Publications
Virginia Woolf, by Hermione Lee, published 1996 (Chatto and Windus, ISBN-10: 0701165073 & ISBN-13: 9780701165079) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries
Virginia Woolf, by Hermione Lee, published 2 October 1997 (xvii + 892 pp., Vintage, ISBN-10: 0099732513 & ISBN-13: 9780099732518) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries
Abstract: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.