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Entity shares the life of one of the famous women in history Virginia Woolf.

In our ongoing series, #WomenThatDid, ENTITY profiles inspirational and famous women in history whose impact on our world can still be felt today. If you have a suggestion for a historical powerhouse you would like to see featured, tweet us with the hashtag #WomenThatDid. 

Name: Virginia Woolf

Lifetime: January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941

What She’s Known For: One of the greatest modern writers of all time, Virginia Woolf sets the bar high for feminist prose. She started writing from a young age when she started a family newspaper, called the Hyde Park Gate News, to talk about hilarious family stories. She was born to a well-off family. She studied at King’s College, taking classes in German, Greek, English history, architecture and Latin.

In 1912, Virginia married fellow writer Leonard Woolf. Together, they set up a small, independent publishing house called the Hogarth Press which released works from authors (besides Virginia herself) like T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, Vita Sackville-West, Roger Fry, Gertrude Stein, the first English translations of Sigmund Freud, Katherine Mansfield and Clive Bell.

Virginia Woolf’s books have several queer themes, influenced in part by her own life. Although married to a man, Woolf was involved with several women in her life, most notably Vita Sackville-West. While Virginia avoided any labels for herself, Vita described as a “Sapphist” (as in Sappho of Lesbos).

Throughout her entire life, Virginia struggled with depression, starting at a very young age when she was sexually abused and then as a teen her mother died. Her father died a few years after and so did her half-sister. As a result, she suffered from several large breakdowns. Unfortunately, she succumbed to her depression in 1941 and drowned herself in the River Ouse.

Why We Love Her: Virginia, since she owned her own publishing company, was not afraid to print radical works. Her reflection on women in literature, “A Room of One’s Own,” helped set the groundwork for a second wave of feminism.

Fun Fact: She almost married a fellow Bloomsburry Group member, Lytton Strachey, but it turned out he was gay and they broke off the engagement.

RELATED: #WomenThatDid: Sappho

Edited by Ellena Kilgallon
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