Virginia Woolf - Allen McLaurin

A study of the works of Virginia Woolf and of other 'Bloomsbury' writers, in particular Roger Fry. Dr McLaurin discusses the influence of Samuel Butler on the philosophy and especially the aesthetics of Bloomsbury, and the relationships between the writings of Virginia Woolf and Roger Fry, showing that in her novels she was grappling with the same ideas as Fry was in his art-criticism. He then explores the place of repetition in the whole process of art and examines the uses of repetition in the work of Virginia Woolf and others, notably the 'stream of consciousness' writers. The final section of the book draws these themes together in a study of To the Lighthouse. This book explains a great deal about Virginia Woolf's attitude to writing and her preoccupation with the techniques of painting, and makes intelligible much about her aims and methods by setting them in their social and historical context.