Posted by Jost on June 11, 2006, at 17:02:17
In reply to Re: Has anybody seen The Hours?, posted by Declan on January 14, 2006, at 17:19:23
I haven't seen the Hours. However, Virginia Woolf suffered from periodic bouts of severe depression for much of her adult life, beginning after the death of her mother and sister, and, even more acutely, after the death of her father in 1905. (She was born in 1881 (or 1882).) There was a history of depression in her family. Also a history of creativity and significant contribution.
I had always heard that she was considered "manic-depressive" or, in more contemporary terms, bipolar, and had made more than one serious suicide attempts. I don't think there's a simple or single cause for her difficult periods.
She had an incredibly productive and interesting life, and had great wit and a sense of humor. So while this movie seems to present her as a sad case, she was anything but that.
Besides her novels, she also wrote great essays and letters, several volumes of which have been published and which are great fun to read.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:594690
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20051228/msgs/655584.html