Virginia Woolf's Late Cultural Criticism : The Genesis of 'The Years', 'Three Guineas' and 'Between the Acts'

"After the Modernist literary experiments of her earlier work, Virginia Woolf became increasingly concerned with overt social and political commentary in her later writings, which are preoccupied with dissecting the links between patriarchy, patriotism, imperialism and war. This book unravels the complex textual histories of The Years (1937), Three Guineas (1938) and Between the Acts (1941) to expose the genesis and evolution of Virginia Woolf's late cultural criticism. Fusing a feminist-historicist approach with the practices and principles of genetic criticism, this innovative study scrutinizes a range of holograph, typescript and proof documents within their historical context to uncover the writing and thinking processes that produced Woolf's cultural analysis during 1931-1941. By demonstrating that Woolf's late cultural criticism developed through her literary experimentalism as well as in response to contemporary social, political and economic upheavals, this book offers a fresh perspective on her emergence as a cultural commentator in her final decade and paves the way for further genetic enquiries in the field."--Bloomsbury Publishing Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Historicizing Modernism Abbreviations Pre-Publication Texts Referenced within Virginia Woolf’s Late Cultural Criticism Editorial Symbols 1 Introducing Late Woolf British society and literature, 1931–41 Woolf in the 1930s and beyond A genetic approach to Woolf 2 Critiquing Patriarchy in the Years of The Years Tracing origins: ‘The Turn of the Tide’, 1931 The Years: Planning and writing and changing direction Writing a novel of fact Conclusion 3 The Evolution of Woolf’s Feminist-Pacifism in Three Guineas Three Guineas: Conception and contexts Three Guineas: Composition and pre-texts The Scrapbooks The Drafts The political power of indifference from The Years to Three Guineas Conclusion 4 Writing Art in Times of Chaos in Between the Acts The textual and contextual history of Between the Acts Debating the role of art in times of chaos Art’s social role in Between the Acts Conclusion 5 Conclusion: Newness and Lateness in Woolf’s Last Works Woolf and late modernism Conclusion Appendix A Extracts from ‘1907’ in the Holograph of The Years Appendix B An Extract from ‘1910’ in the Holograph of The Years Appendix C An Extract from the Holograph Draft of Three Guineas Bibliography Index