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Downhill All The Way: An Autobiography of the Years 1919 To 1939 (Autobiography of Leonard Woolf #4)
Leonard Woolf's recollections of his life with Virginia Woolf during the years when she wrote her major novels; also an account of the growth of the Hogarth Press, as well as portraits of Sigmund Freud, T. S. Eliot, and others. "There is a lucid probity in Leonard Woolf's writing" (Leon Edel, Saturday Review). Index; photographs.
Paperback
,
264 pages
Published
October 18th 1989
by Mariner Books
(first published January 1st 1968)
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Community Reviews
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Leonard Woolf has a life too! This is the period where his wife writes most of her novels (minus
The Voyage Out
and
Between the Acts
. And during this period Leonard becomes a publisher (we have so much in common!), a translator from the Russian (learning Russian in this time first), a political candidate (unsuccessful), a political advisor (the obvious next step), and meets Nehru and Gandhi (the obvious next next step). He's also so affected by the coming of the Second World War. I guess the wor
...more
Twenty years of living with madness, brilliance, anti-Semitism, and odd-man-out'ism. Surely Leonard amassed sufficient points with the literary gods to spring Ted Hughes?
If he hadn't parked himself alongside Virginia's pyrotechnics, his personal brilliance would have seemed much brighter.
If he hadn't parked himself alongside Virginia's pyrotechnics, his personal brilliance would have seemed much brighter.
I very much enjoyed this installment of Leonard Woolf's autobiography. Once again, he provides deeper insights into his wife, Virginia Woolf, and their life together. A substantial portion of the book is concerned with Virginia, as it covers the years of during which she produced her finest work. In addition, Mr. Woolf gives a very interesting and informative account of his own writing and his work in various capacities in British politics. I particularly enjoyed these accounts of his political
...more
I was as engaged by this volume compared to the others (with the very definite exception of the traveling through Nazi rallies with his marmoset scenes). The glimpse of their lives with their friends, the powerful despair of heading into WWII and printing adventures are fascinating. Some of the discussions of political work and being named to various committees got a little old.
This volume, of course, describes more of Leonard and Virginia's life together, as their years together (unknowingly) wound to a close. Intriguing descriptions of the development of the Hogarth Press into a true publishing entity, after starting it as a "hobby" in 1918. Leonard becomes even more of a political animal in the years between the first and second World Wars. They buy Tavistock Square house, where they will stay until it is bombed in WW2. Descriptions of the society they moved in, the
...more
Felt that this book was not as well written as "Sowing," his first volume of autobiography, but I still enjoyed this one. There are some quite political sections that were difficult for me to understand, but rewarding if you took the time to go slow and possibly read up a little bit on Labour politics during the 20s and 30s.
The bits about art, literature, the Hogarth Press, and Virginia especially were always insightful and interesting. I loved the mundane details about their finances during the ...more
The bits about art, literature, the Hogarth Press, and Virginia especially were always insightful and interesting. I loved the mundane details about their finances during the ...more
Again Woolf presents his life sometimes with the most minute details and with that same air of detachment as in the earlier volumes of his autobiography. Despite his seeming transparency, I had the sense of him holding back as much as he was giving.
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Leonard Sidney Woolf was a noted British political theorist, author, publisher (
The Hogarth Press
), and civil servant, but perhaps best-known as husband to author
Virginia Woolf
.
More about Leonard Woolf...
