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Virginia Woolf was a modernist writer known for her experimental writing style and feminist themes. She was born into a literary family and suffered from mental instability throughout her life. She married Leonard Woolf and committed suicide in 1941. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was rumored to have been sexually abused and attracted to women. Her works include Mrs. Dalloway, A Room of One’s Own, and To the Lighthouse.
Virginia Woolf is one of the most important figures of modernism in literature. Her works are now considered feminist classics. She is known for her highly experimental writing; she often made use of stream-of-consciousness to process the emotional and psychological motives of her characters and avoided traditional plot elements. Admirers of hers also credit her lyricism – a force they say has been overshadowed by her many quirks as her author. Her books include Mrs. Dalloway, A Room of One’s Own and To the Lighthouse.
Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen on January 25, 1882 to Sir Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep Jackson Duckworth. She had two brothers: Thoe Adrian, and a sister, Vanessa. She also had four half-siblings from both parents’ previous marriages: two girls and two boys.
Her father was a respected literary critic and publisher, and was also the widower of Sir William Thackeray’s daughter. Virginia Woolf’s mother, on the other hand, came from a family renowned for her beauties, some of whom also modeled for Pre-Raphaelite artists, as well as early photographers. These connections ensured that Virginia Woolf became very familiar with Victorian society and was constantly meeting the literary figures of the time. Henry James, George Eliot and James Russel Lowell were all guests at Stephen’s residence.
Constantly under the influence of such eminent people, he early developed a keen intellect and a great respect for the written word. Although she never received a formal education, Virginia Woolf was nonetheless well versed in English literature and the classics.
At the age of 13, she suffered her first breakdown following the death of her mother. She was briefly institutionalized upon the death of her father a few years later. Mental instability in the form of breakdowns and drastic mood swings would plague the rest of her life. She married Leonard Woolf in 1912. On 28 March 1941 she committed suicide by drowning herself in the River Ouse, near her home. She left two similar suicide notes, saying that she was going crazy and that she had been very happy with her husband. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after her death.
Virginia Woolf is said to have been sexually abused by one or both of her half-siblings, and many argue that this abuse is what prompted her mental problems. It is also widely believed that her marriage to Leonard Woolf was never consummated and that she was actually attracted to women. However, these allegations have never been proven.
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