The Wise Virgins: A Story of Words, Opinions, and a Few EmotionsA new edition of Leonard Woolf's satirical second novel, which offers an intriguing group portrait of Leonard and Virginia Woolf and other members of the Bloomsbury Group The Wise Virgins (1914), Leonard Woolf's second novel, was published two years after the author's marriage to Virginia Stephen--and begun during their honeymoon. The autobiographical elements of the book are well documented. Its publication caused acute distress to Woolf's family. Leonard's sister, Bella, urged him to bury the novel, while his mother was shocked and mortified by unflattering portraits of herself and her neighbors. Two weeks after reading the novel, Virginia Woolf suffered the worst of her many breakdowns. As aroman à clef the novel holds considerable interest for its picture of Leonard and Virginia's courtship, as well as its sketches of Vanessa Stephen and Clive Bell. (Virginia would later retell the story, from a much different perspective, in Night and Day.) But the novel offers the contemporary reader other rewards. It remains a witty, engaging satire about English society just before World War I and its conventions and prejudices. In Harry Davis, Woolf created a memorable Jewish antihero who rails against society's conventions but tragically finds himself unable to escape them. Award-winning biographer Victoria Glendinning contributes a foreword to this new paperback edition. |
Contents
CHAPTER 1 Begins with Words in a Garden | 1 |
CHAPTER 2 The Words of Mrs Garland and Mrs Davis | 16 |
CHAPTER 3 The Words of Art and Intellect | 36 |
CHAPTER 4 Opinions upon a River | 60 |
CHAPTER 5 Opinions and Emotions in a Country House | 90 |
CHAPTER 6 Katharines Opinion of her Sister | 112 |
CHAPTER 7 Camilla Neglects to Make up her Mind | 124 |
CHAPTER 8 Camillas Opinion and Gwens Emotion | 133 |
CHAPTER 10 Camillas Mind | 183 |
CHAPTER 11 Harrys Opinions upon Life | 186 |
CHAPTER 12 Harrys Opinions on Life continued | 212 |
CHAPTER 13 Gwen again becomes Emotional | 229 |
CHAPTER 14 The Defeat of Words and Opinions | 248 |
CHAPTER 15 The Victory of Opinion | 253 |
CHAPTER 16 The Emotions of Harry and Camilla | 263 |
CHAPTER 17 Ends with Words | 275 |