- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774130
- eISBN:
- 9780804777926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774130.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Bloomsbury was famous internationally, and was known as the area of the British Museum and the University of London. However, it was not merely a place, but had a figurative and a physical existence. ...
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Bloomsbury was famous internationally, and was known as the area of the British Museum and the University of London. However, it was not merely a place, but had a figurative and a physical existence. Bloomsbury served as a word of praise or deprecation and offered an occasion for disagreement, for nostalgia, for condescension or approval. It would significantly play in Julian Bell's life. Julian was born on February 4, 1908. The Bells made their home in Bloomsbury, and Julian maturated much more a child of the country than of the city. Charleston was rented by the Bells in the autumn of 1916. During his year in Paris, and his first two years in Cambridge, Julian was truly a poet. He was an intermittent poet, at widening intervals, until towards the end of his life, when he wrote very few poems.Less
Bloomsbury was famous internationally, and was known as the area of the British Museum and the University of London. However, it was not merely a place, but had a figurative and a physical existence. Bloomsbury served as a word of praise or deprecation and offered an occasion for disagreement, for nostalgia, for condescension or approval. It would significantly play in Julian Bell's life. Julian was born on February 4, 1908. The Bells made their home in Bloomsbury, and Julian maturated much more a child of the country than of the city. Charleston was rented by the Bells in the autumn of 1916. During his year in Paris, and his first two years in Cambridge, Julian was truly a poet. He was an intermittent poet, at widening intervals, until towards the end of his life, when he wrote very few poems.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774130
- eISBN:
- 9780804777926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774130.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Julian Bell went up to King's College, Cambridge after his educative year in Paris. He was eighteen years old, a budding poet, a socialist, and a rationalist in matters of life and love, about which ...
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Julian Bell went up to King's College, Cambridge after his educative year in Paris. He was eighteen years old, a budding poet, a socialist, and a rationalist in matters of life and love, about which he may have had a large theoretical knowledge but, as far as anyone knows, no experience: Bloomsbury's principles were “inscribed on his banner.” From the first, Julian responded to the diversity and possibility of Cambridge life: he would write poems and plays. Julian was elected to the Apostles at the beginning of his second year and attained his bachelor of arts in June 1930. One sees him in this period between 1930 and 1935 trying on, as it were, a variety of roles.Less
Julian Bell went up to King's College, Cambridge after his educative year in Paris. He was eighteen years old, a budding poet, a socialist, and a rationalist in matters of life and love, about which he may have had a large theoretical knowledge but, as far as anyone knows, no experience: Bloomsbury's principles were “inscribed on his banner.” From the first, Julian responded to the diversity and possibility of Cambridge life: he would write poems and plays. Julian was elected to the Apostles at the beginning of his second year and attained his bachelor of arts in June 1930. One sees him in this period between 1930 and 1935 trying on, as it were, a variety of roles.
Peter Stansky and William Abrahams
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774130
- eISBN:
- 9780804777926
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774130.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This book explores the life of Julian Bell, a younger member, and sole poet, of the Bloomsbury Group, the most important community of British writers and intellectuals in the twentieth century, which ...
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This book explores the life of Julian Bell, a younger member, and sole poet, of the Bloomsbury Group, the most important community of British writers and intellectuals in the twentieth century, which includes Virginia Woolf (Julian's aunt), E. M. Forster, the economist John Maynard Keynes, and the art critic Roger Fry. This biography draws upon the expanding archives on Bloomsbury to present Julian's life more completely and more personally than has been done previously. It is an exploration of personal, sexual, intellectual, political, and literary life in England between the two world wars. Through Julian, the book provides important insights on Virginia Woolf, his mother Vanessa Bell, and other members of the Bloomsbury Group. Taking us from London to China to Spain during its civil war, the book is also the story of one young man's life.Less
This book explores the life of Julian Bell, a younger member, and sole poet, of the Bloomsbury Group, the most important community of British writers and intellectuals in the twentieth century, which includes Virginia Woolf (Julian's aunt), E. M. Forster, the economist John Maynard Keynes, and the art critic Roger Fry. This biography draws upon the expanding archives on Bloomsbury to present Julian's life more completely and more personally than has been done previously. It is an exploration of personal, sexual, intellectual, political, and literary life in England between the two world wars. Through Julian, the book provides important insights on Virginia Woolf, his mother Vanessa Bell, and other members of the Bloomsbury Group. Taking us from London to China to Spain during its civil war, the book is also the story of one young man's life.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774130
- eISBN:
- 9780804777926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774130.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
In the early 1930s, Julian Bell was a charming, intelligent, and discontented young man. He meant to do a great deal, possibly overmuch in too many directions, although his only formal commitment in ...
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In the early 1930s, Julian Bell was a charming, intelligent, and discontented young man. He meant to do a great deal, possibly overmuch in too many directions, although his only formal commitment in these years was to the University and the academic community. Julian wanted to do everything, and specifically wanted to critically study the Pope, at which he worked hard through the early 1930s. Constantly, he was being troubled away from it by other things that he wanted to do, and was never able to give it the single-minded concentration which was needed to bring it to a successful conclusion. Julian had been leading a poetic, academic, literary-critical, philosophic, political, and romantic existence. It was all very crowded, everything contemporaneous and exciting for that reason, but for the same reason not entirely satisfactory in any of its aspects.Less
In the early 1930s, Julian Bell was a charming, intelligent, and discontented young man. He meant to do a great deal, possibly overmuch in too many directions, although his only formal commitment in these years was to the University and the academic community. Julian wanted to do everything, and specifically wanted to critically study the Pope, at which he worked hard through the early 1930s. Constantly, he was being troubled away from it by other things that he wanted to do, and was never able to give it the single-minded concentration which was needed to bring it to a successful conclusion. Julian had been leading a poetic, academic, literary-critical, philosophic, political, and romantic existence. It was all very crowded, everything contemporaneous and exciting for that reason, but for the same reason not entirely satisfactory in any of its aspects.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774130
- eISBN:
- 9780804777926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774130.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Julian Bell had ended a line in London by the winter of 1935. He had been drawn by the theory of teaching in a foreign university. Julian's intense dissatisfaction with his life in the present and ...
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Julian Bell had ended a line in London by the winter of 1935. He had been drawn by the theory of teaching in a foreign university. Julian's intense dissatisfaction with his life in the present and the hope of making a fresh start in the future forced him to go to China. There were practical reasons too. On the 1st of October, suffering from a mild attack of dysentery, Julian arrived in Nanking. As he began to feel better, he entered into the job with great relish. However, the novelty of being in China, of teaching English literature to Chinese students, and of having a fascinating and demanding Chinese mistress had quite deteriorated by the spring of 1936. There was tension at all levels of his life in the autumn of 1936. When Julian left China he decided to go to Spain, to fight in the civil war on the side of the Republican government.Less
Julian Bell had ended a line in London by the winter of 1935. He had been drawn by the theory of teaching in a foreign university. Julian's intense dissatisfaction with his life in the present and the hope of making a fresh start in the future forced him to go to China. There were practical reasons too. On the 1st of October, suffering from a mild attack of dysentery, Julian arrived in Nanking. As he began to feel better, he entered into the job with great relish. However, the novelty of being in China, of teaching English literature to Chinese students, and of having a fascinating and demanding Chinese mistress had quite deteriorated by the spring of 1936. There was tension at all levels of his life in the autumn of 1936. When Julian left China he decided to go to Spain, to fight in the civil war on the side of the Republican government.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804774130
- eISBN:
- 9780804777926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804774130.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Julian Bell made arrangements through George Jeger to go out to Spain as an ambulance driver. Spanish Medical Aid was an accredited noncombatant organization. Julian had come to Spain to gain ...
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Julian Bell made arrangements through George Jeger to go out to Spain as an ambulance driver. Spanish Medical Aid was an accredited noncombatant organization. Julian had come to Spain to gain military experience. Admittedly, he was a noncombatant, but in the Brunete campaign, the ambulance driver was as exposed to danger as the soldier; the job demanded strength, endurance, resourcefulness, and courage. However, a shell fragment penetrated deep into Julian's chest. A chest specialist inserted a system of drainage into the lung and removed the shell splinter from his chest. Julian was still conscious, still cheerful, although after a while, he fell into a coma. He was one of the estimated 35,000 men—25,000 on the side of the Republic, 10,000 on the side of the Nationalists—whose lives were lost in the battle of Brunete. Though short, Julian's life had been full, dramatic, and in many ways, happy.Less
Julian Bell made arrangements through George Jeger to go out to Spain as an ambulance driver. Spanish Medical Aid was an accredited noncombatant organization. Julian had come to Spain to gain military experience. Admittedly, he was a noncombatant, but in the Brunete campaign, the ambulance driver was as exposed to danger as the soldier; the job demanded strength, endurance, resourcefulness, and courage. However, a shell fragment penetrated deep into Julian's chest. A chest specialist inserted a system of drainage into the lung and removed the shell splinter from his chest. Julian was still conscious, still cheerful, although after a while, he fell into a coma. He was one of the estimated 35,000 men—25,000 on the side of the Republic, 10,000 on the side of the Nationalists—whose lives were lost in the battle of Brunete. Though short, Julian's life had been full, dramatic, and in many ways, happy.
Barbara Lounsberry
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813056937
- eISBN:
- 9780813053790
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813056937.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
In February 1937, Virginia Woolf's nephew, Julian Bell, says he will enlist to fight the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. In July 1937, war erupts between China and Japan. These outer storms, now ...
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In February 1937, Virginia Woolf's nephew, Julian Bell, says he will enlist to fight the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. In July 1937, war erupts between China and Japan. These outer storms, now reaching Woolf's own family circle, darken her own (deserved) high sail. America's Time magazine features Woolf on its cover, a sign of international literary fame. Due mostly to the success of The Years, Hogarth Press’ 1937 profits are unprecedented. Yet, so tossed and exposed is Woolf by the outer crises around her that she cannot savor her success. In February 1937, she reads The Final Struggle: Being Countess Tolstoy’s Diary for 1910 with Extracts from Leo Tolstoy’s Diary of the same period. She sees her own anguish in the final diaries of Leo Tolstoy and his wife. She finds there not only inner and outer wars (recorded in many diaries) but also a war fought over diaries as well.Less
In February 1937, Virginia Woolf's nephew, Julian Bell, says he will enlist to fight the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. In July 1937, war erupts between China and Japan. These outer storms, now reaching Woolf's own family circle, darken her own (deserved) high sail. America's Time magazine features Woolf on its cover, a sign of international literary fame. Due mostly to the success of The Years, Hogarth Press’ 1937 profits are unprecedented. Yet, so tossed and exposed is Woolf by the outer crises around her that she cannot savor her success. In February 1937, she reads The Final Struggle: Being Countess Tolstoy’s Diary for 1910 with Extracts from Leo Tolstoy’s Diary of the same period. She sees her own anguish in the final diaries of Leo Tolstoy and his wife. She finds there not only inner and outer wars (recorded in many diaries) but also a war fought over diaries as well.
