Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • English author: Virginia Woolf was a 20th-century English writer known for her novels, essays, and literary criticism. She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, an influential circle of intellectuals and artists.
   • Literary innovator: She is particularly noted for pioneering narrative techniques such as stream of consciousness and the interior monologue to explore the inner lives of her characters.

Usage Examples

• Proper noun:
  • We are studying the works of Virginia Woolf in my modern literature class.
  • Virginia Woolf's essay "A Room of One's Own" is a foundational feminist text.
  • The novel "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf takes place over a single day.

Advanced Usage

• "Woolfian" (adjective): Characteristic of or resembling the style, themes, or techniques of Virginia Woolf.
  • The novel's introspective and fluid narrative is distinctly Woolfian.

Variants and Related Words

• Bloomsbury Group: The name of the intellectual and artistic circle to which Virginia Woolf belonged.
• Stream of consciousness: A narrative mode she helped popularize, attempting to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings passing through the mind.

Synonyms

• Writer
• Novelist
• Essayist
• Modernist author

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "A room of one's own": This phrase, from the title of her famous essay, has become an idiom representing the need for personal and financial independence, especially for women engaged in creative work.
  • To write, she felt she needed a room of her own and a stable income.

Noun

1. English author whose work used such techniques as stream of consciousness and the interior monologue; prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group (1882-1941)