Nigel Nicolson MBEVirginia Woolf: Great Lives

This biography written by Nigel Nicolson must be one of the best introductory books to Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group to this day. Being the son of the aristocrat and author Vita Sackville-West, Virginia’s lover turned friend, Nicolson knew Virginia first hand from her visits to the Sackville’s great Knole House and his own visits together with his mother to the Woolf’s Monk’s House.Nicolson was very fond of Virginia but also critical of stories told by herself and her admirers. One example is the story of the incestuous practice of her half-brother George Duckworth which he thinks is pure fantasy written by Virginia to entertain on a special occasion. Another allegation that Nicolson rejects is the feminist one that Leonard neglected his wife. As a boy Nigel observed the tenderness with which Leonard treated Virginia when he and his mother visited them in Monk’s House and Virginia was on the brink of having a break down. He very gently took her away for some minutes to calm her down.On the whole I think that Nicolson has succeeded in creating a picture of Virginia as she was in flesh and blood and not just an icon of feminism or Bloomsbury. Much could be said about the Bloomsbury Group and their influence, but that I leave to the specialist. It was a heterogeneous group who came together to discuss abstract matters, and at the center of it the two only women, the sisters Vanessa and Virginia. It was said of Virginia that she was always beautiful, but never pretty. But she was also a hardworking woman who was writing every morning from 10 till 1 and typing it in the afternoon. All day long during her walks the book would move subconsciously in her mind. And besides she was a great letter writer who in her letters stuck to the Bloomsbury principle that nothing profound was said unless it was also witty.

For those more interested in the life rather than the work of Virginia Woolf, Nigel Nicolson has written the perfect biography. He writes with engaging intimacy of the woman he once knew, and is admirably objective considering that Woolf had an affair with his mother, Vita Sackville-West.Although Virginia Woolf's life is well known and documented, Nicolson's portrait is refreshing due to his personal experience of the subject and the Bloomsbury Circle with which she was inextricably linked.Anyone looking for a detailed account of Woolf's literary efforts should look to Hermione Lee's 'Virginia Woolf', but as a purely personal account this is a gem.

This is really a great book, written with such love from a man who truly knew Ms Woolf.If you want to know about Ms Woolf I highly recommend this book.