A Synopsis of the Literary Contributions of Virginia Woolf

Stricklin 1

Jessica Stricklin

English 12H

Kim Sharp

16 March 2016

A Synopsis of the Literary Contributions of Virginia Woolf

        Virginia Woolf’s contributions to literature were highly feminist, modernist, and often written in stream- of- consciousness prose. Many of her novels were considered “psychological” books, seeing as her characters were portrayed only through their interior monologue rather than dialogue. For this reason, she is best known for her fractured narratives and generating a psychological realm for her characters. (Svendsen, Web).

        Her feminist beliefs were delineated throughout her literary career. She delivered speeches regarding the history of women’s writing in social and economic terms. She also touched on the circumstances faced by the contemporary woman writer. Her most famous non- fiction book, A Room of One’s Own, was developed from two of her lectures that she delivered at women’s colleges at Cambridge. In the book, she stated, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved.” (Virginia Woolf, Web.)

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        Virginia’s mental illness also impacted her writing throughout her bouts of nervous breakdowns triggered by deaths, her marriage, or the publication of a novel. In her famous novel Mrs. Dalloway, she incorporated the language of medicine, degeneracy, and eugenics. Woolf gathered this information and terminology from the doctors she consulted for her manic depression. The character Septimus Smith was a compilation of the medical evaluations by her doctor and thoughts from her own unstable mind. When she began editing the manuscript, she depicted Smith as a more abstract character instead of what seemed like a record of her own experiences as a mental health patient. Although she edited the role of Smith in the piece, she did not eradicate the dominant theme of his exasperation he felt during encounters with his doctors. She described the novel as a “study of insanity and suicide; the world seen by the sane and insane side by side.” (Svendsen, Web)

        In 1906, Woolf was teaching English and History at an adult- education college in London. In addition, she wrote articles and reviews for publications such as The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, and National Review. (Virginia Woolf, Web) During this time she befriended young men who shared and stimulated her intellectual interests. This informal association of English scholars met at Gordon Square in London for “Thursday Evenings” followed by the infamous

“Friday Club” in which they discussed the arts. They also met frequently at her sister Vanessa’s house as well as her brother Adrian’s house from 1906-1930. Thus, the unofficial “Bloomsbury Group” emerged. Together they discussed questions of morality, art, philosophy, and religion. The group mainly consisted of but was not limited to Trinity College students. (Stewart, Web)

        Virginia emerged into the next stage of her life as a married woman, though she had strong ideals about marriage. In her novel To the Lighthouse, Woolf based Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey on her parents, and evoked the inequality of her parents’ marriage throughout the book. She stated that the man she would marry would be as worthy of her as she of him, and that they were to be equal partners. Despite her hesitations, she married Leonard Woolf, and together they founded the Hogarth Printing Press.

        Virginia and her husband bought their printing press after being rejected from St. Bride’s School of Printing, turned down because they were not trade union apprentices. Rather than give up on their goal of acquiring their own press, they went to Excelsior Printing Supply Company and bought a hand press, type, chases, cases, and a sixteen page pamphlet that would teach them how to print. (Lewis, Web.)

        By using the printing press, Woolf learned how to become a type compositor. Their first publication was a pamphlet, Two Stories, which contained Virginia’s “Mark on the Wall,” and Leonard’s “Three Jews”. (Brackett, Print.) By printing her own material, she was forced to reevaluate her word choice, punctuation use and sentence structure. This acquaintance between Virginia and the printing press caused a change in the physical placement and modification of her words. These changes are reflected in her writing after she began publishing her own work. (Lewis, Web)