Virginia Woolf

By Anthony Curtis

Virginia Woolf was clearly one of the great writers of the past century, but in what does her greatness consist?’ muses Anthony Curtis. ‘This book is an attempt to answer that question.’

       Anthony Curtis is particularly good at charting the interlocking circles of family and friends – the Cambridge connection, the Garsington connection, Post-Impressionist connection, Indian connection, the Suffragettes, holidays in Cornwall – Stephens, Stracheys, Duckworths, Grants, Bells, Vaughans, Garnetts, all interconnected socially and many by blood. It also places the author of A Room of One’s Own firmly on a par with writers such as Simone de Beauvoir and therefore within the study remit of courses on feminist literature. Richly illustrated with photographs of the private sphere of the Bloomsbury Group and public places of the London of Woolf’s time. 

Praise for the hard cover edition:

‘This biography of Virginia Woolf is a handsome book, sturdy yet elegant, bountifully illustrated with sepia photographs, and well worth the money.’
John Bowen, The Oldie

Anthony Curtis took an English degree at Oxford (first class) and became a literary journalist and books editor on the staff, respectively, of TLS, Sunday Telegraph and Financial Times. He reviewed the volumes of Virginia Woolf’s diaries, letters and essays, when they were first published, as well as the biographical accounts of her history of mental illness and her private life. Reading her journals, he became interested in Kitty Maxse, the model for Mrs Dalloway, about whom little seemed to known and found Kitty’s sister’s (Margaret Lushington’s) diaries and edited them for publication.