Summer courses 2025

Further information about the talks in our Summer Courses
Virginia Woolf: Writing Life, July 2025

Marielle O’Neill on Leonard Woolf: Reflections on a Political Life 

Born in London in 1880, Leonard Woolf was a writer, editor and journalist, active in the Labour Party and Fabian Society, with a strong commitment to peace and social justice. In later life, he wrote a 5-volume Autobiography, published 1960-69. This work is a fascinating reflection upon political thinking and political activism in the early twentieth century.

Marielle will explore Leonard Woolf’s descriptions in the Autobiography of his political career and the influential people he met. She will discuss how he developed his anti-imperialist ideas in his life and writing. And she will consider how Leonard Woolf uses his life writings to weigh up his political ideals against the realities of political contingency and compromise.

No pre-reading is necessary for this talk, but you may want to read some of Leonard Woolf’s Autobiography, especially on the years 1919 to 1939.