1. Growth experience
For an excellent work, the life of the author behind it is not a legend.
Woolf is a world-renowned and talented female writer known as the vanguard of modernism and feminism in the twentieth century. She is sharp-minded, but sensitive, and has spent her life wandering between elegance and madness.
She was born on 25 January 1882 to an intellectual family at Hyde Park Gate in South Kensington, London. Both father and mother had experience of being widowed; so Woolf grew up living with seven half-brothers and sisters.
Her mother, Julia, was beautiful and had a noble temperament, and was a model for the famous painter Edward Bonn-Jones of the time, and was her father's second wife.
His father, Sir Rothley Stephen, was an editor at a well-known publishing house at the time, as well as a literary critic and biographer. His first wife was the daughter of the great writer Thackeray.
Born into such a literary family, Woolf, in addition to enjoying the benefits of an enlightened family, also later suffered its complicated and unfortunate parts.
In the 1880s, even in elite families like Woolf, only boys had the opportunity to attend regular schools.
But the mother insists that girls also need to be educated. So Julia taught her five children at home.
However, this good situation did not last long, and when Woolf was thirteen years old, her mother died of rheumatic fever, and she experienced her first mental breakdown.
Two years later, their half-sister, who took care of them in place of their mother, also died. In the following 1904, his father died, and another bitter blow brought Woolf a shadow of grief that lingered throughout his life. She ended it all by trying to commit suicide by jumping out of a window.
For some time thereafter, she moved with her family to Gordon Square in Bloom. During this time, she was often sexually assaulted by her half-brother.
2. Creative career
Woolf has had a passion for literature since childhood.
Also in 1891, at the age of nine, Woolf began experimenting with writing with the encouragement of his father. She and her siblings in the family started a handwritten weekly newspaper called Hyde Park Gate News, which replaces toys with her favorite vivid words and is obsessed with the game.
From 1897 to 1901, she was educated in Ancient Greek, Latin, German and history at King's College London.
In 1905, Woolf began formal professional writing, initially writing for the Times Literary Supplement.
Later, together with her sister Vanessa, her older brother Sobi, her younger brother Adrian and several friends, she founded the "Bloomsbury" literary group that was active in the literary and artistic circles of the time.
The members of this group rejected tradition, were not limited to conventions, and had their own views on freedom and ideals; their works and views also deeply influenced many of their successors.
Among them, most of the members of the group were outstanding students and elites at that time, and it was undoubtedly fortunate to have exchanged literature and art with such a group of intellectual elites.
In such a group, she not only gained friendship, wisdom and confidence, but also equal spiritual nourishment, which undoubtedly helped her future literary creation. In the subsequent creations, she also paid more attention to the pursuit of spiritual aspects.
Among the many deeds of the group, there is one thing that is particularly worth mentioning:
"On 10 February 1910, Woolf disguised herself as a man, disguised as Prince Mendax of Abinha, her brother Adrian disguised as her translator, Horace Cole disguised as an official of the British Foreign Office, and Duncan Gran and others disguised as the retinue of the 'Prince'.
They traveled to Weymes to visit the 'dreadnought' of the British Royal ships at that time, where they received a high-standard reception. ”
This action plan is designed to be seamless. After the "mythical incident" was disclosed by the media, it caused shock to the government and the public, and the British Navy suddenly felt that it was disgraced. And the people who have experienced this incident have praised Woolf's dress and acting skills.
Reading this, it is easy to think of her shocking novel "Orlando", published in 1928, in which the protagonist is a young aristocrat of different genders in England at different times.
Having read the novel Orlando, it is not difficult to understand the light of some "weird" thought that shines in Woolf's head.
During both world wars, she was a central figure in London's literary scene. In the environment at that time, life was difficult, but Woolf was becoming more and more mature in creation.
In 1912, she married Leonard Woolf, a civil servant and political theorist, and although it surprised everyone, it turned out to be the wisest decision of Woolf's life.
Leonard Woolf has always admired her, and has not changed his understanding and support after marriage: whether it is sleeping in separate beds after marriage or starting their own publishing house.
Running an independent publishing house is extremely hard, and sometimes they have to think about choosing publications from a business perspective. One of the most regrettable was their rejection of james Joyce's new work Ulysses, a stream-of-consciousness writer who was also avant-garde at the time.
But from another point of view, the existence of publishing houses ensured the smooth development of Woolf's literary career.
From 1913 to 1915, after experiencing two serious mental illnesses, her first stream-of-consciousness novel, Voyage, was published, in 1927 Woolf published the pinnacle of her life, To the Lighthouse, 1928 Orlando, 1929, A Room of Your Own, and so on.
For nearly thirty years, the Hogarth Press, which they founded, published all of Woolf's works.
In 1940, during World War II, their home in London was blown up in the war, and they moved to the countryside to better write.
In February 1941, after completing the writing of her last work, "The Curtain", on March 28, Woolf felt that another mental breakdown was about to begin, and she had a premonition that she would not get better again, and after leaving text messages to her husband and sister respectively, she came to the Wusi River, not far from home, in the early morning, put stones in the pockets of her clothes, and walked to the depths of the river.
After Woolf's death, Leonard continued to run the publishing house until 1946, publishing 527 works.
More than half a century later, the publishing house was re-established in 2012 as a brand of publishing giant Penguin Random.
3, become yourself, more important than anything
Woolf's life was both unfortunate and brilliant; she was an excellent stream-of-consciousness writer with an irreplaceable contribution to English literature.
At the same time, in addition to trying to explore the freedom and value of women's writing power, she also cared about the economy and education; unfortunately, until her death, she suffered from mental illness.
In addition to the writing produced by the church community, early English women's literature gradually developed and grew up from the 18th century onwards. Initially, however, it was still limited by many external environmental influences.
Women do not have access to formal education, and their lives are mostly confined to the family, with endless housework.
Writing and expressing one's desires will not be supported and encouraged, but will be considered unprofessional.
As Jane Austen describes in Becoming Austen, in the early morning, in the small town of Steventon in Hampshire, Austen can only get up early to write in the shared living room.
Caution was required when writing, and in order not to make servants, visitors, or anyone suspicious of her writing, she would quickly hide or cover the manuscript with blotting paper when someone approached.
Women's works at that time often required the use of a male pseudonym.
The road to gender equality is a long one, but it is precisely because of the continuous efforts of pioneers like Woolf and even the protest of demanding change through the law that women's inequality has been continuously improved. Women's sense of self is also gradually awakened.
Nor will true equality remain on the surface of things, as a festival renders.
"Don't be in a hurry, don't have to spark, don't have to be someone else, just be yourself", is the motto that Woolf practiced throughout his life.
Woolf said in her novel A Room of Her Own: "If a woman wants to write a novel, she must have money and a room of her own." ”
To this day, this is still a topic worth pondering for women.
The material in this article refers to the Chinese translator of "A Room of Oneself", so the preface to the book is one room inside and outside the room.
Author: Jane Y, a member of the Intensive Reading Friends Association, draws the fragrance of life from simplicity.