Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Biography?

WRITING THE LIFE story of an accomplished author and biographer is daunting enough. In the case of Virginia Woolf, that fear is amplified by the fact that she herself spoke so clearly of what made a biography succeed: â??the record of the things that change rather than of the things that happen.â? Additionally, Woolf is already the subject of multiple accomplished â??lives,â? most notably the comprehensive biography by Hermione Lee. Published in 1996, Leeâ??s book was noted for its thoroughness and heft: it placed the reader entirely in Woolfâ??s world, from the décor of her childhood home to the complicated relationship she shared with the written word. To embark upon Alexandra Harrisâ??s comparatively slender biography of Woolf thus feels almost like an exercise in futility. What could one read about Woolf in Harrisâ??s biography that Lee had not already unearthed and unfolded?