Handbook to the Bloomsbury Group

Derek Ryan is Senior Lecturer in Modernist Literature at the University of Kent, UK. His previous books include Virginia Woolf and the Materiality of Theory (2013) and Animal Theory: A Critical Introduction (2015). Stephen Ross is Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Canada. He is Past-President of the Modernist Studies Association (2015/16) and General Editor of The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism Online.

Bloomsbury is everywhere: books, films, plays, even anime. Indeed, has any other group of friends had a more potent influence on the 20th-century ethos? Ryan (Univ. of Kent, UK) and Ross (Univ. of Victoria, Canada) demonstrate that the influence extends into the 21st century too, in essays covering sexuality, the arts, empire, feminism, philosophy, class, Jewishness, nature, politics, and war. Each essay is followed by a case study. Some essays (those on sexuality, class, the arts, and philosophy) reiterate well-established contentions; others force a new reckoning of the interconnectedness between the members and the pervasiveness, both positive and negative, of the group’s influence. The essays in this latter group are provocative and sometimes antagonistic, so they will be terrifically exciting for Bloomsbury scholars. Most fascinating are the essays devoted to the men of Bloomsbury, who were often relegated to the darkness in relation to Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. This collection reminds one that the reverberations of Bloomsbury are still felt in every aspect of modern society, from the arts (including literature, painting, textiles, pottery, and museum acquisitions) to politics and economics, and even social policy. Summing Up: Essential.

• List of ContributorsIntroductionDerek Ryan (University of Kent, UK) and Stephen Ross (University of Victoria, Canada)1. Bloomsbury and SexualityTodd Avery (University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA)Case Study: Edward Carpenter's Radical Integrity and its Influence on E. M. ForsterJesse Wolfe (California State University, Stanislaus, USA)2. Bloomsbury and the ArtsMaggie Humm (University of East London, UK)Case Study: Clive Bell and the Legacies of Significant FormMark Hussey (Pace University, USA)3. Bloomsbury and EmpireSonita Sarker (Macalester College, USA)Case Study: Race, Empire and Performative Activism in Late Edwardian BloomsburyAnna Snaith (King's College London, UK) 4. Bloomsbury and FeminismLauren Elkin (Independent scholar)Case Study: Bloomsury, the Hogarth Press and Feminist OrganisationsClaire Battershill (Simon Fraser University, Canada) 5. Bloomsbury and PhilosophyBenjamin Hagen (University of South Dakota, USA)Case Study: Bloomsbury, Mulk Raj Anand and Henri BergsonLaci Mattison (Florida Gulf Coast University, USA) 6. Bloomsbury and ClassKathryn Simpson (Independent scholar)Case Study: Bloomsbury's Rural Cross-Class EncountersClara Jones (King's College London, UK) 7. Bloomsbury and JewishnessSusan Wegener (Purdue University, USA)Case Study: Leonard Woolf and John Maynard Keynes: Palestine, Zionism and the State of IsraelSteven Putzel (Pennsylvania State University, Wilkes-Barre, USA) 8. Bloomsbury and NaturePeter Adkins (University of Kent, UK)Case Study: Eating Animals and the Aesthetics of Meat in Virginia Woolf's The YearsVicki Tromanhauser (State University of New York, New Paltz, USA) 9. Bloomsbury and PoliticsDavid Ayers (University of Kent, UK)Case Study: From Bolshevism to Bloomsbury: The Garnett Translations and Russian Politics in EnglandMichaela Bronstein (Stanford University, USA) 10. Bloomsbury and WarJ. Ashley Foster (California State University, Fresno, USA)Case Study: Bloomsbury's Pacifist Aesthetics: Woolf, Keynes, RodkerJane Goldman (University of Glasgow, UK)Index