The Voyage Out

Resumen del libro

Helen and Ridley Ambrose are preparing to set off for an exotic resort off the coast of South America on the Euphrosyne, a ship belonging to Helen's brother-in-law Willoughby Vinacre. Also travelling with them is his daughter Rachel - a quiet, unremarkable girl raised in the London suburbs by her spinster aunts after the death of her mother. Along the way other people join on board, such as the upper-class Clarissa and Richard Dalloway and the scholar William Pepper.

As Rachel interacts with the other passengers, intrigued by their different personalities, it becomes clear that what started for her as a mere sea voyage is turning into a journey of self-discovery and a rite of passage that will change her for ever, transforming her into a fully fledged woman. Published in 1915 after a long period of gestation and several drafts, The Voyage Out marks Virginia Woolf's debut as a novelist. Perhaps the most conventional and accessible of her major works, it is essential both for understanding the early development of her style and for the light it sheds into her own biography and artistic vision.

Biografía del autor

Hija del conocido hombre de letras Sir Leslie Stephen, Virginia Woolf nace en Londres el 25 de enero de 1882, y vive, desde su infancia, en un ambiente densamente literario. Al morir su padre, Virginia y su hermana Vanesa dejan el elegante barrio de Kensington y se trasladan al de Bloomsbury, más modesto y algo bohemio, que ha dado nombre al brillante grupo formado alrededor de las hermanas Stephen. En 1912 se casa con Leonard Woolf y juntos dirigen la Hogarth Press. El 28 de marzo de 1941, la genial novelista sucumbe a la grave dolencia mental que la aqueja desde muchos años atrás y se suicida ahogándose en el río Ouse. Además de Las olas (1931), Virginia Woolf fue autora de novelas tan importantes como El cuarto de Jacob (1922), La señora Dalloway (1925), Al faro (1927), Orlando (1928), Los años (1937) y Entre actos (1941).