Virginia Woolf

THE CUTTING EDGE Lesbian Life and Literature

Series Editor: Karla Jay Professor of English and Women’s Studies pace university

EDITORIAL BOARD

Judith Butler Jane Marcus Rhetoric English and Women’s Studies university of california, city college and berkeley city university of new york graduate center Blanche Wiesen Cook History and Women’s Studies Biddy Martin john jay college and city German Studies and university of new york Women’s Studies graduate center cornell university

Diane Griffin Crowder Elizabeth A. Meese French and Women’s Studies English cornell college university of alabama

Joanne Glasgow Esther Newton English and Women’s Studies Anthropology bergen community college SUNY, purchase

Marny Hall Terri de la Peña Psychotherapist and Writer Novelist/Short Story Writer

Celia Kitzinger Ruthann Robson Social Studies Writer loughborough university, law school, queens college uk city university of new york Leila J. Rupp Elizabeth Wood History Musicologist and Writer ohio state university Committee on Theory and Culture new york university Ann Allen Shockley Librarian Bonnie Zimmerman fisk university Women’s Studies san diego state university THE CUTTING EDGE Lesbian Life and Literature

Series Editor: Karla Jay

The Cook and the Carpenter: A Novel by the Carpenter by June Arnold with an introduction by Bonnie Zimmerman

Ladies Almanack by Djuna Barnes with an introduction by Susan Snaider Lanser

Virginia Woolf: Lesbian Readings edited by Eileen Barrett and Patricia Cramer

Adventures of the Mind: The Memoirs of Natalie Clifford Barney translated by John Spalding Gatton with an introduction by Karla Jay

Sophia Parnok: The Life and Work of Russia’s Sappho by Diana Burgin

Paint It Today by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) edited and with an introduction by Cassandra Laity

The Angel and the Perverts by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus translated and with an introduction by Anna Livia

Heterosexual Plots and Lesbian Narratives Marilyn R. Farwell Spinsters and Lesbians: Independent Womanhood in the United States, 1890–1930 and 1950–1980 by Trisha Franzen

Diana: A Strange Autobiography by Diana Frederics with an introduction by Julie L. Abraham

Your John: The Love Letters of Radclyffe Hall edited and with an introduction by Joanne Glasgow

Lover by Bertha Harris

Elizabeth Bowen: A Reputation in Writing by renée c. hoogland

Lesbian Erotics edited by Karla Jay

Changing Our Minds: Lesbian Feminism and Psychology by Celia Kitzinger and Rachel Perkins

(Sem)Erotics: Theorizing Lesbian : Writing by Elizabeth A. Meese

Bisexuality and the Challenge to Lesbian Politics: Sex, Loyalty, and Revolution by Paula C. Rust

The Search for a Woman-Centered Spirituality by Annette J. Van Dyke

Lesbian Friendships: For Ourselves and Each Other edited by Jacqueline S. Weinstock and Esther D. Rothblum

I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister, 1791–1840 edited by Helena Whitbread

No Priest but Love: The Journals of Anne Lister, 1824–26 edited by Helena Whitbread Virginia Woolf Lesbian Readings

EDITED BY Eileen Barrett and Patricia Cramer

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Virginia Woolf: lesbian readings / edited by Eileen Barrett and Patricia Cramer. p. cm. —— (The cutting edge) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8147-1263-0 (clothbound : alk. paper). —— ISBN 0-8147-1264-9 (paperbound : alk paper) 1. Woolf, Virginia, 1882–1941——Criticism and interpretation. 2. Homosexuality and literature——England——History——20th century. 3. Feminism and literature——England——History——20th century. 4. Women and literature——England——History——20th century. 5. Lesbianism in literature. 6. Lesbians in literature. 7. Sex in literature. I. Barrett, Eileen. II. Cramer, Patricia, 1948 Mar. 17- III. Series: Cutting edge (New York, N.Y.) PR6045.O72Z8936 1997 823.912——dc20 97-4667 CIP

New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10987654321