1. Virginia Woolf

2. Biographical Background 1882–1941, English novelist and essayist. She was born to a wealthy and educated family. She began to write at a very early age. Unfortunately her life was made very difficult due to a recurrent mental condition which ultimately led her to commit suicide. In 1912 she married Leonard Woolf, with whom she set up the Hogarth Press in 1917. Their home became a gathering place for a circle of artists, critics, and writers known as the Bloomsbury group. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2003)

3. Her Work She is considered one of the most important innovators in the form of narrative fiction. She was not interested in plot or characterization but in the mind of the characters. In order to get into the psyche of her characters she used the Stream of Consciousness technique whereby the thought and feelings of the character are recorded without a logical narrative order. Her most important works are the novels Mrs. Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, The Voyage Out and The Waves, the latter being her most experimental work. Among her non-fiction output, A Room Of One’s Own, stands out as a powerful feminist statement.