Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Avant-garde

This book explores Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury as inheritors of European modernity's always unfinished Enlightenment project and of an avant-garde in struggles against imperialism, class and sex-gender systems, war, and totalitarianism. At a moment when democracy's triumph over fascism and communism was by no means assured, Woolf and Bloomsbury contributed richly to interwar debates on Europe's future. Woolf honed her public voice in dialogue with contemporaries in and beyond Bloomsbury-from John Maynard Keynes and Roger Fry to Sigmund Freud (published by the Woolf's Hogarth Press), Bertrand Russell, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and Katherine Mansfield-and her works embody the convergence of aesthetics and politics in post-Enlightenment thought. Relating an ambitious history of Woolf's writings to currents in contemporary British intellectual life in the first half of the century, Christine Froula illuminates Woolf as a world figure whose art and public voice speak across cultures and languages.

In this brilliant, indeed indispensable, study, Froula (Northwestern Univ.) places Woolf's major works in the context of Bloomsbury as a modernist movement...Essential. Choice Froula pursues her task passionately in a book which is energetic and likeable. -- Jim Stewart Times Literary Supplement Christine Froula's Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Avant-Garde is a timely and valuable contribution to Woolf studies emphasizing Woolf's relation to the political, aesthetic, and feminine milieu of her own era and beyond. -- Vera Neverow Modernism / Modernity Provocative... intensely optimistic... Impressive body of work on Woolf and modernism... Provides a fresh and challenging set of readings. -- Helen Southworth Virginia Woolf Miscellany Froula's book brims with fresh historical and political insights... [Her] book is crucial. -- Julia Keller Chicago Tribune This major new book is a significant and substantial addition to [Froula's] contribution to Woolf studies. -- Janfarie Skinner Virginia Woolf Bulletin Froula's fascinating new book... makes a timely contribution to modernist scholarship. -- Jane Garrity Woolf Studies Annual What a pleasure to read Froula's smart, wide-ranging, and often exquisite book. -- Jessica Berman Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature We can be grateful to Christine Froula for this most stimulating study which significantly broadens the scope of Woolf's work. -- Christine Reynier In-between

Christine Froula is professor of English, comparative literature, and gender studies at Northwestern University and a past president of the International Virginia Woolf Society. Her extensive publications include Modernism's Body: Sex, Culture, and Joyce.