Leonard Woolf - Writing

Writing

After marriage, Woolf turned his hand to writing, publishing in 1913 his first novel, The Village in the Jungle, based on his years in Sri Lanka. A series of books was to follow at roughly two-year intervals. On the introduction of conscription in 1916 during World War I, Woolf was rejected for military service on medical grounds, and turned to politics and sociology. He joined the Labour Party and Fabian Society and became a regular contributor to the New Statesman. In 1916 he wrote International Government, proposing an international agency to enforce world peace.

As his wife began to suffer greatly from mental illness, Woolf devoted much of his time to caring for her (Leonard Woolf himself suffered with depression/mental illnesses). In 1917 the Woolfs bought a small, hand-operated printing press; with it they founded the famous Hogarth Press. Their first project was a pamphlet, hand-printed and bound by themselves. Within ten years, the Press had become a full-scale publishing house with a highly distinguished authors list. Woolf continued as its director until his death. His wife's mental problems continued, however, until her suicide in 1941. After Virginia Woolf's suicide, Leonard fell in love with a married artist, Trekkie Parsons.

In 1919 Woolf became editor of the International Review, and edited the international section of the Contemporary Review (1920–1922). He was literary editor of Nation Athenaeum (1923–1930), joint editor of The Political Quarterly (1931–1959), and for a time served as secretary of the Labour Party's advisory committees on international and colonial questions.

In 1960, Woolf revisited Sri Lanka and was surprised at the warmth of the welcome he received, and even the fact that he was still remembered, according to E.F.C. Ludowyk in his introduction to The Village in the Jungle. Woolf accepted an honorary doctorate from the then new University of Sussex in 1964 and in 1965 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, but declined the CH in the Queen's Birthday honours list in 1966.