2025/08/22 Curious little things : Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf, formerly Adeline Virginia Stephen, was born on January 25, 1882, in London, England. She is one of modern literature’s most esteemed figures, renowned for her contributions to narrative technique and a pioneer of stream-of-consciousness storytelling.
Interestingly, for such an esteemed author, Woolfe never attended school! Since it was uncommon for girls to study in schools in early 20th century London, she learnt whatever she could from her father’s collection of library books.
Woolfe had an extremely disturbed childhood. Her mother died when she was just 13, a loss that precipitated her first mental breakdown. Later, the death of her sister, the sexual abuse by her half-brothers and her father’s death in 1904 exacerbated her condition. Perhaps this was the cause why as a child, she took longer than usual to be able to form coherent sentences. Woolf struggled a lifetime experiencing bipolar disorder and psychotic episodes, which is starkly visible in her writings.
She was engaged to Lytton Strachey for just one day, whom she later realized to be a homosexual and called off the wedding. Her marriage with Leonard Woolf, a Jewish man, was intellectually companionate and supportive in terms of her career and mental health. But apparently, she had qualms and prejudices about her husband’s religion.
Since she didn’t have a normal childhood, this posed difficulty in her married life. After doing a culinary course, she once decided to bake a recipe she had learned for her husband. That turned out to be a disaster since her inexperience led her to bake her wedding ring inside of the pastry!
Eventually, Woolf explored homosexual relationships too, most notably with Vita Sackville- West. Her famous work, Orlando, is based upon this relationship.
Her mental illness due to childhood traumas persisted, so much so that she was advised against writing and looking at the mirror. Her psychiatrist also suggested that her three teeth be removed as he hypothesized that her mental illness was caused by the bacteria in the root of the teeth. Obviously, it had no effect, and the poor soul had to wear false teeth for the rest of her life. One whole summer, she went mad believing that the birds around her chirped in Greek!
Struggling with another bout of depression and the devastation wrought by World War II, Woolf filled her coat pockets with stones and drowned herself in the river Ouse in 1941. Despite her tragic end, Virginia Woolf’s literary genius has endured, making her one of the most studied and celebrated writers of the 20th century. Her work continues to influence writers and thinkers around the world, maintaining her status as a key figure in both modernist literature and feminist thought.
Researched and written by Pragati Singh