Virginia Woolf and the Professions

This book argues that Virginia Woolf used her writing to examine the professions and their significance in British society.

One of the first book-length studies of a female modernist writer and the professions, this monograph explores the relationship between Virginia Woolf's writing and the rise of the professions in twentieth-century Britain. This book shows how Woolf participated in debates about the role of the professions in British society.This book explores Virginia Woolf's engagement with the professions in her life and writing. Woolf underscored the significance of the professions to society, such as the opportunity they provided for a decent income and the usefulness of professional accreditation. However, she also resisted their hierarchical structures and their role in creating an overspecialised and fragmented modernity, which prevented its members from leading whole, fulfilling lives. This book shows how Woolf's writing reshaped the professions so that they could better serve the individual and society, and argues that her search for alternatives to existing professional structures deeply influenced her literary methods and experimentation.