Bryanna Anderson
Ella Davis
Evan DeRosso
Kelly Johnson
David Quezada
Woolf’s involvement in politics has long been a subject of scholarly discourse. Although some early analysis sought to separate Woolf from politics, many scholars, both old and new, have argued that Woolf’s work and personal life are deeply saturated in political thought and action. From 1977 to 2024, several common themes - which commonly intersect - arise in political analysis of Woolf’s life and literature. These subtopics are: feminism, WW1/fascism, political thought/action, class/capitalism, and race/empire. From 1977 to 1998, there is a split in scholarly literature on the approach of how Woolf’s politics are analyzed. Although there is a 21 year gap between Alex Zerdling and Melba Cuddy-Keane, both scholars analyze the class politics found in Woolf’s published writing. This differs from Berenice A. Carroll and Michele Pridmore-Brown, who instead focus on Woolf’s political activism against fascism shown through her private life, letters and writing. In the post 2000s era, there is further variety of political analysis of Woolf’s work. Woellager and Merry M. Pawlowski analyzed the intersection of feminism with other topics such as fascism, race, and empire. Similarly, Haifeng Zhu, Hui Ding, and Weiyu Chen approach feminism in its relationship to war trauma. Zhu, Ding and Chen’s work represents an evolution of early Woolf scholarship from the late 1990s and early 2000s that focused on Woolf’s political thoughts and actions involving WW1, fascism and the British empire. Clara Jones' work reflects on early Woolf literature surrounding the concept of political thought relating to Woolf’s activism rather than her public writing. Additionally, Elene Gualtieri looks at the intersection of class and feminism in regards to working women during Woolf’s time. The intersections in political thought surrounding Woolf’s work reveals a deep involvement in political activism in Woolf’s life, even if at first, her politics seem surface level.