Wouter > Recent Status Updates

Chapters 3 (Paternal)and 4 (Maternal) are like a diptych, concerning the families of both Woolf's parents. It is profound but it also at times bogs down the reading because of the overflow of names and references. Somehow I feel it gives a necessary background, but I also wonder if so much detail has to be given in a biography on Virginia Woolf. References to To the Lighthouse and A Sketch of the Past/Reminiscences.

Second chapter about St. Ives and Hyde Park Gate. Lee uses a lot of resources apart from Woolf. Lots of descriptions, making you as a reader feel a bit like how the two places must have felt. Also many references to the novels which were affected by these childhood memories. It is a slow read, but it makes things sink in deeper.

"How to start a biography?" Lee starts her biography by exploring Woolf's ideas on (auto-)biography and the development of them throughout her life. The first chapter is a great introduction to Moments of Being, Virginia Woolf's post-humously auto-biographical work, and explains the difficulty of writing somebody's life. Lee's style fits Virginia Woolf's and I'm curious about the follow-up.