A Moment's Liberty: The Shorter Diary

by Virginia Woolf

Overview

The Diary of Virginia Woolf has been acclaimed as a masterpiece. Anne Olivier Bell edited the five-volume original, and she has now abridged the Diary in this splendidly readable single volume edition. “A fine opportunity to experience Woolf’s biting wit and scathing depiction of her contemporaries” (Booklist). Introduction by Quentin Bell; Index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780156619127
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/15/1992
Series:	Virginia Woolf Library
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	528
Sales rank:	542,478
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882–1941) was one of the major literary figures of the twentieth century. An admired literary critic, she authored many essays, letters, journals, and short stories in addition to her groundbreaking novels, including Mrs. Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, and Orlando.

Date of Birth:

January 25, 1882

Date of Death:

March 28, 1941

Place of Birth:

London

Place of Death:

Sussex, England

Education:

Home schooling

Editorial Reviews

Woolf's diaries of 1915-1941, published in five volumes between 1977 and 1984, were swiftly written whenever she had the time and inclination to record her dismay or delight, visits or visitors, encounters with creative minds, society ladies and servants, or was moved to ponder literary conundrums, book sales or nasty reviews. Abridged to a fifth of their original published size, the diaries here may appeal to a larger audience, not least because each year represented is prefaced by a wonderfully succinct overview. Here are Woolf's superbly drawn portraits of Max Beerbohm, T. S. Eliot, John Maynard Keynes, Katherine Mansfield--and her occasionally acerbic remarks on what they said and did. But the diaries are also a repository for luminous thoughts on birds and weather, the pleasures of walking or listening to music, and witty jabs at unwelcome guests and importunate journalists. ``I walk; I read; I write, without terrors or constrictions,'' Woolf observed. ``I feel that I have had a good draught of human life, and find much champagne in it.'' (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly