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A review by magicraft
A Writer's Diary by Virginia Woolf
4.0
"What a vast fertility of pleasure books hold for me! I went in and found the table laden with books. I looked in and sniffed them all. I could not resist carrying this one off and broaching it. I think I could happily live here and read forever." Everyone on Goodreads can probably identify with this.
This diary provides a fascinating and melancholy insight into Virginia Woolf's daily life. She started keeping a regular journal in 1913 when she was 33 until her death in 1941.
Her entries contain self-doubt and uncertainty of her work. Throughout her life she debates whether her stories would be rejected by critics, though her worst fears were almost always unfounded. For those who struggle with their own writing, this catalogue of thoughts on writing is invaluable. For someone so talented to have such doubts provides some comfort.
Woolf's thoughtful descriptions and stream of consciousness writing paint vivid scenes from her life. The impending doom of the war also permeated nearly every entry as WWII began. I can't imagine the stress of living through that time, with the bombings beginning in regular intervals and the destruction of two of their flats in London.
As someone who lives with bi-polar depression, there are so many moments in this book I could identify with, especially the extreme highs followed by deep lows...
"Only the thought of people suffering more than I do at all consoles; and that is an aberration of egotism, I suppose. I will now make out a time table if I can to get through these odious days."
"It occurs to me that this state, my depressed state, is the state in which most people usually are."
While there are also many highs in this collection of Woolf's life, it's the darkness, the self-doubt that makes her so relatable for me. She speaks to so much of our nature. For those who understand depression, mind burning headaches and hope amid self-doubt, this book recognizes that we are not alone.
This diary provides a fascinating and melancholy insight into Virginia Woolf's daily life. She started keeping a regular journal in 1913 when she was 33 until her death in 1941.
Her entries contain self-doubt and uncertainty of her work. Throughout her life she debates whether her stories would be rejected by critics, though her worst fears were almost always unfounded. For those who struggle with their own writing, this catalogue of thoughts on writing is invaluable. For someone so talented to have such doubts provides some comfort.
Woolf's thoughtful descriptions and stream of consciousness writing paint vivid scenes from her life. The impending doom of the war also permeated nearly every entry as WWII began. I can't imagine the stress of living through that time, with the bombings beginning in regular intervals and the destruction of two of their flats in London.
As someone who lives with bi-polar depression, there are so many moments in this book I could identify with, especially the extreme highs followed by deep lows...
"Only the thought of people suffering more than I do at all consoles; and that is an aberration of egotism, I suppose. I will now make out a time table if I can to get through these odious days."
"It occurs to me that this state, my depressed state, is the state in which most people usually are."
While there are also many highs in this collection of Woolf's life, it's the darkness, the self-doubt that makes her so relatable for me. She speaks to so much of our nature. For those who understand depression, mind burning headaches and hope amid self-doubt, this book recognizes that we are not alone.