'A Story of Words, Opinions and a few Emotions': Leonard Woolf as Editor, Publisher, and Critic

• Main Author: Podos, Marnie Alexis
• Published: University of Oxford 2007
• Subjects: 820.90091
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491212

This thesis examines a trio of Leonard Woolf’s professional pursuits: his work as a literary editor, as an independent publisher, and as a critic. It seeks to elucidate Woolf’s cultural significance, which has been mostly neglected, through an assessment of his critical influence on the intellectual climate of twentieth-century Britain. Supporting evidence is drawn from Woolf’s published and unpublished correspondence, his autobiography, his weekly column for the Nation and Athenaeum (1923-1930), the literary careers of his authors, and a range of works published by the Hogarth Press. The introduction underscores Woolf’s critical legacy and situates him at the centre of an illustrious web of novelists, essayists, and reviewers who worked with him. Chapter One examines Woolf’s general approach to editing and his relationships with specific contributors to the Nation and Athenaeum. Chapter Two addresses the stratification of the literary taste in post-war Britain through a close analysis of Woolf’s critically overlooked column, “The World of Books”. It compares his articles to essays written by Virginia Woolf during the same period on corresponding subject matter. Chapter Three examines Woolf’s pragmatic approach to the business of publishing and his creative vision for the Hogarth Press. Chapter Four offers case studies of three authors who benefited from Woolf’s guidance. Chapter Five addresses Woolf’s innovation as a pamphleteer. Concentrating on the Hogarth Essays, the first Hogarth Series, it examines Woolf’s publication of critical works on issues of aesthetic, political, and social importance to his generation. Chapter Six examines the Hogarth Lectures on Literature and the Hogarth Letters, focusing on their instructive value, and suggests that, collectively, the Hogarth Series are a vital contribution to literary modernism. The conclusion argues that Woolf deserves to be recognised as a cultural conductor of the twentieth century.