Virginia Woolf

Childhood and Youth 

Leslie Stephen, c. 1860. Photographer unknown Julia Stephen with Virginia, 1884. Photograph by Henry H. H. Cameron Virginia Stephen (left) and her sister Vanessa . Photography before 1900 Virginia Woolf was the daughter of the writer, historian, essayist, biographer and mountaineer Sir Leslie Stephen(1832-1904) and his second wife Julia Prinsep Jackson (1846-1895). She had three siblings: Vanessa Stephen(1879-1961), Thoby Stephen (1880-1906) and Adrian Stephen (1883-1948). In addition there were the half-sister Laura Makepeace Stephen (1870-1945) from her father’s first marriage to Harriet Marion Thackeray (1840-1875) and the half-siblings George Herbert Duckworth (1868-1934), Stella Duckworth (1869-1897) and Gerald Duckworth ( 1870-1937) from her mother’s first marriage with Herbert Duckworth (1833-1870). The family residence was in London’s Kensington district, 22 Hyde Park Gate. The intellectual and artistic elite of the time, such as Alfred Tennyson , Thomas Hardy , Henry James and Edward Burne-Jones , visited Leslie Stephens Salon.

Psychoanalysts and biographers describe that the half-siblings Gerald and George Duckworth have abused Virginia or at least touched it more often immoral, and thus could have set one of the triggers of their manic-depressive illness, which now trades under bipolar disorder . ^[1] [2] Virginia herself has only hinted at suchexperiences in her autobiographical text A Sketch of the Past in the rigid Victorian era. Hermione Leewrites in her biography of Virginia Woolf: “The evidence is strong enough, but also ambiguous enough to pave the way for conflicting psychobiographical interpretations that depict very different depictions of Virginia Woolf’s inner life.” ^[3]Others, more psychologically Working scientists point out the genetic predisposition of their family. ^[4] [5] Thus, Virginia’s father was known to suffer from seizures of self-doubt and congestive symptoms, which manifested themselves in persistent headache, insomnia, irritability, and anxiety; The daughter also later complained of similar complaints. ^[6]

Virginia Stephen did not attend school, but received private lessons from home teachers and her father. She was impressed by her father’s literary work and his work as publisher of the monumental Dictionary of National Biography and his extensive private library; Therefore, she expressed the desire early to become a writer. When her mother died on May 5, 1895, the thirteen-year-old Virginia suffered her first mental collapse. Her half-sister Stella, who initially led the household after the death of Julia Stephen, married Jack Hills two years later and left home. A little later Stella died of peritonitis on her honeymoon . St Ives, view of the harbor bay From 1882 to 1894, the family spent the summer holidays at Talland House , their summer home overlooking Porthminster Beach and the Godrevy Point lighthouse. It was in the small coastal town of St Ives in Cornwall , which in 1928 became an artists’ colony . Virginia describes the situation in Sketched Memories :Contemporary photograph of Talland House “Our house was […] on the hill. […] It had an ideal view across the bay, all the way to the Godrevyer lighthouse. On the hillside there were small lawns framed by thick flowering bushes […]. One entered Talland House through a large wooden gate – “. Lugaus” […] and then came right hand to […] From Lugausplatz had at that time a very broad view of the bay. ” In 1895, after the mother’s death, the house was sold. Virginia often returned to St Ives. She later described the place and the nearby lighthouse at Godrevy Point, Jacob’s Room ( Jacobs rooms ) and To the Lighthouse ( to the lighthouse ) . London and St Ives will often be the setting of their works.

Virginia Stephen with her father, 1902 On June 26, 1902, Virginia’s father was named Knight Commander of the Bath . During this time, Virginia wrote various essays and prepared them for publication. In January 1904, Virginia’s first article was for a women’s supplement in the Guardianprinted. On February 22, 1904, his father died of cancer. This was the end of a period of time for Virginia, which was marked by the exhausting treatment of the difficult personality Leslies. Virginia and Vanessa had already begun in 1897 with the death of Virginia’s half-sister Stella, who had assumed the role of a caring wife for Leslie. Ten weeks after her father’s death, Virginia suffered her second mental illness episode, from which she could not recover until the end of the year.

In 1899, Virginia’s older brother Thoby began studying at Trinity College , Cambridge . At a dinner on November 17, 1904, Virginia met his friend, her future husband Leonard Woolf , who studied law and was about to take up a position in colonial service in Ceylon .