Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941•Upper class and accomplished family•Highly literate upbringing, surrounded by prominent victorian authors and artists (relatives moved in the Pre-Raphaelite circle; father was a famous editor)•Formal and informal education•Lifelong bouts of depression perhaps stemming from sexual abuse by step-brothers. •After the death of her parents, she and her sister bought a house in Bloomsbury which quickly became the center of the Bloomsbury Salon.

•1907, sister married Clive bell, a prominent critic of modern art•1912, V married Leonard Woolf, the two started a long writing/publishing relationship (started Hogarth Press in 1917).•Started writing critical journalism in 1900• First Novel, The Voyage Out, 1915.

•Mrs Dalloway, 1925•To the Lighthouse, 1927•Orlando, 1928•The Waves, 1931, Etc.•With Joyce, one of the main innovators of Stream-of-Consciousness•Attempted to form a singularly Feminine Aesthetic•One of the main, if not the main, female modernist•Often criticized for classicism

Woolf: “Modern Fiction”Not only a break with the past, but a break with the contemporaries of established fiction (Wells, Galsworthy, Bennett).

Woolf: “Modern Fiction”Not only a break with the past, but a break with the contemporaries of established fiction (Wells, Galsworthy, Bennett).

Woolf: “Modern Fiction”Not only a break with the past, but a break with the contemporaries of established fiction (Wells, Galsworthy, Bennett). Definition of Modern fiction as:against these popular authors “not learn from what they do, but what they can’t do” (and therefore what we can)against these authors’ “materialism.” What does this mean? For Woolf, Bennett suffers because his fiction is: •About The Body, not the Spirit•Craft, not Art. •Formulaic, not representationalAnd Wells’ fiction: •Advocates Class (education of the masses) over aristocracy / privilege

In general, good fiction must:• be Representational of life, not formulaic• Have Psychological depth, even if presenting dark aspects of life

Woolf strives to find a form that allows for this

“Professions for Women”

Illustrates Woolf’s growing concern with the plight of women and women writers: Her Advice?

“Professions for Women”

Illustrates Woolf’s growing concern with the plight of women and women writers: Her Advice?

•A Woman Writer must “kill” the role and expectations of woman as purely domestic•A Woman Writer must be able to write “her own body” outside of moral restrictions of gender • Consider this in contrast / comparison to Joyce and his reputation and subject matter

Katherine Mansfield, 1888 – 1923•Born in New Zealand to wealthy parents•Educated in Queen’s College, England and traveled Europe, 1903-1906•Moved to England at 19 and became involved in the London literary scene (and bohemian scene, having numerous relationships with both men and women) •1910, was publishing in the New Age little magazine relationship with Beatrice Hastings)•First Book, 1911, In a German Pension, written after a stay in Germany (to avoid scandal over an unplanned pregnancy which eventually miscarried)•1911, met John Middleton Murry, editor of Rhythm little magazine. They would eventually marry in 1918•Contracted Tuberculosis in 1917.

•With Murry, became acquainted with the major modernists: D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf esp, published in many little magazines of the period•Died of tuberculosis in 1923•Master of the Short Story, influenced by Russian authors esp Chekov•Important editor, involvement with little magazines• Like Woolf, points to the important of many women modernists behind the scenes