Study & Essay
Study Questions
What happened in Virginia's childhood
that made her ambivalent and somewhat fearful of male sexuality
and how did she compensate?
How was the Bloomsbury world different
from the world in which Virginia had grown up?
Summarize Virginia's stance on talented
women writers and their place in society, as well as the opportunities afforded
them in which to practice their art.
Essay Topics
Why were women not afforded the opportunity to attend
university, and what were they expected to do instead?
Describe Virginia's pattern of composition; that is,
what kind of mental cycles did she go through before, during and
after writing a novel?
How did World War One affect Virginia's career and,
more importantly, how did it affect her writing, as well as that
of many of the Modernist writers?
Describe the dynamics in the relationship between Clive
Bell and Virginia. What brought them together after a few years
of animosity?
Why did other artists and British society at large find
the Bloomsbury Group so threatening?
Describe the dynamics of Virginia's relationship with
Lytton Strachey? What kinds of rivalry, what kinds of love?
Describe the philosophy, or modus operandi, used by
the Bloomsbury Group in order to encourage free and open discussion
(hint: a philosophy promoted by G.E. Moore)
Name some of Virginia's Modernist contemporaries and
compare and contrast their work to hers.
