Art and Affection: A Life of Virginia Woolf

Panthea Reid, author of Virginia Woolf: Art And Affection, is a professor of English at Louisiana State University. She has authored a book on William Faulkner and edited one on Walker Percy, both gifted, but very eccentric Southern writers. Reid must have a predilection toward gifted artists who produce astounding work, but who never find a way to fit in with society in general. In this book Reid contends that Woolf was what we in the south call a high maintenance female. Aside from her manic/depressive disorder, Reid asserts the many psychological blows, real and imagined, Woolf suffered during her childhood left her with wounds that never healed, no matter the outside success and acclaim she enjoyed in her later life. Marriage, travel, literary fame and fortune were not enough to keep Woolf from "...put(ting) stones in her pocket...walk(ing) into the water, and sink(ing) into a tidal current, hoping to fine 'rest of the floor of the sea'" on the morning of March 28, 1941. As a child, Woolf desperately longed for the attention and affection of her beautiful but emotionally detached mother; suffered emotional scars at the hands of her stern father; endured sexual abuse from one of her half-brothers; and was pathologically attached to her sister, Vanessa, herself a free spirit whom no one could restrain. Because her many childhood needs were not sated, and because her bi-polar disorder hadn't been given a name, diagnosis or treatment, Woolf spent the rest of her life enduring lingering bouts of depression, fragile health and periods of self-doubt, despite a tremendous gift for putting words on paper. By their very nature, the book's reliance on copious correspondence between Virginia and her intimates gives the reader an excellent glimpse into the day-to-day life of an upper middle class family living in Victorian England. Some of the details are tedious, while others explain the confinement Woolf felt at being a female in a very controlling, male-dominated society. Although she was obviously gifted, she was devalued by Victorian mores. This book is meticulously researched and annotated. It appears Reid had almost unlimited access to family correspondence, records and photographs. While the book might be overwhelming at times in by the sheer weight of the research, it is a scholarly work that deserves place on a library shelf and should be included in any serious study of Woolf and the life that produced her enormous, if fragile, talent. Recommended for Woolf fans and those curious about Victorian life. Enjoy!Terry H. Mathews Reviewer

For a person who doesn't read much non-fiction, this book is a bit overwhelming. With that said, it should be said that this book is also one of the most thoroughly researched books I've read on Virginia Woolf.Woolf is one of my favorite authors. I hadn't been too interested in her life until I read Michael Cunningham's 'The Hours'. Since that time, I've read what I could find about her life, but nothing compares to this volume, for sheer quantity of research, notes and professional opinions. I found this book in a Bargain Rack. I'm sorry it's out of print. It would make a fabulous research tool for any student of Woolf, or of the Victorian Age.