is considered one of the most important early 20th-century authors and was an early practitioner of what became known as "stream of consciousness" writing. Born to a wealthy family in London, Virginia was the seventh of Julia Prinsep Jackson and Leslie Stephen's eight children. The Stephens children were home-schooled in English classics and literature and Virginia was encouraged by her father to pursue writing as a career. When their mother, Julia, died of influenza in 1895, the older siblings took on their mother's role in raising the children. In 1912, Virginia married Leonard Woolf, who was a strong supporter of Virginia's budding writing career. Virginia published her first book - The Voyage Out - in 1915 through her half-brother's publishing house, Gerald Duckworth and Company, but soon afterwards Virginia and Leonard Woolf founded Hogarth Press which would publish most of Virginia's novels as well as works by E.M. Forster and T.S. Eliot. The best known of Virginia's literary works include Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928). Virginia and Leonard Woolf's relationship was based on mutual respect but not physical attraction. Virginia was most likely a lesbian, though some have argued that she may have been bisexual. At any rate, Virginia had affairs with several women and her aversion to men and masculinity is often attributed to the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her half-brothers when she was a child. Virginia Woolf enjoyed great literary success in her lifetime and her books have been translated into more than 50 languages. Though her popularity waned in the years following her death, the feminist movement of the 1970's did much to revive her reputation and solidify her as one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Mental illness continued to trouble Woof for the rest of her life. In 1941, Woolf wrote a suicide note to her husband, filled the pockets of her coat with stones and drowned herself in the River Ouse in Yorkshire.

Virginia Woolf Books

Feminist Literary Classics - Volume IV - A Room of One's Own - Jane Eyre - The Song of the Lark book cover

Feminist Literary Classics - Volume IV - A Room of One's Own - Jane Eyre - The Song of the Lark

Virginia Woolf
A Room of One's Own - Unabridged book cover

A Room of One's Own - Unabridged

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
MRS. DALLOWAY book cover

MRS. DALLOWAY

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
Orlando: A Biography book cover

Orlando: A Biography

Virginia Woolf
History's Greatest Letters - Volume I book cover

History's Greatest Letters - Volume I

Abraham Lincoln
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
A Room of One's Own book cover

A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf
Feminist Literary Classics - Volume III - Orlando: A Biography - O Pioneers - So Big - Unabridged book cover

Feminist Literary Classics - Volume III - Orlando: A Biography - O Pioneers - So Big - Unabridged

Virginia Woolf
Orlando (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition) book cover

Orlando (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

Virginia Woolf
Orlando book cover

Orlando

Virginia Woolf
Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria, or, The Wrongs of Woman book cover

Mary Wollstonecraft's Maria, or, The Wrongs of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft
To the Lighthouse book cover

To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf
To the Lighthouse book cover

To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf
Flush book cover

Flush

Virginia Woolf
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