Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman [Paperback]

Ruth Gruber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 10, 2005

In 1935, while Virginia Woolf was alive and building her career as a woman writer, Ruth Gruber published a seminal essay on the novelist that is now seen as the first feminist interpretation of Woolf's writings and life. Seventy years after its original publication, Gruber's seminal critique is available once again, with new material that makes it more relevant for readers today. Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman includes several previously unpublished letters exchanged between Woolf and Gruber, and a new introduction in which Gruber recalls her 1933 meeting with the English writer, examining the questions surrounding Woolf's bi-polar illness and anti-Semitism. In this groundbreaking assessment of Woolf's philosophy, influences, and style, Gruber laid the groundwork for a generation of future feminist analyses. She cogently examines Woolf's concept of gender and her literary influences, adeptly discussing how Woolf constructed a feminine writing style in a realm dominated by men. Above all, she shows how Woolf consciously strove to create as a woman. Virginia Woolf's experimental prose and her struggles with mental illness have made her an enduringly provocative figure, and today, more than sixty years after her suicide, Woolf's writing continues to fascinate and inspire readers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (April 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786715340
• ISBN-13: 978-0786715343
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,225,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ruth Gruber is an award-winning Jewish American journalist, photographer, and humanitarian. She was born in Brooklyn in 1911 and is the author of nineteen books, including the National Jewish Book Award-winning biography Raquela (1978).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Virginia Woolf Review, August 28, 2011

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Anna (Marshfield, WI USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Virginia Woolf: The Will to Create as a Woman (Paperback)

I was pleased with the book. It was in great condition. It would have been helpful to know more about the author that wrote the book vs thinking the book was written by Virginia Woolf herself.