Who Killed Virginia Woolf?: A Psychobiography

by Alma Halbert Bond

Overview

Who, if anyone, was responsible when Virginia Woolf wandered across the water-meadows and threw herself in the river Ouse? By examining the various strains which led to Woolf's tragically ending her life -- the true nature of her marriage, her complex relationship with Vita Sackville-West, the pangs of sexual insecurity, and the lack of self-esteem -- noted psychoanalyst Alma H. Bond illustrates how these influences coalesced to bring Woolf's life to a logical ending.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780595002054
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.09(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	10
	Acknowledgments	11
	Introduction	15
1.	Julia Stephen: "The Base Upon Which Life Stands"	21
	Symbiosis	24
	Stella	28
	Her "Love Affair with the World"	30
	The Rapprochement Crisis	32
	The Rapprochement Crossroads	35
1.	Superego Development	35
2.	The Conflicts of Toilet Training	36
3.	Penis Envy	40
	Further Hints of Trouble	41
	Basic Moods	41
	Beck's Portrait	42
	Summary	44
2.	Leslie Stephen: "That Ole Wretch, the Dearest of Creatures"	46
	The Trip to the Lighthouse	46
	The Parental Relationship	52
	The Struggle to Disengage from Mother	55
	Identification with Father	58
	Suicide as a Means of Avoiding Identification with Her Aging Father	62
	The Transmutation of Grief into Art	63
	Leslie and Virginia: A Natural Experiment in Heredity and Environment	64
	Summary	67
3.	Leonard and Virginia: "The Coward and the Snob"	69
	Leonard the Superego	70
	Her Breakdown	75
	The Coward and the Snob	77
	The Asexual Marriage	80
	George	81
	Leonard's Reward	84
	Underground Rumblings	86
	Leonard: The "Bad Mother"	90
	Leonard and Leslie	91
	Further Dissatisfactions	92
	Her "Honeymoon Psychosis"	93
	Summary	95
4.	Vanessa: "The Cure That Failed"	100
	Vanessa's Role in Virginia's World	100
	Virginia's Dream	106
	Their Sadomasochistic Relationship	108
	The "Cure" That Failed	112
	Vanessa's Contribution to Virginia's Genius	115
	Summary	116
5.	Vita and Virginia: "The Reality Behind the Masks"	118
	The Stage is Set	120
	The Overture	121
	The Marriage of Vita and Harold Nicolson	122
	Vita: The "As If" Personality	125
	Her Parents	130
	The Sackvilles: Mother and Daughter	131
	Lady Sackville the Tease	133
	Vita the Lover	134
	The Romance	137
	Virginia Matures	140
	Object Constancy	144
	Their Sex Lives	145
	The Ripening	148
	Summary	149
6.	Virginia Woolf and the Death Instinct	151
	The Pleasure Principle	151
	The Return to Paradise	153
	Virginia's Predictive Dream	154
	Vanessa Is No Help	156
	Leonard's Contribution	157
	Was Leonard Unfaithful?	164
	The Deprivation of the War Years	168
	Summary	171
	Notes	177
	Index	195

Editorial Reviews

Considers the many motivations for Woolf's suicide, and argues that these motives were more covert than is generally suspected. Acidic paper. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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