Virginia Woolf, aged 23, recently orphaned and still 10 years away from publishing her debut novel, was first commissioned to write reviews for the TLS in 1905. She began, as Francesca Wade points out in her preface to this collection, like any novice – by reviewing anything the editors sent her: guide books, cookery books, poetry, debut novels. Through these pieces she “learnt a lot of my craft”, she once recalled; “how to compress; how to enliven”, how “to read with a pen & notebook, seriously”. But it is also where some of her best insights come from, because one of the things she clearly liked was serious craft. • Genius and Ink is published by TLS (RRP £8.99).

Source: The Guardian December 21, 2019 07:30 UTC