Two causes of supreme importance to him are in peril. The first is his own survival: the other is the survival of his art.
The Essays
Monk’s House, near Lewes in East Sussex, was Woolf’s country retreat. She and Leonard bought the property in 1919 and often stayed here. These were Virginia’s happiest and most creative years, between the publication of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ in 1925 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Woolf towards the end of her life
LIST OF ESSAYS AND REVIEWS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Please note: to retain the original structure of the essay collections, some essays appear more than once in the list.
THE COMMON READER
THE PASTONS AND CHAUCER1
ON NOT KNOWING GREEK
THE ELIZABETHAN LUMBER ROOM
NOTES ON AN ELIZABETHAN PLAY
MONTAIGNE
THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE1
RAMBLING ROUND EVELYN
DEFOE1
ADDISON1
THE LIVES OF THE OBSCURE
TAYLORS AND EDGEWORTHS
LAETITIA PILKINGTON
JANE AUSTEN
MODERN FICTION
JANE EYRE AND WUTHERING HEIGHTS1
GEORGE ELIOT
THE RUSSIAN POINT OF VIEW
OUTLINES
MISS MITFORD
DR. BENTLEY
LADY DOROTHY NEVILL
ARCHBISHOP THOMSON
THE PATRON AND THE CROCUS
THE MODERN ESSAY
JOSEPH CONRAD1
HOW IT STRIKES A CONTEMPORARY
THE STRANGE ELIZABETHANS
DONNE AFTER THREE CENTURIES
THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE’S ARCADIA
ROBINSON CRUSOE
DOROTHY OSBORNE’S LETTERS
SWIFT’S JOURNAL TO STELLA
THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
LORD CHESTERFIELD’S LETTERS TO HIS SON
TWO PARSONS
JAMES WOODFORDE
THE REV. JOHN SKINNER
DR. BURNEY’S EVENING PARTY
JACK MYTTON
DE QUINCEY’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
FOUR FIGURES
COWPER AND LADY AUSTEN
BEAU BRUMMELL
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
DOROTHY WORDSWORTH
WILLIAM HAZLITT
GERALDINE AND JANE
AURORA LEIGH
THE NIECE OF AN EARL
GEORGE GISSING
THE NOVELS OF GEORGE MEREDITH
I AM CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
THE NOVELS OF THOMAS HARDY1
HOW SHOULD ONE READ A BOOK?1
A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN
THE DOCKS OF LONDON
OXFORD STREET TIDE
GREAT MENS HOUSES
ABBEYS AND CATHEDRALS
THIS IS THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
PORTRAIT OF A LONDONER
WALTER SICKERT: A CONVERSATION
THREE GUINEAS
THE DEATH OF THE MOTH
EVENING OVER SUSSEX: REFLECTIONS IN A MOTOR CAR
THREE PICTURES
THE FIRST PICTURE
THE SECOND PICTURE
THE THIRD PICTURE
OLD MRS. GREY
STREET HAUNTING: A LONDON ADVENTURE
JONES AND WILKINSON
TWELFTH NIGHT AT THE OLD VIC
MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ
THE HUMANE ART
TWO ANTIQUARIES: WALPOLE AND COLE
THE REV WILLIAM COLE. A LETTER
THE HISTORIAN AND “THE GIBBON”
REFLECTIONS AT SHEFFIELD PLACE
THE MAN AT THE GATE
SARA COLERIDGE
NOT ONE OF US
HENRY JAMES: 1. WITHIN THE RIM
HENRY JAMES: 2. THE OLD ORDER
HENRY JAMES: 3. THE LETTERS OF HENRY JAMES
GEORGE MOORE
THE NOVELS OF E. M. FORSTER
MIDDLEBROW
THE ART OF BIOGRAPHY
CRAFTSMANSHIP
A LETTER TO A YOUNG POET
WHY?
PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN
THOUGHTS ON PEACE IN AN AIR RAID
THE MOMENT: SUMMER’S NIGHT
ON BEING ILL
THE FAERY QUEEN
CONGREVE’S COMEDIES
STERNE’S GHOST
MRS. THRALE
SIR WALTER SCOTT
LOCKHART’S CRITICISM
DAVID COPPERFIELD
LEWIS CARROLL
EDMUND GOSSE
NOTES ON D. H. LAWRENCE
ROGER FRY
THE ART OF FICTION
AMERICAN FICTION
THE LEANING TOWER
ON RE-READING NOVELS
PERSONALITIES
PICTURES
HARRIETTE WILSON
GENIUS
THE ENCHANTED ORGAN
TWO WOMEN
ELLEN TERRY
TO SPAIN
FISHING
THE ARTIST AND POLITICS
ROYALTY
ROYALTY
ON BEING ILL
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
WHITE’S SELBORNE
LIFE ITSELF
CRABBE
SELINA TRIMMER
THE CAPTAIN’S DEATH BED
RUSKIN
THE NOVELS OF TURGENEV
HALF OF THOMAS HARDY
LESLIE STEPHEN
MR. CONRAD: A CONVERSATION
THE COSMOS
WALTER RALEIGH
MR. BENNETT AND MRS. BROWN
ALL ABOUT BOOKS
REVIEWING
MODERN LETTERS
READING
THE CINEMA
WALTER SICKERT
FLYING OVER LONDON
THE SUN AND THE FISH
GAS
THUNDER AT WEMBLEY
MEMORIES OF A WORKING WOMEN’S GUILD
THE NARROW BRIDGE OF ART
HOURS IN A LIBRARY
IMPASSIONED PROSE
LIFE AND THE NOVELIST
ON REREADING MEREDITH
THE ANATOMY OF FICTION
GOTHIC ROMANCE
THE SUPERNATURAL IN FICTION
HENRY JAMES’S GHOST STORIES
A TERRIBLY SENSITIVE MIND
WOMEN AND FICTION
AN ESSAY IN CRITICISM
PHASES OF FICTION
THE NEW BIOGRAPHY
A TALK ABOUT MEMOIRS
SIR WALTER RALEIGH
STERNE
ELIZA AND STERNE
HORACE WALPOLE
A FRIEND OF JOHNSON
FANNY BURNEY’S HALF-SISTER
MONEY AND LOVE
THE DREAM
THE FLEETING PORTRAIT
POE’S HELEN
VISITS TO WALT WHITMAN
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
IN THE ORCHARD.
A WOMAN’S COLLEGE FROM OUTSIDE.
ON A FAITHFUL FRIEND.
ENGLISH PROSE.
IMPRESSIONS AT BAYREUTH.
MODES AND MANNERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
MEN AND WOMEN.
COLERIDGE AS CRITIC.
PATMORE’S CRITICISM.
PAPERS ON PEPYS.
SHERIDAN.
THOMAS HOOD.
PRAETERITA.
MR KIPLING’S NOTEBOOK.
EMERSON’S JOURNALS.
THOREAU.
HERMAN MELVILLE.
RUPERT BROOKE.
THE INTELLECTUAL IMAGINATION.
THESE ARE THE PLANS.
MR SASSOON’S POEMS.
A RUSSIAN SCHOOLBOY.
A GLANCE AT TURGENEV.
A GIANT WITH VERY SMALL THUMBS.
DOSTOEVSKY THE FATHER.
MORE DOSTOEVSKY.
DOSTOEVSKY IN CRANFORD.
THE RUSSIAN BACKGROUND.
A SCRIBBLING DAME.
MARIA EDGEWORTH AND HER CIRCLE.
JANE AUSTEN AND THE GEESE.
MRS GASKELL.
THE COMPROMISE.
WILCOXIANA.
THE GENIUS OF
BOSWELL.
SHELLEY AND ELIZABETH HITCHENER.
LITERARY GEOGRAPHY.
FLUMINA AMEM SILVASQUE.
HAWORTH, NOVEMBER 1904.
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
THE DIARY OF A LADY IN WAITING.
QUEEN ADELAIDE.
ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND.
LADY HESTER STANHOPE.
THE MEMOIRS OF SARAH BERNHARDT.
LADY STRACHEY.
JOHN DELANE.
BODY AND BRAIN.
WOMEN AND FICTION
WOMEN AND LEISURE
THE INTELLECTUAL STATUS OF WOMEN
PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN
MEN AND WOMEN
WOMEN NOVELISTS
INDISCRETIONS
THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE
APHRA BEHN
A SCRIBBLING DAME (ELIZA HAYWOOD)
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
JANE AUSTEN PRACTISING
JANE AUSTEN
HAWORTH, NOVEMBER 1904
JANE EYRE AND WUTHERING HEIGHTS
AURORA LEIGH
MRS GASKELL
GEORGE ELIOT
I AM CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
THE COMPROMISE (MRS HUMPHRY WARD)
WILCOXIANA (ELLA WHEELER WILCOX)
OLIVE SCHREINER
A TERRIBLY SENSITIVE MIND (KATHERINE MANSFIELD)
DOROTHY RICHARDSON
ROYALTY
CHARACTER IN FICTION
POETRY, FICTION AND THE FUTURE
THE DECAY OF ESSAY-WRITING
THE FEMININE NOTE IN FICTION
WHY ART TODAY FOLLOWS POLITICS
LIST OF ESSAYS AND REVIEWS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
A-D E-H I-L M-O P-S T-V W-Z
Please note: to retain the original structure of the essay collections, some essays appear more than once in the list.
A FRIEND OF JOHNSON
A GIANT WITH VERY SMALL THUMBS.
A GLANCE AT TURGENEV.
A LETTER TO A YOUNG POET
A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN
A RUSSIAN SCHOOLBOY.
A SCRIBBLING DAME (ELIZA HAYWOOD)
A SCRIBBLING DAME.
A TALK ABOUT MEMOIRS
A TERRIBLY SENSITIVE MIND
A TERRIBLY SENSITIVE MIND (KATHERINE MANSFIELD)
A WOMAN’S COLLEGE FROM OUTSIDE.
ABBEYS AND CATHEDRALS
ADDISON1
ALL ABOUT BOOKS
AMERICAN FICTION
AN ESSAY IN CRITICISM
APHRA BEHN
ARCHBISHOP THOMSON
AURORA LEIGH
AURORA LEIGH
BEAU BRUMMELL
BODY AND BRAIN.
CHARACTER IN FICTION
COLERIDGE AS CRITIC.
CONGREVE’S COMEDIES
COWPER AND LADY AUSTEN
CRABBE
CRAFTSMANSHIP
DAVID COPPERFIELD
DE QUINCEY’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
DEFOE1
DONNE AFTER THREE CENTURIES
DOROTHY OSBORNE’S LETTERS
DOROTHY RICHARDSON
DOROTHY WORDSWORTH
DOSTOEVSKY IN CRANFORD.
DOSTOEVSKY THE FATHER.
DR. BENTLEY
DR. BURNEY’S EVENING PARTY
EDMUND GOSSE
ELIZA AND STERNE
ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND.
ELLEN TERRY
EMERSON’S JOURNALS.
ENGLISH PROSE.
EVENING OVER SUSSEX: REFLECTIONS IN A MOTOR CAR
FANNY BURNEY’S HALF-SISTER
FISHING
FLUMINA AMEM SILVASQUE.
FLYING OVER LONDON
FOUR FIGURES
GAS
GENIUS
GEORGE ELIOT
GEORGE ELIOT
GEORGE GISSING
GEORGE MOORE
GERALDINE AND JANE
GOTHIC ROMANCE
GREAT MENS HOUSES
HALF OF THOMAS HARDY
HARRIETTE WILSON
HAWORTH, NOVEMBER 1904
HAWORTH, NOVEMBER 1904.
HENRY JAMES: 1. WITHIN THE RIM
HENRY JAMES: 2. THE OLD ORDER
HENRY JAMES: 3. THE LETTERS OF HENRY JAMES
HENRY JAMES’S GHOST STORIES
HERMAN MELVILLE.
HORACE WALPOLE
HOURS IN A LIBRARY
HOW IT STRIKES A CONTEMPORARY
HOW SHOULD ONE READ A BOOK?1
I AM CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
I AM CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
IMPASSIONED PROSE
IMPRESSIONS AT BAYREUTH.
IN THE ORCHARD.
INDISCRETIONS
JACK MYTTON
JAMES WOODFORDE
JANE AUSTEN
JANE AUSTEN
JANE AUSTEN AND THE GEESE.
JANE AUSTEN PRACTISING
JANE EYRE AND WUTHERING HEIGHTS
JANE EYRE AND WUTHERING HEIGHTS1
JOHN DELANE.
JONES AND WILKINSON
JOSEPH CONRAD1
LADY DOROTHY NEVILL
LADY HESTER STANHOPE.
LADY STRACHEY.
LAETITIA PILKINGTON
LESLIE STEPHEN
LEWIS CARROLL
LIFE AND THE NOVELIST
LIFE ITSELF
LITERARY GEOGRAPHY.
LOCKHART’S CRITICISM
LORD CHESTERFIELD’S LETTERS TO HIS SON
MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ
MARIA EDGEWORTH AND HER CIRCLE.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
MEMORIES OF A WORKING WOMEN’S GUILD
MEN AND WOMEN
MEN AND WOMEN.
MIDDLEBROW
MISS MITFORD
MODERN FICTION
MODERN LETTERS
MODES AND MANNERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
MONEY AND LOVE
MONTAIGNE
MORE DOSTOEVSKY.
MR KIPLING’S NOTEBOOK.
MR SASSOON’S POEMS.
MR. BENNETT AND MRS. BROWN
MR. CONRAD: A CONVERSATION
MRS GASKELL
MRS GASKELL.
MRS. THRALE
NOT ONE OF US
NOTES ON AN ELIZABETHAN PLAY
NOTES ON D. H. LAWRENCE
OLD MRS. GREY
OLIVE SCHREINER
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
ON A FAITHFUL FRIEND.
ON BEING ILL
ON BEING ILL
ON NOT KNOWING GREEK
ON REREADING MEREDITH
ON RE-READING NOVELS
OUTLINES
OXFORD STREET TIDE
PAPERS ON PEPYS.
PATMORE’S CRITICISM.
PERSONALITIES
PHASES OF FICTION
PICTURES
POE’S HELEN
POETRY, FICTION AND THE FUTURE
PORTRAIT OF A LONDONER
PRAETERITA.
PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN
PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN
QUEEN ADELAIDE.
RAMBLING ROUND EVELYN
READING
REFLECTIONS AT SHEFFIELD PLACE
REVIEWING
ROBINSON CRUSOE
ROGER FRY
ROYALTY
ROYALTY
ROYALTY
RUPERT BROOKE.
RUSKIN
SARA COLERIDGE
SELINA TRIMMER
SHELLEY AND ELIZABETH HITCHENER.
SHERIDAN.
SIR WALTER RALEIGH
SIR WALTER SCOTT
STERNE
STERNE’S GHOST
STREET HAUNTING: A LONDON ADVENTURE
SWIFT’S JOURNAL TO STELLA
TAYLORS AND EDGEWORTHS
THE ANATOMY OF FICTION
THE ART OF BIOGRAPHY
THE ART OF FICTION
THE ARTIST AND POLITICS
THE CAPTAIN’S DEATH BED
THE CINEMA
THE COMMON
READER
THE COMPROMISE (MRS HUMPHRY WARD)
THE COMPROMISE.
THE COSMOS
THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE’S ARCADIA
THE DEATH OF THE MOTH
THE DECAY OF ESSAY-WRITING
THE DIARY OF A LADY IN WAITING.
THE DOCKS OF LONDON
THE DREAM
THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE
THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE1
THE ELIZABETHAN LUMBER ROOM
THE ENCHANTED ORGAN
THE FAERY QUEEN
THE FEMININE NOTE IN FICTION
THE FIRST PICTURE
THE FLEETING PORTRAIT
THE GENIUS OF BOSWELL.
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
THE HISTORIAN AND “THE GIBBON”
THE HUMANE ART
THE INTELLECTUAL IMAGINATION.
THE INTELLECTUAL STATUS OF WOMEN
THE LEANING TOWER
THE LIVES OF THE OBSCURE
THE MAN AT THE GATE
THE MEMOIRS OF SARAH BERNHARDT.
THE MODERN ESSAY
THE MOMENT: SUMMER’S NIGHT
THE NARROW BRIDGE OF ART
THE NEW BIOGRAPHY
THE NIECE OF AN EARL
THE NOVELS OF E. M. FORSTER
THE NOVELS OF GEORGE MEREDITH
THE NOVELS OF THOMAS HARDY1
THE NOVELS OF TURGENEV
THE PASTONS AND CHAUCER1
THE PATRON AND THE CROCUS
THE REV WILLIAM COLE. A LETTER
THE REV. JOHN SKINNER
THE RUSSIAN BACKGROUND.
THE RUSSIAN POINT OF VIEW
THE SECOND PICTURE
THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
THE STRANGE ELIZABETHANS
THE SUN AND THE FISH
THE SUPERNATURAL IN FICTION
THE THIRD PICTURE
THESE ARE THE PLANS.
THIS IS THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
THOMAS HOOD.
THOREAU.
THOUGHTS ON PEACE IN AN AIR RAID
THREE GUINEAS
THREE PICTURES
THUNDER AT WEMBLEY
TO SPAIN
TWELFTH NIGHT AT THE OLD VIC
TWO ANTIQUARIES: WALPOLE AND COLE
TWO PARSONS
TWO WOMEN
VISITS TO WALT WHITMAN
WALTER RALEIGH
WALTER SICKERT
WALTER SICKERT: A CONVERSATION
WHITE’S SELBORNE
WHY ART TODAY FOLLOWS POLITICS
WHY?
WILCOXIANA (ELLA WHEELER WILCOX)
WILCOXIANA.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
WOMEN AND FICTION
WOMEN AND FICTION
WOMEN AND LEISURE
WOMEN NOVELISTS
The Memoirs
Woolf, 1939
MOMENTS OF BEING
Moments of Being is a collection of five autobiographical essays, which were edited by Jeanne Schulkind in 1976 for publication by Harvest Books. Quentin Bell had used extracts from the essays in his detailed biography of the author, but the collection had not been intended for publication and therefore had not been released by her husband Leonard Woolf during his lifetime. The essayist began ‘A Sketch of the Past’ in 1939, but it was left incomplete before Woolf’s suicide in 1941. It is one of the most revealing pieces of writing the author ever produced about herself. Woolf considers how her past impacted the person she became later in life. She concentrates on the feelings and the sensations that impress themselves on to us when we are young; those emotions which we must reattach to, in order to live our lives again. She recalls feeling great shame while looking at herself in the mirror and she confesses she would only do it if she believed she were alone. Woolf suspects that she inherited a strong puritanical streak from her father, but more significantly she states her shame reflected her fear of her own body and that she was able to experience ecstasies and raptures, yet only if they were disconnected from her physical being.
Complete Works of Virginia Woolf Page 538