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Virginia Woolf & the Raverats: A Different Sort of Friendship
Jacques Raverat was a French painter who died of MS aged 40 in 1925. In 1911, he had married Gwen Darwin, granddaughter of the evolutionist and also an artist. They knew Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury well and when they moved to the south of France for his health, their friendship blossomed in a series of long and poignant letters.
The crucial bond was that between Jacques and Virginia. Their correspondence ranged far and wide. Informed by the depressions and uncertainties, the speculation and passion of their bohemian lives, these letters display a complex affinity between three artists facing their own mortality, their weaknesses and the price of their creativity. It is a friendship whose later substance and passion was entirely expressed by letter.
Virginia Woolf & the Raverats is not only a complete record of their correspondence, but includes much previously unpublished material. None of the Raverat letters, the extracts from Gwen Raverat’s other writings, her powerful sketches of her husband on his deathbed, nor Jacques’ paintings have been published before. There are facsimile reproductions of crucial letters, diary and journal entries.
The crucial bond was that between Jacques and Virginia. Their correspondence ranged far and wide. Informed by the depressions and uncertainties, the speculation and passion of their bohemian lives, these letters display a complex affinity between three artists facing their own mortality, their weaknesses and the price of their creativity. It is a friendship whose later substance and passion was entirely expressed by letter.
Virginia Woolf & the Raverats is not only a complete record of their correspondence, but includes much previously unpublished material. None of the Raverat letters, the extracts from Gwen Raverat’s other writings, her powerful sketches of her husband on his deathbed, nor Jacques’ paintings have been published before. There are facsimile reproductions of crucial letters, diary and journal entries.
205 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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July 31, 2025
Absolutely beautiful book, in both its content and its presentation and illustrations. It is a book of letters to and from Virginia Woolf and the Raverats, Gwen Darwin Raverat and Jacques Raverat, with many gorgeous color and b&w plates of artworks by both Raverats. The book focuses on the death of Jacques from MS at the age of 40. The tension and sorrow felt by all three is so palpable that I dreamt of death last night.
Anyone with an interest in Virginia Woolf would, I think, appreciate these letters. They discuss their work, their feelings, friends in common, and art. Jacques shares a poem written by their eight year old daughter. Virginia sends them a manuscript of Mrs. Dalloway. There is much mutual appreciation.
My interest came from having just finished reading Gwen’s memoir, Period Piece, and my love of her woodcuts and now of his paintings. I like Gwen all the better for something stolid in her. VW has always seemed rather ethereal to me, but these letters reveal her as hardworking, assertive, worldly as well as searching. In comparison, Gwen is self-effacing and plain-spoken—that she was overweight and not a beauty is constantly attested across my reading about her, as well as being part of her self awareness. Virginia always gives me a whiff of noblesse oblige where Gwen is more self-doubting, less sure of herself. (I don’t mean to suggest these impressions are true. They are just what I think so far. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read one of VW’s novels. Maybe now. But Gwen is a hugely sympathetic character for me.)
Lastly, the editor of this lovely book is William Pryor, who is Gwen’s grandson and thus Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson. The production of this book was clearly a labor of love.
Anyone with an interest in Virginia Woolf would, I think, appreciate these letters. They discuss their work, their feelings, friends in common, and art. Jacques shares a poem written by their eight year old daughter. Virginia sends them a manuscript of Mrs. Dalloway. There is much mutual appreciation.
My interest came from having just finished reading Gwen’s memoir, Period Piece, and my love of her woodcuts and now of his paintings. I like Gwen all the better for something stolid in her. VW has always seemed rather ethereal to me, but these letters reveal her as hardworking, assertive, worldly as well as searching. In comparison, Gwen is self-effacing and plain-spoken—that she was overweight and not a beauty is constantly attested across my reading about her, as well as being part of her self awareness. Virginia always gives me a whiff of noblesse oblige where Gwen is more self-doubting, less sure of herself. (I don’t mean to suggest these impressions are true. They are just what I think so far. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read one of VW’s novels. Maybe now. But Gwen is a hugely sympathetic character for me.)
Lastly, the editor of this lovely book is William Pryor, who is Gwen’s grandson and thus Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson. The production of this book was clearly a labor of love.
Displaying 1 of 1 review