English writer Virginia Woolf was one of the most innovative and influential literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific author of essays, journals, letters, and long and short fiction, she is probably best remembered for her provocative experimental novels. As an early practitioner of stream-of-consciousness writing, Woolf subordinated dramatic action and plot development in her novels, exploring instead the inner thoughts and feelings of her characters. Through her revolutionary writings, she questioned both the nature of reality and the significance of the individual human being in an alienating and dehumanizing world. Her works offer a unique perspective on such topics as sexuality, feminism, life and death, madness and sanity, and the disintegration of society. Deeming Woolf "one of the half-dozen novelists of the present century whom the world will not easily let die," David Daiches, writing in Virginia Woolf, asserted: "There can be little question that she was the greatest woman novelist of her time, though she herself would have objected to the separation of her sex implied in such a judgment."
In novels such as Jacob's Room, Mrs.
