The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Manic Depression and the Life of Virginia Woolf [Paperback]

Peter Dally (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2001

Combining his knowledge as a doctor and a lifelong fascination with Virginia Woolf's life and work, eminent psychiatrist Peter Dally offers a haunting and compelling look at the depression that tormented Virginia Woolf throughout her adult years.

On three ocassions Virginia went mad. Symptoms of these episodes included conversations with her dead mother, and hearing birds speak in Greek. Thougha quiet life cushioned her childhood, the renown Woolf achieved through writing inspired the bouts of depression and elation that she regularly experienced as an adult. This terrified Virginia, and though the experience offered extraordinary insight into her craft, Woolf lived in constant fear of her dreadful affliction.

Virginia's most vital protection from stress was her husband, Leonard. Without his constant vigilance and care, it is doubtful she would have been so creatively productive. Yet, paradoxically, their marriage ultimately preciptated her most dangerous bout of madness. Toward the end of her life, when events outside the couple's control led to Leonard's own depression and gradual withdrawal, Virginia found herself facing madness alone, and with tragic results.

Compassionate and disturbing, this fascinating study is the first to look at Virginia Woofl's life from the perspective of her illness.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It is no secret that Virginia Woolf suffered from manic depression for most of her life (a notable treatment appears in Panthea Reid's Art and Affection: A Life of Virginia Woolf, LJ 9/15/96). In jargon-laden prose, Dally, a retired psychiatrist living in England, explains that Woolf's difficult childhood and youthAmarked by the death of her motherAlay the chemical and biological groundwork for her later mental illness. This forensic inquiry is possible only because Woolf, a faithful diarist, left "surely the fullest year-by-year record ever of the effect of the disease on a creative life." While interesting reading, this work adds little new insight into Woolf's troubled genius. Discussions of her literary works appear as asidesAor worse, as symptoms of her illness, a serious mistake given the psychological narrative techniques Woolf used so powerfully in novels such as To The Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway. Recommended for larger Woolf collections.ADiane Gardner Premo, Rochester P.L., NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Retired British psychiatrist Dally (The Fantasy Game, 1975) puts Woolf on the couch in this insubstantial psychobiography. Woolf's mental state has always attracted posthumous diagnoses from her literary biographers, and Dally, who has also essayed a psychological portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, concentrates entirely on this ambiguous task. Woolf is customarily labeled manic depressivea term (no longer clinically employed) referring to a fairly loose category of mood disorders with a wide range of diagnoses. Dally specifies Woolf's malady as cyclothymic disorder, which presents as comparatively mild depression from January to March and again in September, and an elated mood in the summer. This condition, he argues, would lead to full-blown manic depression, manifested in Woolf's manic breakdowns and severe depressions, culminating in her 1941 suicide. Woolf's milder hypomanic phases featured brilliant conversation and ambitious literary projects. In her outright manic phases, however, she refused food; talked incessantly; grew paranoid; insulted everyone from her nurses to her husband, Leonard, and her sister, Vanessa; had suicidal impulses; and, in some instances, experienced visual and aural hallucinationsmost famously seeing her dead mother and hearing birds in London singing in Greek (a detail which found its way into Mrs. Dalloway). Unfortunately, Dally neglects the close examination of Woolf's mind in favor of rote summary of the events of her life, which reduces Leonard to the sort of helpmeet necessary for Woolf's condition. In an appendix, ``Manic, Madness and Creativity,'' Dally cursorily discusses the effects of her illness on her writing, but Woolf, who in her voluminous diary vividly described both her literary impulses and her fluctuating emotions, remains the authority on herself. Less a case study than a Cliff's Notes to better biographical work, such as Hermione Lee's rich treatment (Virginia Woolf: A Biography, 1997). (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (March 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312272731
• ISBN-13: 978-0312272739
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,527,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tragedy of Ignorance Concerning Manic Depression, July 3, 2005

By 

Katherine Graham "Katherine Graham" (Sparta, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Hardcover)

I was window shoppping at Amazon.com as I often love to do when I came across a book that I have treasured for some time. I was dismayed to see that Peter Dally's magnificent tour de force was not being recognized as such. Frankly, it is beyond comprehension that this would be so! One cannot understand the scope and depth of Virginia Woolf without reference to the marriage to which she so desperately needed in order to achieve the balance and stability necessary (given her illness) which resulted in our watershed of wonder in having such Masterpieces to read and enjoy today! Also, Dally's most compassionate view of her bipolar disorder provides to anyone who has had real experience with this disease profound insight into a curse, really, for so many artists that surely would have resulted in her suicide far sooner had it not been for Leonard Woolf. Surely, he is not perfect. No one is. But Dally provides that all-important insight into the need for all of us to accept the fact that no man or woman is an island unto themselves and in the absence of another upon whom we can rely in times of trial and trouble -- we are all lost. Given the unimaginable low price for this book, if you love VW -- you will not be disappointed!

5.0 out of 5 stars Analyze this!, July 19, 2009

By 

Bruce Oksol "oksol" (San Antonio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Manic Depression and the Life of Virginia Woolf (Paperback)

The author is a retired English psychiatrist who became a Virginia Woolf fan after reading "Mrs Dalloway."

For a reader new to Virginia Woolf, this could serve as a pretty good biography of Woolf. It's relatively short, provides a good overview, and would encourage the reader to explore all Virginia Woolf has to offer.

For a Virginia Woolf fan, it fills in the gaps, connecting the dots between Virginia's episodes of insanity and depression with events in her life.

In addition, Dally does an outstanding job analyzing the romantic and sexual relationships among the Bloomsbury bunch.

Dally includes a Stephen family wiring diagram identifying those with mental illness.

(Incidentally, of the dozens of books I have on Woolf, Dally's book is the only one I have that has a photograph of Vanessa that reveals a stunningly beautiful woman. Virginia was considered as beautiful, if not more so, but the photographs of Virginia must not do her justice. She is pretty in her younger years, but even so, Vanessa seems stunningly gorgeous.)

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars feels like it was written in the 1960s, not the 1990s, June 1, 2008

By 

Melanie White (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: Manic Depression and the Life of Virginia Woolf (Paperback)

It never ceases to amaze me how different people can arrive at such different conclusions from the same set of facts. This book is a great example of that. With nearly every page I found myself marveling at the unsupported conclusions, the questionable assumptions, and the moralistic (and misguided) value judgements left right and center. I found myself editing as I read, deleting whole paragraphs of blather as I went along. There is a set of facts about her illness, and you must arrive at your own interpretation of those facts. But some conclusions come nearer the truth than others -- and if you ask me, this one misses by a mile. If you want a book about Woolf's illnesses, read Caramagno's book "The Flight of the Mind: Virginia Woolf's Art and Manic Depressive Illness".