Virginia Woolf(1882-1941)
- Writer
London-born Virginia Woolf came from a wealthy family and, unlike her
brothers, received her education at home, an unusual step for the
times. Her parents had both had children from previous marriages, so
she grew up with a variety of siblings, stepbrothers and stepsisters.
Her father was a well-respected editor and author and the former
son-in-law of
William Makepeace Thackeray.
Author James Russell Lowell was her godfather, and
Henry James and
George Elliott were regular
visitors and guests at the family home. As she recalled later in life,
her most pleasant childhood memories were of the summers spent at the
family home in Cornwall, by Porthminster Bay (the Godrevy Lighthouse
there was the basis for her novel "To the Lighthouse").
The sudden death of Virginia's mother in 1895, when she was 13, and the
passing of her sister two years later led to the first of Virginia's
mental breakdowns. In 1904 her father died, which caused a complete
mental and physical collapse and for a while she was sent to a mental
institution to recover. Nervous breakdowns and bouts of severe
depression tormented Virginia throughout her life, and the fact that as
children she and her sister Vanessa were sexually abused by two of
their stepbrothers added to her already considerable feelings of guilt
and inferiority.
She studied at London's Kings College, where she became acquainted with
such literary figures as
Lytton Strachey, Saxon Sydney-Turner and
Leonard Woolf. She married Woolf in 1912.
Virginia was always ashamed of what she termed her "unattractive
countenance", and once wrote that "being wanted [was] a pleasure that I
have never felt". In 1922 she met
Vita Sackville-West, and the two
women began a relationship that lasted for almost ten years. She was
said to have written her novel "Orlando" as a love letter to West.
After the publication of her novel "Between the Acts" she fell into a
deep depression, exacerbated by the destruction of her London home by
Nazi planes during the bombing of that city, and the less than
enthusiastic critical reaction to her biography of her close friend
Roger Fry. Her condition deteriorated to the point where she was unable
to write or even read. She finally had a full-blown nervous breakdown.
Unable and unwilling to continue, she wrote a note to her husband
saying that "I am certain I am going mad again" and "I shan't recover
this time . . . I can't fight any longer . . . I can't go on spoiling
your life any longer." On March 28, 1941, she left her home, walked to
the banks of the nearby River Ouse, loaded heavy stones into her
pockets and walked into the water. She was 59 years old.
brothers, received her education at home, an unusual step for the
times. Her parents had both had children from previous marriages, so
she grew up with a variety of siblings, stepbrothers and stepsisters.
Her father was a well-respected editor and author and the former
son-in-law of
William Makepeace Thackeray.
Author James Russell Lowell was her godfather, and
Henry James and
George Elliott were regular
visitors and guests at the family home. As she recalled later in life,
her most pleasant childhood memories were of the summers spent at the
family home in Cornwall, by Porthminster Bay (the Godrevy Lighthouse
there was the basis for her novel "To the Lighthouse").
The sudden death of Virginia's mother in 1895, when she was 13, and the
passing of her sister two years later led to the first of Virginia's
mental breakdowns. In 1904 her father died, which caused a complete
mental and physical collapse and for a while she was sent to a mental
institution to recover. Nervous breakdowns and bouts of severe
depression tormented Virginia throughout her life, and the fact that as
children she and her sister Vanessa were sexually abused by two of
their stepbrothers added to her already considerable feelings of guilt
and inferiority.
She studied at London's Kings College, where she became acquainted with
such literary figures as
Lytton Strachey, Saxon Sydney-Turner and
Leonard Woolf. She married Woolf in 1912.
Virginia was always ashamed of what she termed her "unattractive
countenance", and once wrote that "being wanted [was] a pleasure that I
have never felt". In 1922 she met
Vita Sackville-West, and the two
women began a relationship that lasted for almost ten years. She was
said to have written her novel "Orlando" as a love letter to West.
After the publication of her novel "Between the Acts" she fell into a
deep depression, exacerbated by the destruction of her London home by
Nazi planes during the bombing of that city, and the less than
enthusiastic critical reaction to her biography of her close friend
Roger Fry. Her condition deteriorated to the point where she was unable
to write or even read. She finally had a full-blown nervous breakdown.
Unable and unwilling to continue, she wrote a note to her husband
saying that "I am certain I am going mad again" and "I shan't recover
this time . . . I can't fight any longer . . . I can't go on spoiling
your life any longer." On March 28, 1941, she left her home, walked to
the banks of the nearby River Ouse, loaded heavy stones into her
pockets and walked into the water. She was 59 years old.