I have always been fascinated with Virginia Woolf's life and writing.
(I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review).
VIRGINIA WOOLF: The Will to Create as a Woman
genre: biography, literature, history
4 STARS
REISSUED (First written in 1935 and reissued in 2005)
Ruth Gruber the youngest PhD student to receive her degree takes a look at Virginia Woolf and her analyzes her writing. The first part of the book is the Introduction written by the author. She explains why she wrote this book, on meeting the author she writes about, corresponding with her and Gruber's own academia history. There are also copies of the original letters she discusses in the book. The next part of the book is Gruber's dissertation on Virgina Woolf's writing and her beliefs. One of the major points is that Woolf writes from a feminine voice in a time where everyone else used masculinity. The last part of the book is the reason Gruber reissued her book and those who were instrumental in making that happen.
I choose to read this book because Virginia Woolf as a writer, person and someone suffering from mental illness has always fascinated me. Usually, you see biographies that take some time to analyze her writing as based on her life. Gruber in this book takes the time to look at the voice from which Woolf writes. Gruber outlines how Woolf in most of her writings if not all has a distinct feminine voice. I was a little lost at what the referred to at first but having read Mrs. Dalloway I was able to follow Gruber's examples. I would not recommend this book to everyone as it is not one of those pass along books. Anyone who is a fan of English lit, author's writing background or of Woolf will appreciate Gruber's work.
More on Ruth Gruber:
BIOGRAPHY
Ruth Gruber is an award-winning Jewish American journalist, photographer, and humanitarian. Born in Brooklyn in 1911, she became the youngest PhD in the world and went on to author nineteen books, including the National Jewish Book Award–winning biography Raquela (1978). She also wrote several memoirs documenting her astonishing experiences, among them Ahead of Time (1991), Inside of Time (2002), and Haven (1983), which documents her role in the rescue of one thousand refugees from Europe and their safe transport to America. Gruber lives in New York City.
Books
- Witness: One of the Great Correspondents of the Twentieth Century Tells Her Story Schocken (2007)
- Virginia Woolf: The Will To Create As A Woman, 2005
- Inside of Time: My Journey from Alaska to Israel, 2002, 2004
- Exodus 1947: The Ship That Launched the Nation, 1999 2007
- Ahead of Time: My Early Years As a Foreign Correspondent, 1991, 2001
- Rescue: The Exodus of the Ethiopian Jews, 1987
- Haven: The Dramatic Story of 1000 World War II Refugees and How They Came to America, 1983, 2000
- Raquela: A Woman of Israel, 1978, 1985, 1993, 2000
- They Came to Stay (coauthor: Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky), 1976
- Die Bauern-Passion Von Waal (coauthors: Ursula Zeidler, Gerhard Eberts), 1976
- Felisa Rincon De Gautier: The Mayor of San Juan, 1972
- Puerto Rico: island of promise
- Israel on the seventh day, 1968
- Israel today: Land of many nations, 1958
- Israel without tears, 1950
- Destination Palestine: The story of the Haganah ship Exodus 1947, 1948
- I Went To The Soviet Union, 1944
- I Went to the Soviet Arctic, 1939, 1991
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