A marriage of true minds: An intimate portrait of Leonard and Virginia Woolf

by George and Parsons Spater, Ian M. Parsons

A Marriage of True An Intimate Portrait of Leonard and Virginia Woolf

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Violet wells · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s always exciting to scour the second hand bookshops in the Charing Cross Road and I was thrilled to find this for a fiver. It was published in 1977. There are no wild claims, no hidden agendas as can be the case with Woolf biographies. It’s an old fashioned biography concerned only with accumulating as many pertinent documents as possible to tell its story.

There are 150 photos, many of which I’d never seen before.

Leonard liked to keep lists and my favourite was his record of every single game of bowls he and Virginia had played. Poor Virginia usually got beaten. In 1935 he won 42 and she only 8 (you kind of sense he was galled by every defeat!). In 1940 he won 259 games and she 73 with three drawn games.

Another good list was his record of the sales of three books published on the same day by the Hogarth Press. Virginia told everyone she was inconsolable that of the three her book was selling the least. Truth was, in the first year, TS Eliot’s poems had sold 33 copies, John Middleton Murray’s The Critic in Judgement 27 while Virginia’s Kew Gardens had sold 42.

All in all it’s a moving account of what was clearly an unconventional but incredibly fruitful marriage. It’s a well-known fact that Virginia didn’t do sex and so Leonard too had to renounce his sexuality and, bearing that in mind, you have to say Leonard deserves a lot of credit for his fidelity to the bond they shared and for curating Virginia’s colossal gift. If there's one husband feminists can have little argument with it's probably him. It ends with a photo of her heartbreaking suicide note to her husband.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books I've read on Leonard & Virginia as a couple. Pictures well the intimacy and non physical love they had for each other. Leonard was a hard nut that was uncrackable and very anal retentive but he kept Virginia alive ( until 1941 anyway when the food was scarce )so that's a major deal. VW was described well here but for a deeper dive I recommend her nephews book Virginia Woolf a Biography

Thanks Sarah for the recommendation!

[an Anna Blume · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Du hast mir das größtmögliche Glück geschenkt. Du bist mir in jeder Hinsicht alles gewesen, was einem überhaupt ein Mensch sein kann. (...) Wenn mich einer hätte retten können, dann wärest du es gewesen. (...) Ich glaube nicht, dass zwei Menschen hätten glücklicher sein können, als wir es waren" V.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting biography that focuses on Virginia and Leonard Woolf as a couple -- nicely illustrated with unique family photographs. This was written forty years ago by two British guys, and it really shows. While I liked the book overall, their weirdly casual dismissal of Virginia's childhood sexual abuse by her half brothers (they basically blame her "frigidity" on that "unsatisfying and embarrassing" experience), and their sometimes patronizing view of her role in her marriage and friendships, are not so great. The detailed information about the Hogarth press as well as Leonard's absolutely adorable recordkeeping habits are high points. Virginia's writing is touched on, but not the focus here, which makes it seem like there is a big hole in the biography, but also makes room for details you don't usually read. I'm glad to have gotten this more nuanced picture of Leonard and the day-to-day aspects of the running of their household, their evolving friendships, and their life together.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got three stars because it's not really my kind of book. The rating does not infer that the writing was inferior--it was not. Sometimes mundane? Yes, but biographies, at times, tend to be such. I did learn things I had not known, but the listing of names, ad nauseum, became boring, and after a while, I would skip over what seemed like unending lists. It was as if the authors were using well-known names to impress. You know, name dropping. But in fact, the Woolfs did inhabit a world of people, who, if not famous at the time, became well-known later on.

[Ilze · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was in this book that I discovered that Leonard and Virginia never had a sexual relationship ... I take my hat off to Leonard for staying by Virginia in spite of this and all her other problems.

[Teresa]

Fairly dry but it intrigued me enough to want to re-read Mrs. Dalloway next. Interesting how many authors were mentally ill.