Friday Mieography

We are going across the pond for this one

Adeline Virginia Stephen was born in 1882, in London. Her parents had both been married previously, both their spouses having died, so she grew up in a family that contained the children of 3 marriages. They were very literate, and well connected, and she was educated by her parents in their Hyde Park home. In total, there were seven children in the household.
Her father's first wife had been the eldest daughter of William Thackeray, a famous author of that time, and her father wrote a biography of the man. He was well known for this, and their home was an environment that was filled with the influence of the Victorian literary society. Frequent visitors included George Eliot, Julia Margaret Cameron, and James Russel Lowell. Her mother came from a family of renowned beauties, who were models for Pre Raphaelite artists, and early photographers. The house also had an immense librar, where Virginia was taught classic and English literature
The family spent every summer in Gornwall, in St. Ives. Many of her memories of these summers made their way into her books. Her mother suddenly died when she was 13, and her older sister died 2 years later. The stress of this led to the first of what would become many nervous breakdowns. When her father died in 1904 she broke down so severely that she was briefly institutionalized.
Many scholars have now claimed that her breakdowns, and depressions were triggered by the sexual abuse that she and one of her sisters suffered at the hands of 2 of her half brothers. She was plagued during her life by severe mood swings, which greatly impacted her social functioning. However, her literary abilities remained intact. In this day and age, she would have been diagnosed as a bipolar patient.
Anyhow. Now that we've covered her mental health....
When her father passed away, she and her siblings sold the Hyde Park house, and purchased a home in Gordon Quare, Bloomsbury. She began to study at King's College in London, where she got to know many other people, including Leonard Woolf. She married him in 1912. They had a very close bond. They also collaborated professionally. In 1917, they founded the Hogarth Press, which published most of her work. Interestingly enough, the group of intellectual friends they had gathered about themselves ("The Bloomsbury Group") discouraged sexual exclusivity, so Virginia also had a long term relationship with Vita Sackville-West. She even wrote her a book that has been documented as "the longest and most charming love letter in literature". They remained close friends after their affair ended.
All in all, she wrote 8 novels, including Mrs. Dalloway, To the Light House, and The Years. She also wrote 3 short story collections, and did 3 "biographys", which were also novels, but written in the biography style about her chosen characters. She also wrote 13 non fiction books. Many of her diaries and her own autobiographical writings were also published.
After finishing her last novel, "Between the Acts", Virginia fell into a deep depression. The war, and the destruction of her London homes related to the bombings worsened her condition. She also had just published a biography that was not well liked. She became so depressed she was unable to work. In March, of 1941, after having a nervous breakdown, she drowned herself by weighing her pockets with stones, and walking into the River Ouse. Her body was not found until April. Her husband buried her cremated remains under a tree, in the garden of their Sussex home. In her last note to her husband, she said this:

"I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of these terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness."

It goes on to talk about how she cannot fight any longer, that she felt like she was spoiling his life, and that she cannot write properly. She tells him if anyone had been able to save her, it would have been him.

A tragic end for so prolific a writer....