Leonard Woolf: A Biography Book

Because I've also read Victoria Glendinning's excellent biography of Vita Sackville-West, and now her life of Leonard Woolf, I think she knows these people well. Leonard was a person who certainly deserved the attention this book provides. Despite his own considerable achievements as writer and publisher, he's obviously important as the first critic and care-giver and "nurturer" (Glendinning's word) of Virginia Woolf. He played a very large role in making it possible for her to have the health and creative atmosphere in which to produce the literary milestones her novels are. And he carefully single-handedly preserved what he considered important in her personal writings that help form much of the critical basis and appreciation of her work, the diaries and letters. Glendinning doesn't break new ground in Virginia Woolf studies. She doesn't reveal any startling new facts or perspectives. But she shows that Leonard is interesting in his own right, and she allows him to stand outside Virginia's shadow so we can see him clearly. One thing did surprise me: the nagging symptoms and effects of Virginia's illness are here portrayed as overpowering and constantly threatening, always at crisis. Other books about Virginia and her circle aren't so dark on this point.