The Letters of Virginia Woolf: Vol. One, 1888-1912

The Letters of Virginia Woolf #1

by Virginia Woolf, Nigel Nicolson

A collection of Virginia Woolf's correspondence from age six to the eve of her marriage twenty-four years later. "Engagingly fresh and spontaneous as young Virginia's letters are...the excitement in this collection arises from [her] growing awareness of herself as a writer" (Chicago Sun-Times). Introduction by Nigel Nicolson; Index; photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Biography, Autobiography, Womens, Biography Memoir, Writing

566 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 1975

About the author

(Adeline) Virginia Woolf was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929) with its famous dictum, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first in the series of Virginia Woolf's letters, this volume started my enthusiasm for reading her letters that continues now. I'm currently continuing my path through the series, reading Volume Five. What I do is to read the letters along with Woolf's diary from the same period of time, and what's really intriguing is to see how differently she might tell of the same event in the letters vs. in her diaries. Not expecting the diaries ever to be published, Woolf lays her thoughts and feeling on the table without filtering them to "look good" to readers.

Those of us familiar with Woolf's writing style in her novels and criticism may be surprised to see how different her style is in these letters. She's witty and humorous, but also quite honest in expressing her feelings about her family and friends. I believe that readers who are fond of Woolf's writing will most definitely enjoy reading her letters. Go for it!!

[Dallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me, Virginia's letters are her masterpiece. I am huge fan, but I admit sometimes her novels are thick and esoteric (lots of references to Bloombury friends,family and her own musings). I've never been able to finish "The Waves" for example. However, her letters a DELIGHTFUL. In them, we see her humor and mischevious side.

[jrendocrine at least reading is good · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have all six volumes, bequeathed to me from the mother of my dearest friend from childhood. The mother, an amazing child analyst, loved Virginia Woolf like no other writer in her library of thousands of hard bound volumes of largely English literature. During her increasingly housebound 90s (!) she kept VW at short reach from her armchair, dipping back into all things Woolf. This lady planted the seeds of my admiration for Woolf's novels.

I very much enjoyed the first volume as Virginia, aristocrat and intellectual, grows from a somewhat silly Goat into a fierce intellect and desirable woman. In the last few pages of August 1912 she marries Leonard, a "penniless Jew", after having introduced us to a cast of many fascinating Bloomsbury characters as well as the landscape of Cornwall. Her sister Vanessa shines with a particularly bright light in her letters. Virginia seems happy as she takes off to the continent for her honeymoon with Leonard.

How different were lives in the early 1900s for London intellectuals! So much time spent in talking and reading and writing daily letters. Our Covid quarantines seem, maybe?, a bit like a return to that time (of course with the addition of Zoom meetings, the internet, and a deranged president). I was meant to be hiking in Cornwall this spring with the analyst's daughter - but alas - Covid.

I look forward to picking up with Woolf and her set in Vol II (.... later!)

[Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

To Emma Vaughan:
My dear and ancient Toad...

Now that's how you begin a letter.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting reading Woolf's letters to be such an immersive experience. Witty, cheeky, rude - this collection holds the essence of the wonderful young, unmarried Virginia Stephen.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish this, not because I didn't enjoy it, but for 2 reasons: a) it's 600+ pages long b) it's a little off-putting to just read one side of multiple conversations, as the only letters included in this volume are ones written by Woolf herself, not her correspondents. Which is ok, but some of them contain nothing more than paltry details that she obviously didn't expect anyone other than the recipient to want to read.

[Karen Ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say to do justice to this book, I have hear about Virginia Wolff’s letter a number of years ago. When I started I felt like I was reading her diary 📔 and I was amazed at how honest and open she was about her mental health. She comes across shy and very unsure of her friendships and her writing skills. I look forward to the next five volumes

[Kellean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overall. Provides insight into the budding mind of the famed author we know now. The first half or one-third of the book is slow but gradually becomes more interesting once Virginia Woolf expands her interests and social circle and focuses more on her writing.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early years, up to marriage to Leonard Woolf at the age of 30. Virginia Woolf seems to have enjoyed a lot of freedom for a single woman in Edwardian England - including sharing a house with several young men at one point, and quite a lot of travelling and renting houses by herself for solitary holidays. As these are letters to family and friends there are lots of in-jokes, some of which are a bit obscure to us now, but they give us real insight into Virginia's character and into the social milieu of the time. (The down side is that there are of course no letters from periods when she was in the same place as her correspondent!) Two uncomfortable things for me: after Thoby's death, I understand why she wanted to keep the death from her friend who had the same illness, but filling her letters with news about what he was eating for supper and how his temperature was coming down when he had already been dead for a while made difficult reading and finding out about the death as her friend inevitably did must have been a nasty shock. Also, do I detect a hint of antisemitism? (admittedly ubiquitous in the era). Apart from that, delightful.

[Simona Calò · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dopo un altro volume di lettere che mi aveva entusiasmata, questo inizialmente mi appesantisce, soprattutto perché è in prestito e cerco di leggerlo più spesso che posso per rispettare i tempi, escludendo di distrarmi con altre letture, ma così non funziona. Sono decisa a riconsegnarlo, poi decido che lo leggerò con calma e finalmente ci prendo gusto: ritrovo la ragazza affettuosa che travolge gli amici di lettere, aneddoti e uno sguardo ironico, spesso comico e sorprendentemente contemporaneo. Faccio fatica a figurarmela in carrozza o in formali abiti da sera, con quel suo spirito caustico e beffardo nei confronti delle norme sociali. Rispetto al volume che ho letto. quello della maturità letteraria in cui l'autrice dialoga sulla produzione e sul successo dei propri romanzi, ha una rassicurante vita coniugale e un'amante appassionata, ma anche gravi crisi di salute mentale, qui la sua vita è ancora tutta da scrivere: dubita di poter diventare una scrittrice, coltiva vivaci amicizie maschili e femminili, viaggia, perde metà della sua amata famiglia e soffre immensamente per il distacco dalla sorella dopo il matrimonio. Al suo Virginia pensa con preoccupazione: quella di rimanere zitella e senza figli e quella di non sapersi adattare a una serie di doveri e convenzioni che sono estranei alla sua profonda indipendenza, tra cui l'intimità sessuale.
Le sue lettere mi hanno fatto venire una gran voglia di party eleganti, viaggi in Europa e soggiorni nella campagna inglese, leggere classici e passare pomeriggi di scrittura forsennata ma, soprattutto, di scrivere centinaia di lettere alle persone che conosco, piuttosto arduo oggi che persino le mail stanno scomparendo. Un'esperienza di lettura totale, profonda, impegnativa, talvolta snervante ma anche esaltante. Quanto avrei voluta conoscerla, le voglio sinceramente bene.

[Margot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this volume felt slow, mostly consisting of jocular letters to Woolf's (more than) friend Violet Davis. The second half picked up as her tone and subject matters matured as she began to correspond with Bloomsbury members such as Clive Bell, Lytton Strachey and her sister Vanessa. The second half also includes letters by Woolf discussing her burgeoning career as a book reviewer and work on her first novel.

[Judith Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like having read the first volume of Virginias letters I almost know her. Like she is a friend. I think I'd like to read The Voyage Out before I begin volume II, as she has finished that novel during the period covered by Volume I.

[Fredrik Klingberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first part gives you a fascinating insight into VW’s development into a full blown author. She tries out her writing skills on her friends, and really early on manages to produce sharp, soulful, and highly entertaining accounts. Of course, it is also an essential companion for those of us who are interested in the lives of the Bloomsbury artists/thinkers.

[Daniela Calota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandatory University read that got imprinted in my brain, as it challenged me on the essay part, how would I every be able to decipher this lady and her complexity and try to describe the Letters in Essays. - very intricate.

[Jane Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Letters. Ed. Nigel Nicholson. Must read all volumes if you love Woolf, or even not. Bloomsbury. Duncan Grant. Leonard Woolf. Vanessa Bell (read her bio) Vita Sackville-West. All of it.

[floraelmcolone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love her

[Claud · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple, desperate, human way.’

[Sophy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, as with her diaries, I think you have to be a super fan of Woolf's to find these entries truly amazing.

Whilst her writing is always in her own inimitable style, the content of these letters is as formulaic and ordinary as any man on the street.

I instead got my husband to pick 15 numbers at random between 1 and 300, and then read the entries on those pages. They were 4, 8, 36, 92, 115, 122, 158, 172, 189, 191, 202, 236, 250, 275, 299 & 300. They were alright but nothing jumped out at me.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe not as enjoyable as the diaries, and the earlier letters when she is younger can be a bit tedious (especially the luvy-duvie ones to Violet Dickinson, of which there are a LOT) but that's what you get when you have a full collection (it starts with her first effort at a letter when she was six!). This volume really hits its literary straps when she starts corresponding with Clive Bell. VW's company always enjoyable. Looking forward to volume two.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb! If you're a lover of Virginia Woolf's novels, you'll enjoy reading her letters as well. Quite witty, indeed.