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Virginia Woolf: A Biography

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I read VIRGINIA WOLFE: A BIOGRAPHY by Quentin Bell after I had read several other books about Wolfe. I was pleased to discover that Bell included some of the more unsavory aspects of Woolfe's life even though he was a blood relative and wrote his book in an age that frowned on revealing "dirty" family secrets. I am referring to the presumed incestuous behavior of Woolfe's brothers towards Virginia and Vanessa.

Quentin Bell was the son of Virginia's sister the artist Venessa Bell. Virginia and Vanessa were the daughters of the very prominent English Victorian Leslie Stephen. Stephen married Virginia's mother Julia after her first husband Herbert Duckworth died. The brothers accused of incest were sons from the first marriage and much older than Virginia who was the next to the youngest child of Julia and Leslie.

Much has been written about the end of Virgina's life, how she placed several heavy stones in her pockets and walked into the river Ouse near her home and drowned herself in the early 1940s. As recently as last week on Garrison Keilior's "Writer's Almanack" on NPR on the anniversary of her birth this event was mentioned again as if it was the only thing she ever did of interest.

But Virginia did not take her life easily. She had survived some horrific events including the death of her beloved brother Thoby--her closest sibling, and the deaths of many other loved persons during WWI, as well as the death of Lytton Strachey her best friend. Moreover, at the time of her death, her London home in Bloomsbury had been bombed and Hitler was threatening to invade England. Virginia's husband Leonard was Jewish and they were both aware of what Hitler was doing to the Jews.

The most wonderful aspect of Bell's book is that he tells the complete story of Virgina's life--how she coped with sorrow and used her life experiences to frame her art. She was probably the most original writer of the 20th Century, and much of the glory that went to James Joyce should have gone to her. At the very least, she was his equal. She wrote in a 'stream of consciousness subjective voice' before James, but she wrote in an era when women writers found it difficult to become published. In fact, Virginia and Leonard started their own publishing press to deal with this deficiency. Even so, Virginia's work remained relatively obscure until it was "discovered" during the women's movement of the 1960's.

This is an illuminating, sad, and reflective book written by a man who knew and loved her. If you want to know more about Virginia Wolfe this is the place to begin.

An amazing and unique look at the life of Virginia Woolf, through the thoughts and studies of her own nephew--Quentin Bell. Filled with history, quotes, parts of letters and diary entries, this makes a wonderful and educational read. A peek into the society of Bloomsbury and beyond. This biography follows Virginia and all who were close to her through turbulent times and the happiness and stress of new households.

Almost sixty years after Virginia Woolf's death, her image is chrystalized in numerous bodies of boigraphical works. Most writers who commemorate Woolf must write as an onlooker. Quentin Bell is unlike most biographers. Woolf was his aunt. Bell is able to capture the smallest peculiarity in Woolf's character. She was a central personality in his life. His childhood memories of her are particularly strong. He remembers that she was a wonderful as a child's companion. She understood the young better than any other adult. Bell says that Woolf was a first-rate story teller. She could frighten children, even if the story was not terribly scary. THe only shortcoming of Bell's biography is that it has no criticism of Woolf's writings. Bell's work is simply a reccolection. However, it is an interesting read and a lovely memior.

The most interesting thing about this biography was the voice of the writer: Quentin Bell who was Virginia's nephew. The assumptions he makes, and the way he judges things are kind of foreign to me, and I think it gives an idea about how things must have been for the Bloomsbury types. Virginia has written that you need to have a clear, unbiased mind to write good fiction; perhaps for non-fiction, bias can be interesting. This is the only biography of Virginia Woolf I have ever read. He made her seem fairly weak, which was hard to reconcile with how strong and bright her writing is. This is a lot more than a collection of facts, and I recommend it.

I read this book years ago and found it quite interesting. The author is the son of Virginia's sister Vanessa Bell, who was an accomplished painter and a memBer of the Bloomsbury Group. As a family member, he has insights an outsider probably wouldn't have.

This book is long, over 400 pages. I thought I would have to slog through it. On the contrary, it was a wonderful read, very hard to put down. Bell knows his subject, his aunt Virginia very well. But more important, he knows how to write a biography that informs, describes, explains and plain enchants us with the incredible personality of Virginia Woolf. He provides contexts for excerpts of her letters and diaries. We can understand the obstacles which she had to overcome, to the extent possible, the way her mind worked, the extremely interesting friends she had, and their doings. I especially appreciated the dignified way in which he wrote about her end. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group she belonged to.

Virginia Woolf: A Biography
By now, it is the most chronologically complete biography of Virginia Woolf, also giving interesting details about her ancestors. Some data of the family life might have been omitted in the book but in general it is a pretty objective and accurate work showing a lot of academic research.

This book is written in a style that is definitely boring, but it is enhanced by scattered pictures of Virginia Woolf, her friends, husband and family members. The content is very informative, however the style of writing leaves alot to be desired.

history of Virginia Woolf. So much has been written about VW (her life and her works), there is no need to add anything here. This book is written by VW's nephew, and is impressively comprehensive in scope. This is a two-volume biography, but it is sold as a single volume. Chapters are divided by years (e.g., Volume I, Chapter eight, is simply titled "1909"). The eight appendices include: Clive Bell and the Writing of "The Voyage Out"; The Dreadnought Hoax; and, Virginia Woolf and Julian Bell.

This book is very informative, but lacks style. It contains many pictures of Virginia Woolf, her family members and friends which give you some insight into the actual life of the troubled author. I found it difficult to continue reading because the style was so rigid and antiquated.