Virginia Woolf: A Portrait

by Viviane Forrester

Head, Dr., 145, 146

  Herbert, Lady Margaret, 104, 107, 147

  Hills, Jack Waller, 84, 95–98, 100, 101–102, 104, 115

  Hills, Mrs. (Jack’s mother), 100

  Hills, Stella. See Duckworth, Stella

  Hitler, Adolf, and Nazism: ambient anti-Semitism as facilitating rise of, 39, 45, 53, 58; condemnation of, Bloomsbury group and, 39, 46; defeat of, 66; T. S. Eliot sympathies and, 165; LW and VW on blacklist of, 9, 57; LW on treatment of Jews under, 184; suicide of Hitler, 189; suicide pact of LW and VW in case of invasion by, 9, 57–58, 89, 185, 193; Three Guineas comparing oppression of women to anti-Semitism of, 46, 180–181

  Hogarth Press: acquired by Ian Parson following JW’s death, 61, 64–65; catalogue of, 64, 121; T. S. Eliot published by, 165; founding and running of prior to VW’s death, 62–64; Sigmund Freud published by, 64, 181–182; friends’ manuscripts rejected from, 63; James Joyce rejected by, 167–168; John Lehmann and, 62–65, 168, 186; Katherine Mansfield published by, 174; Trekkie Parson and, 64–65; Ralph Partridge and, 161; resignation of LW from, 65; VW’s posthumous works, 66–67, 222n41; WWII and, 186, 189

  Hölderin, Friedrich, 64

  Holford, 145

  homosexuality, “Morocco” as code for, 37, 210n89

  Hutchinson, Mary, 45, 160, 174; correspondence with Clive Bell, 45; correspondence with VW, 160–161

  Hyde Park Gate, 74, 80, 93, 96, 109, 110, 193

  The Hyde Park Gate News, 74–75, 120

  incestuous climate: George Duckworth creating, 102–108, 146–147, 183, 198; Gerald Duckworth and, 102, 104, 107–108

  ——created by Leslie Stephen at Hyde Park Gate: code of silence about, 77, 83, 86, 88, 89, 108, 193; and death of Leslie, 110; and Stella Duckworth, 83–86, 87, 88–89, 91, 96, 100, 102; everyday world in contrast to, 3–4; as fantasy that produced damaging atmosphere, 82, 83–84, 91; focus on rages of father as memory screen for, 86–89; Mausoleum Book improprieties and, 82; The Years and, 91, 92; To the Lighthouse and, 92; as unconscious, 91; as unhealed wound, 77–78, 91

  Isherwood, Christopher, 64

  Jacob’s Room, 156, 223n73

  James, Henry, 6, 75, 99, 200

  Joyce, James, 167–169; Finnegans Wake, 169; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 167; Ulysses, 167, 168

  Keats, John, 191

  Keynes, Geoffrey, 145–146

  Keynes, John Maynard, 66, 135, 136, 160, 161, 175; anti-Semitism of, 48; and Julian Bell, 172; and Brunswick Square, 37; as Cambridge “Apostle,” 7; correspondence with Vanessa Bell, 48; friendship with Adrian Stephen, 21; friendship with Ludwig Wittgenstein, 171–172; Hogarth Press as publisher of, 64; relationship with Duncan Grant, 10, 18, 37, 136, 161; Lytton Strachey rivalry for Duncan Grant, 10, 18, 37, 161

  Keynes, Lydia (née Lopokova), 66, 135, 160, 161, 171

  Klein, Melanie, 64

  Lamb, Walter, 15, 123, 132

  Lawrence, D. H., 167, 170–171; Sons and Lovers, 171

  Lawrence, T. E., 167

  Lehmann, John: and Between the Acts, 201; correspondence with VW, 192, 201; and Hogarth Press, 62–65, 168, 186; and WWII, 76

  lions as theme in VW, 89, 215n64

  literary criticism by VW, 116, 122, 157, 170

  literary practice of VW: accuracy as aim of, 12–13; attacks of “madness” and material for, 156; author as witness, 2; Clive Bell as reader of manuscripts, 127–130; code of silence, 89, 108, 175, 193; desire to write, 122–123; glasses of milk as interruption to, 24; invented daily life of Thoby Stephen after his death, 117–118; James Joyce as antinomic to, 168–169; and D. H. Lawrence, 170–171; LW as not impeding, 49, 142, 144, 157, 172; LW as reader of manuscripts, 43–44, 54–55, 157, 178, 201, 221n6; method of approach, discovery of, 156, 157, 159; parental support for, 74–75, 90; and Marcel Proust, 171; refusal to accept received definitions, compared to unexamined anti-Semitism attitudes, 47; risk taking, 157; The Years as commercial success and, 55; and torments, necessity of drawing on, 19; transience and immediacy of life, capturing, 1, 3–4, 16; weight of every word, 3, 109; Ludwig Wittgenstein compared to, 171; writing things down as making them real, 83, 97; writing to rhythm and not to plot, 52; WWII and, 185–186, 190–191

  London: enjoyment of, 31, 92–93; fear of traffic, 69, 92–93, 99. See also Bloomsbury, 46 Gordon Square

  loneliness of VW: emancipation via, 111; and exclusion of women from universities, 111; isolation of WWII, 185, 186, 189, 190, 192–193, 195–196, 198–199; rampart of friends and readership as literary support, loss of, 155, 157, 159–160, 185, 186, 189, 192–193, 195–196; The Waves and, 143; in years following father’s death, 111, 122–123

  Macauley, Thomas Babington, 98, 100; The Armada, 99

  McCarthy, Molly, 44; correspondence with Clive Bell, 44–45

  McGibbons, Lady Cecil (Lady Robert Cecil), correspondence with VW, 12, 122

  madness: as occupation (Van Gogh), 145

  ——and VW: anti-Semitism of VW and label of, 40, 148; attacks of, viewed from perspective of women’s lack of agency, 142–143; Quentin Bell’s biography and assumption of, 6, 43, 93–95, 109, 142; Bloomsbury circle and assumption of, 23, 42–43; children forbidden to VW, illness/crisis precipitated by, 42–43, 142–146; children forbidden to VW on pretext of, 23–24, 41–43, 142, 145; death of father, crisis precipitated by, 85, 109–110, 111–115; fear of, VW and, 16, 27, 81; genius as inherently mad, LW’s position on, 157, 195; institutionalization as threat, 81, 144–145; lack of attacks of, 23, 43, 144; lack of evidence of, 94–95; logorrhea, 143–144; LW’s sexual withdrawal blamed on, 22, 23; marriage to LW, and illness/crisis, 39, 41, 145; “my madness saved me,” 109–110, 143; Vita Sackville-West’s sexual withdrawal and, 27–28; vigilance of LW as distraction from his own anxiety and insecurities, 23–24, 148; vigilance of LW to prevent, 23–24, 144–145, 156–157, 172, 198–199; VW imploring LW to allow her to return to normal life, 149; works composed as answer to judgments of madness, 155–157. See also depressions of VW; suicide of VW

  Maier, Louie, 200, 203

  Maitland, Frederic, biography of Leslie Stephen, 81, 118

  Mansfield, Katherine, 64, 168; death of, 174; Felicity, 174; Prelude, 62, 174; relationship with VW, 174–175

  “The Mark on the Wall,” 62, 129, 156

  marriage of Virginia and Leonard Woolf: civil ceremony and exclusion of LW’s mother, 39–40, 44; engagement announcement (“confession”) by, 12; honeymoon, 22–23, 24–25, 32, 141; illness of VW immediately following, 39, 41; lack of physical attraction at outset, 38; literary practice of VW not impeded by, 49, 142, 144, 157, 172; motives for, 8–9, 14–17, 31, 32, 37, 144–145, 159; overview of life together, 141–142, 158–159, 172, 189; proposal and acceptance, 37–38; regressive role playing within, 149–150; solitude within, 36–37; suggested to LW by Lytton Strachey, 8–9, 17, 18–19, 38. See also children forbidden to VW; milk, daily glass of

  Marshall, Frances, 161–162

  Marshall, Rachel, 137

  Martin, Kingsley, 185

  Matisse, Henri, 134

  May, Admiral, 121

  Melymbrosia. See Voyage Out, The

  Meredith, William, 75

  milk, daily glass of: Dr. Seton recommending, 93; rigid adherence to, 195; as suckling the woman whom LW would forbid children, 23–24, 156; VW attitude toward, 156–157; Octavia Wilberforce prescribing, 197–198

  Moments of Being (Schulkind, ed.): and code of silence, 125, 193; and depressive episodes in connection with father, 193; on divinity of all, 4; on Stella Duckworth, 74, 96, 98, 113; on engagement of Stella Duckworth, 95–96; exhausted swimmer in, 59, 192; on feeling nothing, 112; first impression of LW, 16; on Hyde Park Gate dispersal, 80; on incest by Gerald Duckworth, 102; on incestuous climate created by father, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89; on incestuous climate created by George Duckworth, 102, 103, 104, 107, 108; on mother (Julia Stephen), 70, 72, 73–74, 75; on mother’s death, 69, 70, 75, 77–78, 90, 98; on mother’s recognition of her writing, 75; on rages of father, 87, 88, 89; on rage
toward father, 76–77; on Laura Stephen, 79, 80; on supportiveness of father, 90–91; on Talland House, 74–75; on tomboy childhood, 74; whip image and, 70, 113; on World War II, 76; writing of, 75–76

  Monk’s House, 67, 185

  Moore, George Edward, as Cambridge “Apostle,” 7

  Morley, College, 116

  Morrell, Ottoline, 49, 132, 160, 168, 195; Dora Carrington affair, 161; correspondence with VW, 49; D. H. Lawrence as lover of, 170

  Morrell, Philip, 132

  Mrs. Dalloway: crisis following father’s death expressed through, 112–114; and danger of life, 3, 199; and death, 3, 21, 59, 184; and medical norms, 42, 157; and method of approach, discovery of, 156; and sexuality, 21, 26, 141; suicide in, 42, 114; “the world has raised its whip, where will it descend,” 70, 113; vigilance of LW denounced in, 156–157; and war, 188

  music: LW list of records they listened to, 60; played at VW’s cremation, 60

  Mussolini, Benito, 165

  “The Mysterious Case of Miss. V,” 194, 225n38

  The National Review, 116

  Nazism. See Hitler, Adolf, and Nazism

  New York Public Library, VW papers in collection of, 67

  Nicolson, Benedict, correspondence with VW, 188, 190–191

  Nicolson, Harold: anti-Semitism of, 34–35; correspondence with Vita Sackville-West, 22, 27–28, 60; sexuality of, 27; VW confidences to, 83

  Night and Day, 155–156

  normality and VW: chaos of childhood vs., 3–4; LW posited as the norm, 25; “not normal” as label, 19–20, 25–26; and status of mother denied her, 41–42

  Norton, Charles, 97

  “The Old Bloomsbury,” 66, 80

  Orlando, 173, 174, 178

  Parson, Ian, 61, 64–66, 67

  Parson, Trekkie, 61, 64–66; inheritance from LW, 67; travel with LW, 65; working at Hogarth Press, 64–65

  Partridge, Ralph, 161–162, 163

  A Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals: 1897–1909 (Leaska, ed.): on books, comfort of, 100; Stella Duckworth’s wedding, 97; Stella Duckworth death, 98–99, 100, 101, 102; on fear of the city and traffic, 99; on loneliness, 123. See also diary of VW

  Pepys, Samuel, 100

  Picasso, Pablo, 134

  Point’z Hall. See Between the Acts

  Pound, Ezra, 167

  Proust, Marcel: on the innocence within evil, 13; In Search of Lost Time, 52; VW and, 168, 171

  psychoanalysis, Bloomsbury rejection of, 182–183

  racism: anti-Semitism as, 45–46; as fundamental to colonialism, 12. See also anti-Semitism

  Raven-Hill, Mrs., 127

  Raverat, Gwen, 42, 125; correspondence with VW, 42

  Raverat, Jacques, 42, 48, 125, 166–167; correspondence with VW, 48, 109

  reading by VW: driven by half-sister Laura’s difficulties, 81; father as supporting, 90, 100, 110; as refuge during Stella Duckworth’s illness, 98, 100; as refuge following mother’s death, 96

  religion: anti-Semitism as not based on, 45–46; Stephen family as agnostics, 46, 73, 75, 97; VW as agnostic, 4, 46, 97, 119; Woolf family as agnostics, 45–46

  Reminiscences, 76, 176

  Richmond, Bruce, 105

  Richmond, Elena, 105

  Rilke, R. M., 64

  Ritchie, Alice, 64, 65

  River Ouse: determination to get to, 203; water running through VW’s work and, 53–54. See also water

  Robins, Elizabeth, 71, 196, 197, 198, 202

  Rodmell: in aftermath of VW suicide, 60–61; and Bloomsbury social life, 135; inherited by Trekkie Parson, 67; and solitude, 36–37; WWII and, 185, 188–189, 190, 192–193, 196

  A Room of One’s Own, 50, 173, 175; Angel in the House, 50, 72, 181; compared to Three Guineas, 178, 179

  Rothschild, Victor de, 47

  Ruck, Berta, 181, 223n73

  Russell, Bertrand, 7, 34, 64, 171

  Rylands, George, correspondence with VW, 196

  Sackville-West, Edward, correspondence with VW, 176

  Sackville-West, Vita, 178; Bloomsbury-style lifelong attachment of VW and, 173; correspondence with LW, 172; correspondence with Harold Nicolson, 22, 27–28, 60; correspondence with VW, 28, 91, 170, 172–173, 178, 184, 190, 196, 197, 200; end of affair with VW, 173; meeting with LW in aftermath of VW death, 60; Orlando and, 173, 174; parakeets of, 200; physical characteristics of, 173–174; rejection of sexual desire/excitement of VW, 22, 27–28; sexuality of, 27; travel with VW, 149; VW as swooning over, 172–173, 176–177; and WWII, 188

  Savage, Sir George, 41, 145, 146

  Senhouse, Roger, 163

  Seton, Dr.: and Stella Duckworth’s death, 98–100; and Julia Stephen’s death, 75; as VW’s doctor, 93, 101

  sexuality and VW: and desire/excitement of VW, as frustrated, 21–23, 24–26, 27–29; and Violet Dickinson, 115; eroticism and, 20, 26; lack of physical attraction prior to LW marriage, 38; lack of specific sex acts in VW’s works, 20; LW rejecting, 22–23; rareness of attraction to men, 127; Vita Sackville-West rejecting, 27–29; subversive sexuality in VW’s work, 20–22; VW to Roger Fry on, 20; and women, generally, 172–175; Adrian Woolf commenting on, 15. See also frigidity and VW; Woolf, Leonard, sexuality of

  Shakespeare, William, 26; Hamlet, 203

  Shaw, Bernard, 57

  Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 191

  Sketch of the Past, 75–77, 104, 190

  Smyth, Ethel: correspondence with VW, 38–39, 41, 49, 50, 51, 52, 56, 118, 127, 156, 171, 173, 175, 185–186, 187, 196, 197; relationship with VW, 38, 175–176, 200

  Snowden, Margery, correspondence with VW, 133

  social etiquette, crisis following father’s death and letting go of, 111–112

  social life of VW, LW limiting as “disruptive,” 148

  society, entrance into: Vanessa Stephen, 99, 102–103; Virginia Stephen, 96, 102–103

  Spanish Civil War, 177, 179–180

  Spender, Stephen, 57, 64

  Stein, Gertrude: and anti-Semitism of VW, 52; Hogarth Press as publisher of, 64

  Stephen family: agnosticism of, 46, 97; class differences within household, 104; enjoyment of London, 93–94. See also bereavements, succession of

  Stephen, Adrian (brother), 117, 131, 135, 164, 166; and Bloomsbury (46 Gordon Square), 116, 118–119; and Brunswick Square, 37; cohabiting with Virginia, 118–120, 122, 133; correspondence with Vanessa Bell, 122; correspondence with Duncan Grant, 12, 15; cruise to Portugal with VW, 47; death of, 120, 122; and death of father, 119; and death of mother, 77, 119–120; and death of Thoby Stephen, 117, 120, 194; and Dreadnought farce, 121; and Stella Duckworth, 96, 120; and father, relationship with, 120; as favorite child of mother (nicknamed “My Joy”), 96, 120; Maynard Keynes friendship, 121; and LW, impressions of, 12; marriage and children of, 120, 121; morphine provided VW, 185; nickname of (“the dwarf”), 121; physical characteristics of, 120, 121; politics of, 121; relationship with Duncan Grant, 10, 37, 121, 134, 136, 164; social life of, 121; and VW, 15, 119–120, 122; work of, as psychoanalyst, 121, 183

  Stephen, Dorothea, 80

  Stephen, Julia (née Jackson, formerly Duckworth, mother): as absent, and VW search for, 70–71, 72, 73, 85; as agnostic, 46, 73; correspondence with Leslie, 79; courtship with Leslie Stephen, 73, 78, 81–82, 198; death of, 50, 69–70, 71–72, 73, 75, 77–78, 90, 92, 98, 101, 108, 112, 119, 120, 194, 198; death of, and “madness” of VW diagnosed by Quentin Bell, 93–95; and death of first husband Herbert Duckworth, 72–73, 75, 81; and Stella Duckworth, 73–74, 95; and George Duckworth encouraged to care for sisters, 80, 102–103; as “exhausted swimmer,” 72, 192; humor of, 74; last words to VW before death, 69, 75; as matchmaker, 131; mood swings of, 74; as obsessively invoked by Leslie Stephen after her death, 73, 77–78, 81–82; physical characteristics of, 71–72, 73, 74, 78, 131; politics of, as antisuffragette, 72, 116; and rages of Leslie, 87; reticence of, 73, 82; as sister of mercy, 72, 73, 74; and Laura Stephen (stepdaughter), 80, 144

  Stephen, Karin (wife of Adrian), 120, 121, 122, 160

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nbsp; Stephen, Laura (half-sister): as “backward” and eventually institutionalized, 79–80, 81, 82, 90, 107, 144; and death of mother (Minny), 79, 81; and George Duckworth, 80, 107, 183; and Gerald Duckworth, 107–108; effect on VW, 79, 80–81, 144; estate of, 81; LW on, 81; nickname of (“Her Ladyship the Lady of the Lake”), 79, 81

  Stephen, Leslie (father): as agnostic, 46, 75; and the Alps and mountaineering, 75, 76, 194; biography of (Maitland), 81, 118; birthday of, 81, 110; correspondence with Charles Norton, 97; correspondence with Julia, 79; correspondence with Stella Duckworth, 84, 86; death of, 85, 91, 95, 102, 106, 109–110; death of, and crisis following for VW, 85, 109–110, 111–115; and death of Julia, 73, 75, 77–78, 81–82, 90, 92, 101; and death of Stella Duckworth, 99, 100, 101; and Stella Duckworth relationship, 83–86, 88–89, 91, 96; and first wife (Minny Thackeray), 78–79, 82; flirtations of, 74; Julia as obsessively invoked after her death, 73, 77–78, 81–82; and Julia’s treatment of Stella, 74; Life of Henry Fawcett, 100; physical characteristics of, 78; rages of, 86–89, 215n64; rage toward, of VW, 75–77, 87, 89, 110; social and work life of, 89, 99; and Adrian Stephen, 120; and Thoby Stephen, 96, 120; as supportive father, 90–91, 100, 110, 136; works of, as read by VW, 100. See also incestuous climate created by Leslie Stephen

  ——Sir Leslie Stephen’s Mausoleum Book: on daughter Laura, 80; on Herbert Duckworth, 82, 104; on first wife (Minny Thackeray), 78–79, 82; insinuated indecency in, 82; on Julia, 72, 82, 83; Julia put on display in, 78; on reading by VW, 100; Adrian Stephen’s near absence from, 120; writing of, 78

  Stephen, Minny (first wife of Leslie), 78–79, 81, 82

  Stephen, Thoby (“the Goth” as nickname), 95; and birds, 113; and Bloomsbury (46 Gordon Square), 111, 116; Bloomsbury as bound by memory of, 159–160; as Cambridge Apostle, 7, 8, 111, 166; and chronicle of family, 74–75; correspondence with VW, 111; death of, 16, 111, 113, 117–118, 119, 120, 132, 194; and death of mother, 77; as favorite brother of VW, 16, 132; as favorite son of Leslie, 96, 120; friendship with LW, 7, 8, 10, 16, 29–30, 207n13; and Greek language, introduction to VW, 113