Virginia Woolf: Biography, Books and Facts

Virginia Woolf

Adeline Virginia Stephen was born January 25, 1882, in London, England, and was the daughter of Julia and Leslie Stephen. Her parents had been previously married, but both their spouses died. After Julia and Leslie got married, the couple had four children, Virginia was the second youngest of the four. This added on to the four children the couple already had before getting married. At the age of nine, Virginia began writing, with her siblings, the Hyde Park Gate News. This would last until 1985 when her mother passed away. This was Virginia’s first extremely traumatic experience and a long history of mental health, specifically depression, would ensue.

Virginia would again experience familial death when her half-sister, Stella died in 1897. Seven years later, Virginia’s father would pass away also. Throughout the period between her mother’s and father’s death, Virginia continued to battle with her mental health. As she was recovering, her brother, Thoby, died in 1906. Virginia was very close to Thoby and his death would inspire her novel Jacob’s Room. Virginia began writing her first novel a few years after this and would marry another author, Leonard Woolf, in 1912. A year after her marriage, Virginia would again have a battle with her mental health, resulting in a suicide attempt.

Once she recovered, Virginia published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915. Virginia and Leonard founded Hogarth Press in 1917, where Virginia, along with her husband, would publish her second work Two Stories. In the following years, Virginia would pioneer a new type of novel, stream of consciousness. She would produce her most famous novel, Mrs. Dalloway, in 1925. During this time, Virginia also had a love affair with Vita Sackville-West. Sackville-West greatly boosted Woolf’s confidence and was the main inspiration in Virginia’s 1928 novel Orlando.

Woolf’s most famous feminist novel, A Room of One’s Own, was published in 1929 and argues that women do not have the same opportunity in the male-dominated literary world. In 1931, Woolf would publish The Waves, which is considered her most experimental novel. Virginia’s final novel was written in 1941. Following another deterioration of her mental health, Virginia Woolf committed suicide on March 28, 1941. Her final novel, Between the Acts, was published after her death. Overall, Woolf’s avant-garde novels helped develop a new style of writing, and she would later become known as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

Virginia Woolf was one of the most important feminists of the 20th century. Woolf explored the inner emotions of women, that hitherto had been neglected. Many of her novels focused on the thoughts of the characters. By doing this, Woolf was able to display feminine themes, such as sexuality, and provide an insight into actual female emotions. This was revolutionary because women in literature were previously viewed as an almost single entity, but Woolf explored the diversity and independence of women. One of Woolf’s most famous feminist novel, A Room of One’s Own, advocated that women had never had an equal opportunity to write like men. This is due to a lack of financial stability, educational opportunity, and freedom that women face. Woolf argues that if women were given equality in these spheres to men, they could create the same literary works as men. Woolf makes an example of this by questioning if Shakespeare had a sister of equal talent, would she be as recognized as him? This provocative question directly explored the difficulties women faced and the effects it could have on society.

In Three Guineas, Woolf examines the connection between patriarchal society and war, and the oppressiveness of patriarchal society toward women. Woolf believed that male behavior directly correlated with war. In addition, Woolf argues that once women have equal opportunity, they can help to prevent wars in the future. Both these works explore the oppression and lack of representation women face in society. Overall, Woolf opened the doors to writing about the emotional lives of women and started a discussion of the benefits of an equal status of the sexes. Woolf’s works are now deemed as important feminist texts, and Woolf is viewed as a pioneer in the feminist movement.