Leonard gave at least an implied approval, while Sackville-West's husband Harold Nicholson not only did not object but pursued same-sex extramarital affairs himself. Hogarth Press published much of Sackville-West's writing, and she became Woolf's real-life muse, serving as the inspiration for Woolf's passionate, experimental novel 'Orlando,' which was relatively successful when it was published in 1928.īoth of their husbands were well-aware of the affair. The affair went on for ten years, and the pair remained friends even after the romance ended. It is incredible how essential to me you have become,' Sackville-West wrote to Woolf in 1926. 'I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. Submitting her work and waiting to hear back from publishers was another major source of stress for Woolf, per The Guardian.Īccording to Time, the two women met at a dinner party, and, despite both being married to men at the time, they soon became smitten with each other. According to the British Library, Woolf never really became comfortable opening her work up to public scrutiny, even as she gained more literary recognition, as she often dreaded criticism and fretted over feedback about her writing.

What seas of horror one dives through in order to pick up these pearls - however they are worth it.' The novel was well-received, and after her release, Woolf seemed to briefly find peace with her work, writing, 'My writing now delights me solely because I love writing and don't, honestly, care a hang what anyone says.

The book's publication had to be delayed because she was forced to spend the next six months in a rest home for her nerves. One of Woolf's most serious breakdowns came shortly after the publication of her first novel, 'The Voyage Out,' which she had written 'with a kind of tortured intensity,' according to her husband, via Newsweek.

Valovi by Virginia Woolf