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Leonard Woolf

A Biography

By Victoria Glendinning

List Price: $16.95

April 28, 2008 | Paperback | 6 x 9, 512 Pages | ISBN 9781582434117
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“Comprehensive and eminently readable.” —New York Times Book Review

This meticulously researched and compassionately rendered portrait of Leonard Woolf, the “dark star” of Bloomsbury, is the first to capture his troubled relationships with his wife, his own intellect, and the tumultuous world around him. A man of extremes, Leonard Woolf was ferocious and tender, violent and self-restrained, opinionated and non-judgmental, always an outsider of sorts within the exceptionally intimate, fractious, and sometimes vicious society of brilliant but troubled friends and lovers. Glendinning traces the development of the Bloomsbury circle, bringing to life the group’s literary and personal discussions; she also provides an unprecedented depiction of Woolf’s marriage to the eminent Virginia, revealing his undying creative and emotional support for her amid her numerous breakdowns. Glendinning’s Leonard Woolf is a shrewdly perceptive and lively biography of a man whose far-reaching influence is long overdue for the full appreciation the author provides.

About Victoria Glendinning

VICTORIA GLENDINNING is a biographer, critic, broadcaster, and novelist, and has written extensively about the Bloomsbury Group. Her award-winning biographies include Elizabeth Bowen: Portrait of a Writer, Edith Sitwell: A Unicorn Among Lions, Rebecca West: A Life, Vita: The Life of V. Sackville West, and Trollope. She lives in London, England.

Praise

“Comprehensive and eminently readable.” —New York Times Book Review

“Glendinning has much to tell us about book publishing, political and literary journalism, class-consciousness, and intellectual heroism. And she has her own sly way with words.” —Harper’s

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