The Voyage Out
The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf is presented in this 1st Thus edition published by Random House Publishing Group on May 8, 2001. This novel, Woolf’s first, was initially published in England in 1915 and later in America in 1920. It introduces readers to Rachel Vinrace, a young woman embarking on a sea voyage to South America, where she encounters a variety of characters and experiences that shape her understanding of life and love.
In this narrative, Woolf employs her signature poetic style and innovative techniques, including multiple perspectives and deep character explorations. The story unfolds through Rachel’s interactions with her aunt Helen and a group of English expatriates, particularly focusing on her relationship with Terence Hewet, an aspiring writer. The themes of romance and the complexities of human relationships are interwoven with a broader commentary on societal norms, making this work a significant contribution to 20th-century literature. This edition also features a new introduction by Michael Cunningham, which delves into Woolf’s early life and the enduring relevance of her work.
Official synopsis Publisher
The Modern Library is proud to include Virginia Woolf’s first novel, The Voyage Out–together with a new Introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Cunningham. Published to acclaim in England in 1915 and in America five years later, The Voyage Out marks Woolf’s beginning as one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant and prolific writers.
Less formally experimental than her later novels, The Voyage Out none-theless clearly lays bare the poetic style and innovative technique–with its multiple figures of consciousness, its detailed portraits of characters’ inner lives, and its constant shifting between the quotidian and the profound–that are the signature of Woolf’s fiction.
Rachel Vinrace, Woolf’s first heroine, is a motherless young woman who, at twenty-four, embarks on a sea voyage with a party of other English folk to South America. Guileless, and with only a smattering of education, Rachel is taken under the wing of her aunt Helen, who desires to teach Rachel “how to live.”Arriving in Santa Marina, a village on the South American coast, Rachel and Helen are introduced to a group of English expatriates. Among them is the young, sensitive Terence Hewet, an aspiring writer, with whom Rachel falls in love. But theirs is ultimately a tale of doomed love, set against a chorus of other stories and other points of view, as the narrative shifts focus between its central and peripheral characters. E. M. Forster praised The Voyage Out as “a book which attains unity as surely as Wuthering Heights, though by a different path.”
This edition includes a new Introduction by Michael Cunningham, bestselling author of The Hours. Cunningham at once unfolds an engaging short essay of Woolf’s early life and career, an insightful exploration of the themes to which Woolf returns again and again in her fiction, and a spirited defense of the relevance and lasting importance of her art. Katherine Anne Porter wrote of Woolf: “The world of arts was her native territory; she ranged freely under her own sky, speaking her mother tongue fearlessly.”
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