Virginia Woolf

Mit dieser Lebensdarstellung macht die Autorin das Bild, das wir von der englischen Schriftstellerin Virginia Woolf haben, um einige Klischees ärmer und um viele Nuancen reicher. Sie zeigt, mit welchem Mut Virginia ihr Leben anging und ihre Erfahrungen und ihre inneren Widersprüche in ihr literarisches Werk einbrachte.

Hermione Lee sees Virginia Woolf afresh, in her historical setting and as a vital figure for our times. Her book moves freely between a richly detailed life-story and new attempts to understand crucial questions - the impact of her childhood, the cause and nature of her madness and suicide, the truth about her marriage, her feelings for women, her prejudies and obsessions. This is a vivid, close-up portrait, returning to primary sources, and showing Woolf as occupying a distinct, even uneasy position with 'Bloomsbury'. It is a writer's life, illustrating how the concerns of her work arise and develop, and a political life, which establishes Woolf as a radically sceptical, subversive, courageous feminist. Incorporating newly discovered sources and illustrated with photos and drawings never used before, this biography is a revelation -informed, intelligent and moving.