Virginia Woolf's Women
by Vanessa Curtis, Julia Briggs
| Format: | Paperback 280 pages |
|---|
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Synopsis
Focusing on Virginia Woolf's close and inspirational female friendships with the key women in her life, Vanessa Curtis offers a portrait of the writer, looking at both the effect of these relationships on her emotional life and the inspiration that each woman provided for the female protagonists in her fiction. Women inspired and fascinated Woolf until the day she died, evoking not only her loyalty, love and wit, but also anger, envy and insecurity. The author begins by exposing the lesser known details of Woolf's Victorian childhood, spent underneath the suffocating wings of the "angels in the house" who instilled in her a lifelong battle between creativity and convention. The journey continues with a study of the other women in Woolf's life; her silent sister, Vanessa Bell; enigmatic artist Dora Carrington; complex writer Katherine Mansfield; aristocratic novelist Vita Sackville-West and riotous, militant composer Ethel Smyth. The book takes the reader on a journey through the most important female relationships of Woolf's life, drawing on previously unpublished archives, ultimately revealing a portrait of Virginia Woolf as writer, daughter, sister, lover and friend.
Book details
Published
22/05/2003
Publisher
Sutton Publishing Ltd
ISBN
9780750934060
Publisher and industry reviews
UK Kirkus review
There is already a wealth of biographical material available on Virginia Woolf, but in examining the influence of women on the life of this disturbed writer, Vanessa Curtis has come up with a fresh and intriguing angle. According to Curtis, 'a steady stream of unusual, enigmatic and troubled women shaped and inspired' Virginia's life and work, giving her the 'stimulation, support, reassurance and maternal care that [she]... craved relentlessly.' Curtis begins by exploring Virginia's repressed Victorian childhood, which was dominated by the stifling presence of her grandmother, Maria 'Mia' Jackson, her mother Julia and her half-sister Stella. These three women were, unwittingly, responsible for much of the mental torment suffered by Virginia throughout her life. Their early deaths - Virginia was only 13 when her mother succumbed to rheumatic fever - haunted her for many years, and long after their passing she was still imprisoned by the strict values they imposed upon her, suppressing her creativity. Her anger at this repression, Curtis tells us, is revealed in her cryptic novels. Her most famous work, To the Lighthouse, draws heavily on her mother in the character of Mrs Ramsay, while images of Stella, who tragically died just months after her marriage, can be seen in several of her books. Curtis goes on to trace the influence of other women in Virginia's life - her sister Vanessa Bell, the artist Dora Carrington, writers Katherine Mansfield and Vita Sackville-West and the contentious composer Ethel Smyth. Each had their part to play in shaping Virginia's life, work and, ultimately, her death. Curtis leads the reader on a fascinating voyage of discovery, shedding light on one of the most enigmatic writers of the 20th century, and leading to a greater understanding of her remarkable work. Tantalizingly, there are also brief glimpses of the men in Virginia's life - her father, brother, half-brothers and beloved husband Leonard - suggesting yet another piece of uncharted territory waiting to be explored. (Kirkus UK)
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