What Was Virginia Woolf Afraid Of?

It’s no secret that I adore Virginia Woolf, so I was pleased when I was given the opportunity to watch What Was Virginia Woolf Afraid Of?, which was shown on Sky Arts last year and is now available on DVD. It’s a documentary about her life and work, speaking to many Woolf experts.

The first one who pops up is Hermione Lee, who was my thesis supervisor during my Masters. I only tangentially wrote about Woolf then, but I certainly enjoyed going to her Woolf lectures as an undergraduate. Alongside her are experts like Lyndall Gordon and a lot of people I hadn’t heard of, but are doubtless brilliant. I particularly enjoyed the small amounts of archival interview footage with Angelica Garnett, Woolf’s niece, and Nigel Nicolson [who also seemed weirdly excited to talk about his parents’ love lives and affairs – he being the son of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson].

The documentary starts by talking in broad brushstrokes about her influence on writing, her power as a writer, the main themes of her life and work. From here, there is a fairly chronological look at her life – looking particularly at moments of trauma. These include the early deaths of her brother and mother, and the sexual assault she suffered at the hands of her step brothers. Woolf’s mental health is inextricably intertwined with her reputation and any interpretation of her work, and it is discussed sensitively here – the trauma is not allowed to loom too large, but is given a reasonable space. But I would have liked a bit more on how funny Woolf was, in her novels, letters, and particularly her essays.

The choice of readings from Woolf’s books are wonderfully well chosen – all perfectly illustrating different aspects of her character and career. Many are the expected moments from anybody who loves her writing, and her most famous novels certainly take the limelight, but there are some more unexpected and thoughtful choices too. All read beautifully, and accompanied by a new score by Adrian Munsey.

If you already know about Woolf, it’s unlikely that you’ll find anything you didn’t already know here. There are certainly no new revelations or unusual interpretations. But, much like Alexandra Harris’s brilliant biography of her, it manages to encapsulate almost everything significant in a short space. If you only know her writing, or don’t know much about Woolf at all, it’s a great place to start – and should set you off keen to find out more about the many angles of this multi-faceted genius.