Leonard, also a novelist, began work on his own novel,
which was about Ceylon, called The Village in the Jungle. At
the same time, he was fighting an internal battle regarding his
position in a colonial empire. He loved Ceylon, but had mixed feelings
about England's colonial policy. Leonard proposed to Woolf, but
she was undecided about her feelings. After requesting a four month
extension of his leave and being denied, Leonard resigned from
British service and, on May 29th, 1912, Woolf accepted Leonard's
proposal, sure now she loved him. They were married on August 10th.
Thanks to the abuse of her half brother and the delicacy
of her mental condition, Woolf was physically unresponsive to men
in general, even to those she loved. She was simply uncomprehending of
male lust. Regardless, she and Leonard had a very close relationship,
even if the physical side of it left a little to be desired. Marriage gave
Woolf a structure she needed. The couple moved out of Bloomsbury
and was able, away from the excitement of their old neighborhood,
to concentrate on their work. Leonard, to make ends meet, had taken
a part-time job at Grafton Galleries where Roger Fry was preparing
his Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition, which was sure to cause
another uproar since Picasso and Matisse enraged traditional art
lovers because of their audacity and bucking of tradition.
In November 1912, Leonard's book The Village in
the Jungle was accepted for publication. Both Leonard
and Woolf wanted to make a living from their writing alone and
perhaps raise a family. However, doctors advised Woolf not to have
children due to her history of mental instability. Sorrowfully,
Woolf and Leonard agreed that it was just too risky to have children.
With The Village in the Jungle finished,
Leonard began work on his second book, titled The Wise
Virgins. In March 1913, Woolf finally finished The
Voyage Out. She submitted the manuscript to her half-brother
Gerald Duckworth, who had founded his own publishing company. It
wasn't ideal, but it was a foot in the door. Gerald loved the book
and said he wanted to publish it immediately. Despite Gerald's
enthusiastic reaction, Woolf was incredibly anxious and nervous
to the point of sickness about the reception of her first book.
She was terrified. Her husband worried about her mental health and
kept voluminous notes on her moods in his diary. The Woolfs had
a country home by this time, which they called Asham and Woolf
retired to it when she was having a bout of anxiety or madness.
As publication of The Voyage Out loomed near, Woolf
grew more and more ill. Her doctor told her to return to Twickenham
and then go on vacation. Despite Woolf's negative feelings about
Twickenham, the doctor insisted that she spent some time there.
She spent two weeks in the nursing home. When Leonard picked her
up, she was much worse; she was almost suicidal. The couple returned
to Asham at once and Leonard called for the doctor, who insisted
that they continue on with the plan to holiday in Somerset. Woolf,
again, only got worse by following the doctor's orders.
They traveled back to their home in London and Woolf was
left in her room to rest. It was a mistake to leave her alone,
even if only for a few hours. She was found unconscious on her
bed, having swallowed one hundred grains of the drug Veronal, a
powerful sedative. Her stomach was pumped at the hospital and Leonard
began to contemplate institutionalizing Woolf, as much as it would
pain him to do it.
George Duckworth offered the couple use of his country
home in Sussex for Woolf's recovery. There, finally, Woolf became
to improve slowly. From Sussex, Leonard moved Woolf into Asham for
what he thought was good. He thought-and would continue to think
this for the rest of her life-that London was bad for Woolf's mental
well-being. It was a bad year for Woolf as she was ill off and on
for nearly a year. Her world, like everyone else's, was then disrupted
by the onset of World War I.
In 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated the Arch Duke
Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. This was the most visible catalyst
of the Great War, but tensions had been building in Europe for
years, with Germany, France, Britain, Russia and Austria-Hungary
growing more nationalist, more territorial and more hungry for
power. On August 1st, Germany declared war on Russia. Two days later,
it declared war on France. Great Britain, France, Russia, Serbia,
and Belgium joined forces as the Allies against the Central Powers, made
up of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. On April
six, 1917, America would enter the war. It was the largest war
in world history up to that point, and it disrupted the lives of nearly
everyone in the countries involved in the conflict, including Woolf.
Considered quite small in this context, the delay in the publication
of The Voyage Out was due to the outbreak of World
War One. The public would have to wait another few years before
they first heard from Virginia Woolf.
