Melymbrosia »

The early decades of the 20th century saw the rise of the experimental novel, and few writers had more success with their experiments than Virginia Woolf. Her innovative approach as a novelist, critic, and biographer made her an author who is even more widely read today than she was in her own time.

A rare look into the formative mind of the modernist master who revolutionized twentieth century literature Virginia Woolf completed her first novel, Melymbrosia, in 1912 when she was thirty years old. The story concerned the emotional and sexual awakening of a young English woman traveling abroad, and bristled with social commentary on issues as varied as homosexuality, the suffrage movement, and colonialism. She was warned by colleagues, however, that publishing an outspoken indictment of Britain could prove disastrous to her fledgling career as a novelist. Moreover, the critical offensive from men would be especially harsh towards a woman author. Woolf thus revised the novel extensively, omitting much of the political candor until, in 1915, the quieter book was published under the title The Voyage Out.

The Cleis Press publication of Melymbrosia offers a rare look into the formative mind of the modernist master who revolutionized twentieth century literature. Here, one sees the young Virginia Woolf learning her craft. Like James Joyce s Stephen Hero, the original treatment of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or Ralph Ellison s posthumously published Juneteenth, Melymbrosia is a "lost classic" that owes its existence to the research of a devoted scholar. In this instance, editor and Woolf authority Louise DeSalvo (Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work) spent seven years reviewing more than 1,000 manuscript pages from Woolf s private papers. DeSalvo had no clear markers for proceeding to the finished draft, save for Woolf s remarks on the novel s progress, plot, and structure in her diaries. But also, the editor resourcefully relied upon clues among the papers themselves, including color of ink and paper color, where pencil or pen left off and began anew, and even the color of ribbon Woolf used to bundle manuscript pages. In short, the puzzle of Melymbrosia was eventually solved through the ingenuity and persistence of meticulous research.

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).

Library Journal

Woolf scholar DeSalvo (Hunter Coll.) worked seven years reassembling and editing this unpublished novel from early drafts among Woolf's papers and first published a scholarly edition of the book in 1982. This trade edition contains a new introduction by DeSalvo and eliminates much of the scholarly apparatus that accompanied the first version. The book traces the emotional and sexual awakening of a young British woman traveling abroad, and large portions of it appeared in Woolf's first published novel, The Voyage Out. In her introduction, DeSalvo argues that the book's themes reflect Woolf's own struggles with mental health following the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her half-brother Gerald Duckworth. This book has been criticized by Woolf's great-nephew Julian Bell, and the publication in trade format has generated protest from those who don't believe Woolf would have wanted this novel in print. Still, what is here is the earliest work of one of the great writers of the 20th century. Readers will get a glimpse of the young artist working to find the voice and style that would later produce masterpieces like Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. In this regard, readers of Woolf will want to read this early effort, which is more conventional than her later works. For literary collections. Ron Ratliff, Kansas State Univ. Lib., Manhattan Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.