The following summary is concerned with the first volume of Quentin Bell’s “Virginia Woolf A Biography”, A Harvest Book, published in New York, in 1972. The original edition appeared in Great Britain, in two volumes. However, this paperback edition contains both volumes in a single tome. The first volume, divided into nine chapters covers the first 30 years of Virginia Stephen, whereas, the second volumes follows the author throughout her married life.
Quentin Bell was the younger son of Vanessa Bell and the writer and critic Clive Bell, and the nephew of Virginia Woolf. Bell spent his early years Charleston, in the farmhouse home of Vanessa and Clive. Figures such as E.M. Forster and, of course, Leonard and Virginia Woolf were frequent company at his house.
Bell was an important member of the Bloomsbury Circle[1], a group that included Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Clive Bell, John Maynard Keynes, Adrian Stephen, E. M. Forster, Leonard Woolf, and others. He was thus privileged to publish Bloomsbury (1968), and a two volume biography of his aunt. With the publication of this highly acclaimed biography of Virginia Woolf, and his other works, he became Bloomsbury's most celebrated chronicler and, the guardian of the family legacy. However, despite the fact that the members of Bloomsbury Circle were pacifists, he tried to join the army in the Second World War, but he was refused on medical grounds. Quentin Bell became a painter, sculptor, potter, author, and art critic. He became Professor of Fine Art at the University of Leeds; Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University; and Professor of the History and Theory of Art at Sussex University.
Among his other books were On Human Finery, Victorian Artists and Bloomsbury. In 1995, he published his memoirs, Bloomsbury Recalled (called Elders and Betters in Britain); and in 1997 his Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden, which being finished by his daughter Virginia Nicholson, was published posthumously. He died on 16 December 1996, at the age of 86.
With this biography, Bell won in 1972 the James Tait Black Memorial Prize[2], one of Britain’s oldest literary awards. The award is given annually by the University for the best work of fiction and, more relevant in this context, the best biography, published in the previous year.
In 1972, at the invitation of Leonard Woolf[3], Quentin Bell wrote an historical biography of his aunt Virginia Woolf. Quentin Bell writes a very detailed biography of his aunt, following her, when sources permitted, even in a day after day chronology. The main sources for this biography are The Berg Collection which, after of the arrangements of Leonard Woolf, would gather the 27 manuscript volumes of Virginia Woolf’s diaries from the period 1915 – 1941. A second source represents the Charleston papers from King’s College in Cambridge, which contains the letter of Vanessa and Clive Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry, Monk House papers, which comprise the correspondence between Virginia and Leonard Woolf and also a considerable amount of manuscripts. Apart from these sources, Quentin Bell made use of various letters and memoirs of members of the family and friends, including those of his mother, Vanessa Bell and his own correspondence with Virginia Woolf. Virginia Woolf’s diaries and letters provide the reader with first-hand information about her life. Anne Olivier Bell (Quentin’s wife) edited five volumes of Virginia Woolf’s diaries (1977-1984) and Nigel Nicolson (Vita Sackville-West’s youngest son) edited six volumes of Virginia Woolf’s letters (1975-1980).
In the first chapter, we are taken back around 1750, and introduced to the earliest data on the family three of the Stephen Family. Quentin Bell draws a line between the temperament of the male descendant, ending with Leslie Stephen, Virginia’s father and the female line ending with Julia, Virginia’s mother. Accordingly, the female ancestors on the line were always beautiful and welcoming, and in a certain degree inclined towards arts, while the male figures where more rational and serious up to obliviousness. With the birth of Leslie Stephen, “a nervous, delicate boy, fond and over-excited by poetry”, the balance seems to be settled. Both Virginia and her sister Vanessa inherited the artistic inclination of their father, and the social and boisterous welcoming attitude of their mother. We find out that both of them were later members in Bloomsbury group, Virginia accounting for literature and Vanessa for painting and interior decoration.
Julia Stephen had been married before, and from her previous marriage she had two sons, George and Gerald and a daughter, Stella. Leslie had a daughter, named Julia, mentally sick, who died in a asylum in 1845. After marriage, Leslie and Julia had four children: Vanessa, the oldest, followed by Thoby, Virginia and Adrian, the cadet.
Virginia was born on January 25th 1882, at no. 22 Hyde Park Gate and spent her early years in the nursery on the top of the house with her 3 other siblings. Laura lived separately, while George, Stella and Gerald were past the nursery age. The children were home tutored either by Julia, either by Leslie and soon we find out that “Virginia’s intellectual revolution” did not result from her formal education. We find out that although words were Virginia’s strongest allies, she could not learn foreign languages, and despite of her repeated efforts to learn Greek or French, she could not go beyond a minimal vocabulary in French. Both of the sisters, and Vanessa in particular, favoured Thoby. It is ascertained that although there was a close relationship between Virginia and Vanessa, there was also a great degree of minor clashes between the two sisters.
The first important and consistent literary undertaking of Virginia, The Hyde Park Gate News, began to be issued on 9th of February 1891 and it contained gossip and observation on the events within and around the Stephen family. The series which were read by grownups and friends of the family continued weekly, although with gaps, until 19 December 1892.
Later, on 5 May 1985, her mother Julia died because of influenza and Virginia said that “her death was the greatest disaster that could happen”(Bell, pg. 40). Virginia has her first serious breakdown and Quentin Bell suspects that she might have, if not attempted, at least entertained the idea of suicide. The most difficult time consisted in the morning, since her father was the chief mourner and the children had to cope both with their suffering and with their father. Stella, Julia’s daughter from the first marriage assumed the role daily chores in the house for a while but she eventually married in august 1896. Quentin Bell records that, according to the latter statements of Leonard Woolf and Virginia’s doctor Noel Richards, the writer’s half-brother George made advances on her, shortly after her mother’s death. Furthermore, in a later document, namely a later from Virginia to Ethel Smith, Virginia confesses that her brother had an incestuous relationship with her. Quentin Bell offers reasons to believe that both of the Duckworth brothers sexually abused both of the Stephen sisters throughout their childhood and teenage period, until 1904. The biographer assumes that these events, conjoint to her mother’s death, had a crucial effect on Virginia’s mental health. In July 1897, Stella dies from an unhealed gastric chill. During the same year, Virginia becomes very fond of Stella’s widower, Jack Hills, but it seems that a love affair developed between him and Vanessa. During that year Virginia health started to become frail and she needed long periods of rest. In what follows, Virginia attends many social events within the family circles and friends, she travels and pays many visits. According to Bell, entering in contact with London society Virginia gathers the experience which will sketch the portrait Rachel Vinrace from her first novel published in 1915, The Voyage Out. In March 1900 Virginia falls sick again, with measles, this time. After long suffering, Leslie Stephens dies on the 22nd of February 1904 and the children decide the move away from Hyde Park Gate.
That year started badly for Virginia for she is incapable of focusing upon writing, while she had feelings of guilt concerning her father. After traveling in Italy and France during the spring of 1904, Virginia faces her second nervous breakdown and she is put into a care of Dr. Savage and three other nurses. She recovers steadily and in august join the rest of her family at the new residence at No 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. With the help of her friend Violet Dickinson, she published for first time on 14 December 1914 in The Guardian. The house in Bloomsbury was more spacious than the previous one and although Vanessa made her debut in interior design, Virginia was appalled by the fact that her half-brother was residing with them. In November 1904 Leonard Woolf is invited for a dinner at the Stephens house in Gordon Square, before his departure to Ceylon. Virginia was present at that dinner and she was noticed by Leonard because of her ill looks and her silence, while Virginia observed him and collected stories about him. It seems that Leonard Woolf was of very sanguine temper, most of the time angry and obviously misanthrope.
In January 1905, Virginia is declared cured. Clive Bell and Leonard Woolf were friends with Thoby and participated in the formation of multi-authored poetry volume called Euphrosyne, which was privately published. The volume was mocked by Virginia in a commentary, one year later. Quentin Bell published in the Appendix C of the first volume the text of the commentary. Virginia mocks them for their limited vocabulary, lack of originality and inspiration found in minor French poets, but also she gently criticizes the difference in status between men and women, for, both her brothers were studying in a college, while she was at home.
Throughout 1905, Virginia remains active: during the spring, she embarks on a journey to Lisbon, Seville and Granada, and the she pays brief visits to friends in Oxford and Cambridge. During the summer, all Stephen siblings spent their holidays at the sea, where they are visited by their traditional friends, Violet Dickinson, Jack Hills and others. In October 1905 Vanessa realized the Friday Club, a society concerned with Fine Arts whose members would meet weekly. Although Virginia was not deeply interested she commented amused on the differences within the club. By the end of the year, Virginia is ardently busy with writing, reviewing and teaching adults of working class at Morley College. Although she found the environment not at all motivating, she continued teaching until the end of 1907. Because of her commitment to Morley Collage, the biographer assumes that Virginia’s health has been good and stable. However, in 1906, The Stephens organized a trip to Greece. Thoby and Adrian saw it like an adventure and they rode on horseback from Trieste, through Montenegro and Albania, while Vanessa, Virginia and Violet Dickinson travelled by train. Virginia discovered the Byzantine Art of which she had been unaware, until her arrival in Greece, while she was not interested in modern Greece. During the trip, Vanessa fell ill and Virginia spent two weeks in a hotel room reading Merimee and attending her sister. Thoby returned to London and fell ill, while Vanessa’s recovery was only brief and she was waited at Dover by George with a nurse. Virginia and Adrian became responsible for the household. Violet Dickinson fell ill and she was taken care of at her home in Manchester Street. Thoby died eventually on the 20th of November after a series of crises of what lately was discovered to be typhoid fever. Virginia is asked not to convey to her friend Violet and she continues for almost one month writing to her about the improvements of Thoby’s health. Quentin Bell offers a heart-breaking account of the familial situation by citing from Virginia’s letter to Violet from the day of her brother’s death: “We are going well through the stageș and then three days after his funeral: “Thoby is going on splendidly…”.(Bell, pg. 100)Two days after Thoby’s death, Vanessa in an act of desperation, visited Clive Bell and agreed to marry him and Virginia finds some consolation in this news.
The following year, Virginia has to fight not only with the feeling of loss of her brother, but also with the hateful feeling of having to let go to Vanessa who married Clive Bell in February. The moods of the sisters are opposed, for Vanessa is enthusiastic and happy about her marriage, while Virginia cannot find consolation. In her attempt to gather biographical information about Thoby she was refused by all his friends on different pretexts. Thus, at the beginning of 1907, Virginia’s sole companion was her younger brother Adrian which she found “maddeningly lethargic, lamentably silent, unable to find interest in anything” (Bell, pg 117).
After such a shift Virginia and Adrian began hunting for a new house, and by end of March they are settled on 29 Fitzroy Square. For the most part 1907 Virginia travels to Paris, to various friends in Cambridge and Great Britain and during the last part of the year she works on her novel Melybrosia. The novel would occupy her time for the following 5 years until its completion and publishing much later under the name of The Voyage Out, in 1915. Virginia worked assiduously for this novel. Quentin Bell ascertains that there were no more than seven versions of it. In the meantime, she continued reviewing other works not only under The Guardian, but also for The Times and other journals. Quentin Bell asserts that Virginia did not publish her own literary works because of her shyness, because she was terrified of exposing herself to the world.
The biographer focuses in chapter seven on Virginia’s love and sex life. Virginia was repeatedly told to marry, and Lytton Strachey, writer and critic of the Bloomsbury group was the most eligible person in the circle of acquantainces of the Miss Stephen. On 17 February 1909 he proposed and Virginia accepted, but very soon they found out that they could not live together so the betrothal was timely dissolved. Quentin Bell asserts that there have been infidelities on the part of Clive Bell with his sister-in-law. Virginia accused him of being a “cuckoo that lays eggs in other bird’s nests” (Bell, pg. 133). This affair proved to be painful for all three of them, even though Vanessa treated the problems lightly and with a slight dash of humour. Contrary to certain expectation there has never been a scene and the relationship between sisters, although at times under did not collapse and nor the relationship between Virginia and Clive Bell, the latter becoming the critic of her unfinished novel Melymbrosia. The biographer suggests that Clive Bell showed signs of jealousy when Virginia was courted by Lytton or other men, while she depicts Clive in her journal as being “sensitive, modest, kindly man, a little bit too carefully polished and a little bit too conscious of his own social gifts”. For what we understand, between Virginia and Clive was a mutual relationship of respect and appreciation. During this time Virginia continued to work on Melymbrosia.
Quentin Bell remembers the practical joke of the Dreadnought Hoax which took place on 10 February 1910. During the same year the nation faces a period of political and social unrest and the Bells and the Stephens went to the Trafalgar Square to protest on the behalf of the liberals. Clive had desire for political promotion and Virginia did support him, but soon it seemed to her that “politics, like philanthropy attracts a bloodless, inhuman kind of person. (Bell, pg. 161). In June that year, Virginia suffers another breakdown and she is put under the care of a nursing home for about one month. Vanessa, being immobilized by her second child, (Quentin) could not attend to her. In September 1910 she would return back home.
Vanessa falls sick after Clive departs for Constantinopole, and Vanessa and Virginia are to follow later. The Bells began having matrimonial difficulties and their marriage metamorphoses steadily into friendship. This, and the mutual attachment with Clive bell led Virginia to reconsider the idea of marriage and she became an advocated of sexual liberty. Virginia had a few affairs until she settled for Leonard Woolf. Because their lease of 29 Fitzroy square was coming to an end they moved to another house 38 Brunswick Square and the vacant top floor was offered to Leonard Woolf, who returned to England in May 1911 for a year's leave. The ground floor was given to Duncan Grant. Virginia was indeed in an awkward position living in 1911 with three other bachelors, but this seemed to mind only her half-brother, George. Her relationship with Leonard developed steadily and he proposed to Virginia in a letter dated on 11 January 1912. He knew that Virginia would need a long time to decide and he asked for extension of his leave with four months, because his leave was about to expire in May. He was asked to give a reason but he refused. Instead, he resigned in early 1912 and that same year married Virginia.
The first volume also contains five appendices in which Quentin Bell offers a chronology of events, Virginia’s Report on Teaching at Morley College, her comments on the poetry volume Euphrosyne, some correspondence between Virginia and Clive on the The Voyage Out, and, finally her account of The Deadnought Hoax.
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