
Leonard Woolf
Bloomsbury Socialist
Oxford University Press
Published on 29. August 2019
Book
Hardback
232 pages
978-0-19-881414-6 (ISBN)
Description
Leonard Woolf: Bloomsbury Socialist is an invaluable biography of an important if somewhat neglected figure in British cultural and political life,whose significance has been overshadowed by that of his wife, Virginia Woolf. His vital role in her life and career is a central aspect of this incisive study. Born to a prosperous middle-class Jewish family, he was profoundly affected by the early death of his father, a prominent barrister and QC, which left his family in reduced economic circumstances. Fred Leventhal and Peter Stansky expertly reveal that, despite his youthful loss of religious faith, being Jewish was as crucial in shaping Woolf's ideas as the Hellenism he imbibed at St Paul's and Trinity College, Cambridge. As an undergraduate member of the celebrated elite Apostles-along with his close friends, Lytton Strachey and John Maynard Keynes-he played a formative role in what later became the Bloomsbury Group. He subsequently spent seven years as a colonial servant in Ceylon, the background to his powerful novel, The Village in the Jungle. Within a year of his return to England in 1911 he married Virginia Stephen, and in 1917 they founded the Hogarth Press, an innovative and commercially successful publishing house. In the course of his long life he wrote prolifically on international relations, notably on the creation of the League of Nations, on socialism, and on imperial policy, particularly in Africa. Throughout this authoritative study,Leventhal and Stansky illuminate the life, scope, and thought of this seminal figure in twentieth-century British society.
Reviews / Votes
...the final impression of this book is made in tribute to its subject - a "Bloomsbury Socialist", to be sure, but at heart a complex person of great courage and principle. * Wayne K. Chapman, Clemson University, Woolf Studies Annual *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 209 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
345 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-881414-6 (9780198814146)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2019
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€31.49
Available for download

E-Book
08/2019
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€31.49
Available for download
Persons
Fred Leventhal is the author of The Last Dissenter: H.N. Brailsford and His World and Respectable Radical: George Howell and Victorian Working Class Politics and was co-editor of Twentieth Century British History. He is Professor Emeritus of History at Boston University.
Peter Stansky is the author of On or About December 1910 as well as biographies of William Morris, George Orwell, Philip Sassoon, Julian Bell, and Edward Upward. He is Frances and Charles Field Professor Emeritus of History at Stanford University.
Peter Stansky is the author of On or About December 1910 as well as biographies of William Morris, George Orwell, Philip Sassoon, Julian Bell, and Edward Upward. He is Frances and Charles Field Professor Emeritus of History at Stanford University.
Author
Professor Emeritus of HistoryProfessor Emeritus of History, Boston University
Professor Emeritus of HistoryProfessor Emeritus of History, Boston University
Content
Abbreviations
Part I: The Personal Journey
1: Youth
2: Cambridge
3: Ceylon
4: Virginia and After
Part II: The Political Journey
5: International Government
6: Anti-Imperialist
7: The Wars for Peace
8: Socialism and Civilized Society
9: Journey's End
Select Bibliography
Part I: The Personal Journey
1: Youth
2: Cambridge
3: Ceylon
4: Virginia and After
Part II: The Political Journey
5: International Government
6: Anti-Imperialist
7: The Wars for Peace
8: Socialism and Civilized Society
9: Journey's End
Select Bibliography