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Virginia Woolf (Twayne's English Authors Series)

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Gorsky provides a nice, concise summary of Virginia's life, her works, and then examines these works in the context of the transition to Modernism at the turn of the century.

Gorsky examines the transition to and the definition of Modernism. Gorsky points out the profound changes taking place at the turn of the century when Woolf was writing, stating that the transition from the Victorian Age to the Modernist Age was as profound as the transition from the Dark Ages (Medieval Ages) to the Renaissance Age.

Gorsky argues that the Age of Modernism (at least in England) began with the First Post Impressionist Exhibition, 1910, engineered, organized, and directed by Roger Fry. Fry coined the term "post-impressionism" and produced the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition in 1912. In the First Exhibition he introduced such artists as Cézanne, Matisse, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Picasso "to an England generally unready for their introduction." According to art critic historian Kenneth Clark as "incomparably the greatest influence on taste since Ruskin...In so far as taste can be changed by one man, it was changed by Roger Fry." (Wikipedia)

Roger Fry was a member of the Bloomsbury Group and fell in love with Vanessa Bell (Virginia's sister) but had his heart broken when Vanessa fell in love with Duncan Grant instead. (Fry did go on to marry "another" love of his life.)

This is how Gorsky summarizes the changes occurring during Woolf's coming of age period and her adult life: "At this time, Victorian England was becoming increasingly aware of the tumultuous change which introduced what today is called the modern age. This period of upheaval witnessed frequently disruptive events in history and literature. The breakdown of the traditional Western family and of class structure, the coming of a major economic depression [1929 - 1933], the accelerated shift from an agricultural to an urban and industrialized society - these general trends were supported or symbolized by specific occurrences, among them the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the flights of the Wright brothers in 1903, and in 1914 the great climax of the first World War. At the same time, startling new psychology, by Sigmund Freud in psychology, by William James in philosophy and psychology, by Henri Bergson in philosophy, by Albert Einstein in the sciences, and by Sir James Frazer in anthropology. However little or much the theories of these important thinkers may have been understood by their popular audiences, there can be no question of their impact. For example, Jung's work suggested strange and universal links among all people, an idea supported by Frazer's study of myths which repeat themselves from one community to another, from one culture to another. The explorers offered support for each others' ideas, and the ideas themselves inflamed the curious and sensitive who learned of the new discoveries." (Gorsky, p. 15)

This is just a sample of Gorsky's insights and writing. Likewise she covers all of Woolf's works in similar depth.

As much as this is a great book for the post-graduate student studying Virginia Woolf, Modernism, and English literature in general, it is also a great book for the lay person who has a good foundation of Woolf.

Watch for it at discount book stores or through independent booksellers through Amazon.com.