The Voyage Out

Published in 1915, but written and revised in stages from 1912, The Voyage Out was Woolf’s first novel. The plot follows Rachel Vinrace on her voyage aboard her father’s ship to South America. During the voyage, Rachel meets a number of well-constructed characters that include Clarissa Dalloway (later given her own novel), and others that have been shown to be based on Llyton Strachey and Vanessa Bell. Outwardly, this arrangement allows Woolf to run through a satire of Edwardian life, but deeper down the novel shows evidence of autobiographical elements. The father’s ship, for example, might represent Woolf’s perception of a life as set out by her own father, dead perhaps six or seven years prior to her writing the novel. Also the plot features a recollection of a mother’s death which the principal character is unable to bring herself to remember and certain dream sequences have been highlighted for their insight into Woolf’s own mental predisposition.