Virginia Woolf: A Portrait
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Stephen, Vanessa. See Bell, Vanessa
Stephen, Virginia. See Woolf, Virginia
Strachey, Alix, 183
Strachey, James, 18, 64
Strachey, Lytton, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 166, 167, 171, 175; boundless enthusiasm of, 10; as Cambridge “Apostle,” 7, 9, 111; correspondence with David (Bunny) Garnett, 137; correspondence with LW, 5, 6–10, 11–12, 13–14, 17, 18–19, 23, 24, 29–30, 34, 37, 38; correspondence with VW, 24–25, 28, 38, 105, 129, 132, 167; death of, 137, 162–163; and gender, 9; homosexuality of, 7; incest, discussions of, 82, 91; knowledge of the truth about LW, 9, 18, 25; love affairs of, 10; portrait hanging in Memoir Club, 66; proposal of marriage to Virginia Stephen, 17–18; regard for Thoby Stephen, 10; regard for VW, 10; relationship with Dora Carrington, 161–164; relationship with Duncan Grant, 10, 18, 136, 161; relationship with Ralph Partridge, 161; reproach of VW for lack of sex acts in her works, 20, 21; rivalry with John Maynard Keynes for Duncan Grant, 10, 18, 37, 161; “Semen?” joke, 116; suggesting that LW marry VW, 8–9, 17, 18–19, 38; as writer, 10, 17
Strachey, Philippa, correspondence with VW, 196
suicide: of Carrington, 162, 163–164; of Mark Gertler, 161; of Hitler, 189; LW pact with LW during WWII, 9, 57–58, 89, 185, 193; in Mrs. Dalloway, 42, 114; respect denied to victims of, 203–204; of Karin Stephen, 122; Leonard Woolf’s tendencies toward, 5, 6, 9
——of VW: aftermath of, 60; attempt claimed by LW after mother’s death, 95; attempted drowning, 199; attempt following father’s death, 85, 95, 114; attempt following LW forbidding children to her, and recovery, 145–146; Vanessa Bell’s last letter, 199; body found, 122, 218n36; Brighton visit, 200; diary entries in final days before, 204, 299; and dissolving of rampart of literary support by readership and friends, 155, 157, 159–160, 185, 186, 189, 192–193, 195–196; drowning, 203, 204; as embrace, 3, 59, 184; failed honeymoon producing mention of, 25; farewell letters left, 67, 203; father as focus prior to, 76, 87, 89, 192, 193; following nine months after suicide pact with LW, 58; noted in autobiography of LW, 31–32; and respect denied to VW, 203–204; River Ouse, 53–54, 203; Octavia Wilberforce as attending physician at time of, 196–199, 201–203; withdrawal of LW and, 195, 198–199, 202–203. See also children forbidden to VW; depressions of VW; madness and VW; water
Sydney-Turner, Saxon, 123, 166–167, 172; correspondence with LW, 12, 14; correspondence with VW, 172
“The Symbol,” 194
Talland House, 74–75
Tennyson, Alfred Lord, Maud, 99
“A Terrible Tragedy in the Duck Pond,” 105–106
Thackeray, Anny, 79
Thackeray, Minny (Stephen), 78–79, 81, 82
Thomas, Jean, 41
Three Guineas, 46, 56, 173, 178, 178–181, 221n6
Times Literary Supplement, 62, 105; VW literary criticism for, 116, 170
To the Lighthouse: and absent mother of VW, 70–71; and attacks of “madness,” 156; and death of Mrs. Ramsay, 92; and desire, frustrated, 21, 25, 50, 71; Femina-Vie Heureuse Prize for, 71; and rage toward father of VW, 76–77, 120, 215n64; Adrian Stephen represented in, 120
transience of life, 1
Tweedsmuir, Lady, correspondence with VW, 76
“22 Hyde Park Gate,” 66
uncertainty, in face of desire for understanding, 1–2, 91
understanding, desire for, 1–2, 91
Van Gogh, Vincent, 134
Vaughn, Emma, correspondence with VW, 103, 112, 132
Vaughn, Madge, correspondence with VW, 119, 122, 132
Voltaire’s works, with LW in exile, 8
The Voyage Out: Clive Bell as reader of, 128; and love, 203; reception of, 150–151; water, death, and madness in, 151–153; writing of, 155
water: and Between the Acts, 191–192; and drowning in “A Terrible Tragedy in the Duck Pond,” 106; and Moments of Being, 72, 192; mother as exhausted swimmer, 72, 192; and Mrs. Dalloway, 53–54; as running throughout VW’s work, 53–54, 59, 106, 192; tears, 55; and The Years, 53–54; and To The Lighthouse, 54; and The Voyage Out, 151, 152–153
Waterlow, Sydney, 15
The Waves: and desire to embrace the world with understanding, 1; and loneliness, 143; frigidity in, 26; Thoby Stephen as catalyst for, 117
Weaver, Harriet, 167, 168
whip image, bereavements and, 70, 98, 100, 113
Whymper, Edward, 193–194
Wilberforce, Octavia, 196–199, 201–203; correspondence with VW, 197
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 7, 167, 171–172
women: anguish of VW as common to, 142–143; exclusion from universities, 111; feminist label rejected by VW, 46, 180; Three Guineas and question of, 46, 178–181
Woolf family: class background, 7, 49, 144–145, 147–148; as nonobservant Jews, 45–46; shut out of LW inheritance, 67. See also anti-Semitism of VW
Woolf, Bella (sister of LW), 51
Woolf, Cecil (brother of LW), 67
Woolf, Clara (sister of LW), 51
Woolf, Flora (sister of LW), 39
Woolf, Leonard, 164, 175; and affair of VW with Vita Sackville-West, 172; as agnostic, 45–46; and British Labour party, 10; as Cambridge “Apostle,” 7, 8, 9, 144, 166; class background of, 7, 49, 144–145, 147–148; death of, 60–61; on death of Lytton Strachey, 163–164; and death of VW, 60–61; as defender of prostitute while in costume, 164; as depressive and neurotic, 6–9; discomfort with VW’s attachment to the Bells, 190; discrepancy between public persona and deeper reality, 4–5; and George Duckworth, 106, 146–148; as editor, 31, 61, 63; estate of, inherited by Trekkie Parson, 67; estate of Laura Stephen and, 81; estate of VW and, 66–67, 81; exile to Ceylon as colonialist, 7–9, 10–12, 13–14, 16–17, 18, 37; fame of, due to VW, 68; family background of, 7; forcing VW to eat, 105; and Sigmund Freud, 181–182; as gardener, 48, 65, 189; as Jewish, 16; on James Joyce, 167; and literature, 6–7, 8; meetings with Virginia Stephen, 8–9; nickname of, by VW (“Mongoose”), 149–150; and Trekkie Parson relationship, 61, 64–66, 67; physical characteristics of, 16, 48, 148; politics of, 35; on politics of VW, lack of, 181; and psychoanalysis, 183; as publisher, 62–65, 66–67; social life, insecurities about, and restriction of VW’s, 148; Thoby Stephen friendship, 7, 8, 10, 16, 29–30, 207n13; suicidal tendencies of, 5, 6, 9; suicide pact with VW during WWII, 9, 57–58, 89, 185, 193; tragic ardor of, 9; trembling hand of, 16, 148; withdrawal of, from VW, 195, 198–199; and work, mania for, 11. See also anti-Semitism of Bloomsbury group; Hogarth Press; marriage of Virginia and Leonard Woolf
——autobiography: as constructed to verify persona LW created, 32–33; as instinctive revenge on VW, 31; frigidity of VW claimed in, 14; leaps of ideas in, 31–32; marriage to VW, reasons for, 16–17, 31; on beauty of VW and Vanessa compared, 29, 30, 210n72; on Vanessa Bell, 29–30; on Rupert Brooke, 29; on Brunswick Square residency, 38; on children forbidden to VW, 41, 43, 145; on civil ceremony of marriage, 39; on class background and social differences, 7, 147–148; on depressions of VW, 198–199; on George Duckworth, 146–147; on T. S. Eliot, 165; on Sigmund Freud, 181, 182; on Freud and psychoanalysis, 183; on genius of VW, 30; on Hogarth being acquired by Ian Parson, 65; on honeymoon with VW, 32; on Jews, Nazi treatment of, 184; on “madness” of VW, 29, 95, 143, 144, 145; on qualms about colonialist role, 11; on regime to fend off “madness,” 201; on “ridiculous” “female caricature” that is VW, 30–31; on suicide attempt of VW, 146; on suicide of VW, 31–32, 189; on suicide pact with VW in WWII, 57; on The Years, 55; on Octavia Wilberforce, 201, 203; on Ludwig Wittgenstein, 171; on WWII, 189; VW as barely present in, 28–32
——correspondence: with Clive Bell, 130; with Vanessa Bell, 17, 38; with Gerald Brenan, 22, 23, 192; with Sigmund Freud, 182; with Trekkie Parson, 65, 67; with Vita Sackville-West, 172; with Lytton Strachey, 5, 6–10, 11–12, 13–14, 17, 18–19, 23, 24, 29–30, 34, 37, 38; with Saxon Sydney-Turner, 12, 14; with VW, 149, 150, 203
——persona constructed by: and anti-Semitism, adopted attitude of indifference to, 9, 33–35, 39, 48–
49, 66; autobiography written to support, 32–33; concealment of identity via, 4–5, 6, 18; and construction of VW by LW, 4, 6, 22; and denial of children to VW, 44; denial of depressive, neurotic, suicidal tendencies, 9, 148; description of, 48–49; effect of, on LW as writer, 32–35, 39; marriage to VW, reasons for, 16–17; published correspondence as contradicting, 17; as safeguarding VW’s power to write, 49
——sexuality of: desire/excitement of VW, fear of, 22–23; fear of sex, 19, 22, 23, 24; hostility toward female sexuality, 13–14, 26; legend of, as sacrifice to VW’s “frigidity,” 14, 19, 25–26; and love as degraded, 14; and prostitutes, 13, 14; and silencing of LW as writer, 35; women as focus of, 13, 37, 210n89
——view of Virginia Woolf: Quentin Bell biography of VW as conforming to, 5–6, 30; Bloomsbury circle as convinced by, 5–6; construction of persona of LW as upholding, 6; as continually threatened by madness, 189; VW as accepting, 5, 22; VW as unconvinced by, 5. See also frigidity and VW; madness and VW; sexuality and VW
——works: posthumous papers offered to University of Sussex, 67; Sowing, 147–148; “Three Jews,” 62; The Village in the Jungle, 11, 65, 210n80; The Wise Virgins, 33–34, 36, 39, 148. See also Woolf, Leonard, autobiography
——as writer and editor: aspirations of, 10, 43–44; construction of LW persona and effect on, 32–35, 39; as editor, 31, 61, 63; as fulfilling, 158; nonfiction of, 33, 172; as novelist, 4, 33–34, 36, 65, 148; as poet, 14; as reader of VW’s manuscripts, 43–44, 54–55, 157, 178, 201, 221n6; as short-story writer, 62; WWII and, 186, 189. See also Hogarth Press
Woolf, Marie (mother of LW): and anti-Semitism of VW, 49–52; and classic aversion to mother-in-laws, 50–51; correspondence with LW, 40; death of, 58, 186; excluded from wedding ceremony, 39–40, 44; as “Mrs. Woolf,” 39, 211n94
Woolf, Sydney (father of LW): death of, 7, 49, 66; physical characteristics of, 16
Woolf, Virginia (née Stephen); affair with Clive Bell (as Virginia Stephen), 123–127, 129, 131, 132–133, 135, 177, 187; as agnostic, 4, 46, 97, 119; as author/persona, rampart of literary support for, 155, 157, 159–160, 185, 186, 189, 192–193, 195–196; bicycling, 69, 92, 93; centenary commemoration of (1982), 164–165; desire to be married, 14–15, 123, 126, 131; dissembling powers of, 118; and Dreadnought farce, 121; as editor, 31; estate of, 66–67, 81; fame of those who crossed her path, 68; fear of the city and traffic, 69, 92–93, 99; feminist label rejected by, 46, 180; on Hitler’s blacklist, 9, 57; idealization of, 12–13, 56; legend of, continuing to hold her captive, 6; nickname of (“Ape”), 177, 223n62; nickname of (“Goat”), 69, 75, 123, 141; nickname of, self-given (“Mandrill”), 149–150; nickname of, self-given (“Sparroy”), 115, 149; paintings of, 42; physical characteristics of, 29, 30, 31, 92, 116, 148, 197, 210n72; portrait hanging in Memoir Club, 66; proposal of marriage by Lytton Strachey, 17–18; proposals of marriage made to, 14–15, 123, 131; and society, entrance into, 96, 102–103; spirituality and, 4, 75; Virginia Stephen as forever under the armor of, 155; as tomboy, 74; trembling hand(s) of, 63, 163, 165, 197; as unconscious of her own beauty, 92; universities closed to women, 111; as volunteer educator for girls, 116. See also anti-Semitism of VW; bereavements, succession of; children forbidden to VW; code of silence; depressions of VW; frigidity and VW; genius of VW; Hogarth Press; literary practice of VW; loneliness of VW; madness and VW; marriage of Virginia and Leonard Woolf; normality and VW; reading by VW; Sackville–West, Vita; sexuality and VW; suicide of VW
——correspondence: edict against children not mentioned in, 42; natural flow and warmth in, generally, 150; with Barbara Bagenal, 165; with Clive Bell, 64, 113, 126–127, 128–129, 164; with Julian Bell, 51; with Quentin Bell, 47, 51, 175; with Vanessa Bell, nature of, 126, 131, 150; with Vanessa Bell, 15–16, 18, 36–37, 42, 52, 80, 81, 105, 107, 115, 123, 124, 125, 130, 131, 132–133, 141, 166, 174, 175, 176, 177–178, 187, 199; with Janet Case, 49; with Lady Cecil McGibbons (Lady Robert Cecil), 12, 122; with Katherine Cox, 24, 52; with Margaret Llewelyn Davies, 56, 58, 59, 124; with Violet Dickinson, 12, 14, 38, 40, 47, 49, 81, 87, 91, 110, 112, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 122, 123, 126, 176; with George Duckworth, 103; with Roger Fry, 20, 165, 171, 181; with Duncan Grant, 44; with Mary Hutchinson, 160–161; with John Lehmann, 192, 201; with LW, 149, 150, 203; with Ottoline Morrell, 49; with Benedict Nicolson, 188, 190–191; with Gwen Raverat, 42; with Jacques Raverat, 48, 109; with George Rylands, 196; with Edward Sackville-West, 176; with Vita Sackville-West, 28, 91, 170, 172–173, 178, 184, 190, 196, 197, 200; with Ethel Smyth, 38–39, 41, 49, 50, 51, 52, 56, 118, 127, 156, 171, 173, 175, 185–186, 187, 196, 197; with Ethel Smyth, nature of, 175; with Margery Snowden, 133; with Thoby Stephen, 111; with Lytton Strachey, 24–25, 28, 38, 105, 129, 132, 167; with Philippa Strachey, 196; with Lady Tweedsmuir, 76; with Emma Vaughn, 103, 112, 132; with Madge Vaughn, 119, 122, 132; with Octavia Wilberforce, 197; with Leonard Woolf, 17, 38
——works: “Am I a Snob?,” 66; Freshwater (play), 164–165, 221n22; Roger Fry biography, 186–188, 221n6; Harper’s Bazaar commissioning and then rejecting short story, 195; The Hyde Park Gate News, 74–75, 120; inherited by Trekkie Parson, 67; Jacob’s Room, 156, 223n73; literary criticism, 116, 122, 157, 170; “The Mark on the Wall,” 62, 129, 156; “The Mysterious Case of Miss. V,” 194, 225n38; Night and Day, 155–156; “The Old Bloomsbury,” 66, 80; Orlando, 173, 174, 178; posthumous disposition of papers, 66–67; Reminiscences, 76, 176; Sketch of the Past, 75–77, 104, 190; “The Symbol,” 194; “A Terrible Tragedy in the Duck Pond,” 105–106; Three Guineas, 46, 56, 173, 178, 178–181, 221n6; “22 Hyde Park Gate,” 66; The Waves, 1, 26, 117, 143; The Years, 52–55, 58, 91, 92, 165. See also Between the Acts; diary of VW; Hogarth Press; Moments of Being (Schulkind, ed.); Mrs. Dalloway; Passionate Apprentice, A: The Early Journals: 1897–1909 (Leaska, ed.); Room of One’s Own, A; To the Lighthouse; Voyage Out, The
Wordsworth, William, 191
World War I, 136, 137
World War II: air raids, 185, 186, 188–189, 198, 202; beginning of, 76; desire to survive, VW and, 185, 188–189; T. S. Eliot politics and, 165; end of, 66; Sigmund Freud, evacuation of, 181–182; isolation of VW and, 185, 186, 189, 190, 192–193, 195–196, 198–199; LW on future necessary catastrophe, 196; LW on treatment of Jews, 184; LW work life and, 186, 189; Moments of Being on, 76; Adrian Stephen and, 121, 185; suicide pact between LW and VW, 9, 57–58, 89, 185, 193; Three Guineas written in lead-up to, 46, 56, 173, 178, 178–181, 221n6; VW and, 185–186, 188–190, 195–196. See also anti-Semitism; Hitler, Adolf, and Nazism
The Years, 52–55, 58, 91, 92, 165
Young, Hilton, 15, 131, 132
Zola, Émile, 203