Product Description

Virginia Woolf completed her first novel, Melymbrosia, in 1912. The story concerned the emotional and sexual awakening of a young English woman travelling abroad and bristled with social commentary on homosexuality, the suffrage movement and colonialism. Woolf was warned, however, that publishing an outspoken indictment of Britain could prove disastrous to her fledgling career as a novelist. The revised, quieter book was published under the title The Voyage Out. After seven years of searching the archives of the New York Public Library, Melymbrosia is now uncovered.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #742904 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 372 pages

About the Author
About the author: Virginia Woolf was born in 1882 London. Following the death of her father, Woolf moved with her sister Vanessa and two brothers to the house in Bloomsbury. In 1905, Woolf began to write for the Times Literary Supplement. She composed her first novel, Melymbrosia, from 1909 to 1912. In 1912, she met and married Leonard Woolf, with whom she founded the Hogarth Press. In 1915, Gerald Duckworth published a later version of Melymbrosia under the title The Voyage Out.
Between the two World Wars, Virginia Woolf was at the center of The Bloomsbury group, which included E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell, and Duncan Grant, among others. In 1926, Woolf began a passionate romance with writer Vita Sackville-West, for whom she wrote Orlando.
In 1895 and 1915, Virginia Woolf suffered mental breakdowns. These attacks required many weeks of medical treatment. For the rest of her life, she continued to experience milder mood swings and severe headaches. On March 28, 1941, fearing yet another breakdown from which she might not recover, Woolf loaded her pockets with stones and drowned herself in the River Ouse near her Sussex home.
Recognized in her own time and country as one of the most significant of the Modernists, Woolf left sixteen volumes of fiction and essays, in addition to her diaries, letters, and memoirs. In the sixty years following her death, her novels and essays have reached an ever-increasing audience. She is now recognized as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. Melymbrosia is her first completed novel.

About the editor: Louise DeSalvo is professor of English and Creative Writing at Hunter College and the author of the highly-acclaimed Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work among other works. DeSalvo is also co-editor of The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf (Cleis, 2001).

Customer Reviews

Inside the mind of a genius.
Every Woolfian out there, anonymous or scholar, can imagine what a delight it is to be given such a precious manuscript to read. Virginia Woolf's Melymbrosia allows the reader to plunge himself into the unparalleled genius of a mind, and experience first hand the creative process of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. By digging through archives, and assembling bits and pieces of several manuscripts, Louise DeSalvo was able to bring into every Woolfian's bookshelf what is the first draft - or Virginia Woolf's absolute first novel - of what would become The Voyage Out.
Woolfian at heart, or just interested in reading an exquisite work of literature, buy this book. You will not regret it.