the novels of virginia woolf hermione lee

Lee’s wit canters along at an easy pace here: Virginia Woolf’s Nose is a delightful read. That origin, the book’s subtitle, Essays on Biography, and the humorous title itself (an allusion to the controversial prosthetic nose Nicole Kidman wore to play Woolf in the movie of The Hours) give the flavor of the book. It originated in a Cambridge University seminar and a series of lectures at Princeton. Lee’s latest book, Virginia Woolf’s Nose, is a handsome, slim volume on writing biography. She is currently at work on a biography of Edith Wharton.

In addition to Virginia Woolf (1998), she has written books on Willa Cather, Stevie Smith, Elizabeth Bowen, and Philip Roth. Her status as Woolf’s definitive biographer is testament to Lee’s overall standing as one of our best literary biographers. Hermione Lee is the author of the best biography of Virginia Woolf: in a field crowded with competitors for the definitive portrayal of a beloved woman writer, this is no mean achievement. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. Bless her, she tried to place it elsewhere. So, then, what is the emotion when the editor writes to say, oops! we assigned the review to somebody else.

Wasn't I flattered when the editor of biography contacted me and asked me to review this book? Wasn't it a happy day to receive the thin volume free in the mail? And to take a day off from manuscript work in July to write the review, well, it made me feel important and busy.

The novels of virginia woolf hermione lee