Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out – four day study in St Ives
Event Details
It has become a Salon tradition to spend some time each autumn on the Cornish coast reading Virginia Woolf’s work and enjoying one of the places she loved and in which she spent significant parts of her childhood. In 2025 we are again offering two Woolf studies in St Ives: The Waves (28 September to 1 October) and The Voyage Out (3 to 6 October).
As one of the key members of the celebrated Bloomsbury Group, Woolf is seen primarily as a London writer, yet the Cornish coastal town of St Ives – where she spent many childhood summers – serves as a prism through which we can explore her perspectives on landscape, domesticity and identity.
The Voyage Out is Virginia Woolf’s first novel. Athough not published until 1915, she may have begun writing it as early as 1906, when she was just 24. The book is mentioned in her letters from 1908, under the title Melymbrosia, but was set aside for some time following her breakdown in 1910, and then further delayed by another breakdown and attempted suicide after being delivered to her publisher in 1913.
Over these years, the book underwent numerous drafts and revisions, allowing the author to reflect many of her own experiences and preoccupations in its pages. Virginia married Leonard Woolf in August 1912 and, through her central character, Rachel Vinrace, she explores the tension between individual identity and the merging with others implicit in marriage, as well as suggesting possibilities beyond the binary that would feature in her later life and work.
According to E.M. Forster The Voyage Out is ‘. . . a book which attains unity as surely as Wuthering Heights, though by a different path’, he described it as ‘A strange, tragic, inspired novel . . . as poignant as anything in modern fiction.’ Toby, who is co-facilitating this study, admits that it was one of the first Woolf works she ever read and yet it is the last she has developed for a Salon study, in spite of the characters (who include Richard and Clarissa Dalloway appearing for the first time) and drama remaining with her for many years.
Reading The Voyage Out in the company of others is an opportunity to consider the early development of Virginia Woolf’s unique and innovative modernist style. This study will be rewarding for those who know her work well and readers dipping a toe into her literary stream for the first time.
We invite you to join us in St Ives, where we can explore a truly lovely place and share the work of a great author with a group of other keen minds.
During our visit you will have opportunities to visit the iconic Tate St Ives gallery overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, built between 1988 and 1993 on the site of an old gasworks, and the Barbara Hepworth Museum & Sculpture Garden. If weather allows, there will be an optional boat trip to Godrevy Lighthouse and we also hope to look at Talland House, Woolf’s childhood summer home (now privately owned). For several months of the year the elegant house overlooking St Ives Bay would be the Stephens’ family home until 1895 when Virginia’s mother, Julia Stephen, died. Although the complete family never returned to St Ives after their mother’s death, her children travelled back in 1905 following the death of their father in the previous year.
Feedback from participants in previous St Ives studies:
“The studio where the discussion took place is a beautiful, extraordinary place, the participants were imbued with the light and landscape, creating a friendly and committed atmosphere. The two facilitators were wonderful . . .”
“The collaboration between participants and facilitators was rich indeed, and I wonder how it was accomplished that everyone in the group was so insightful and intelligent and I might even say soul-searching . . . I also think it was just a superb group of people.”
Read Salonista Leah Jewett’s account of a Salon Study in St Ives here.
JOINING DETAILS:
- You can share details of this study using this link
- Please use the form below to secure your place with an initial registration deposit of £60.00. Once you have registered we will then send you details for payment of the balance owing (£500.00) to complete your booking by bank transfer.
- Facilitated by Toby Brothers and Sarah Snoxall
- Our meetings will take place in the fabulous Porthmeor Studios
- 3-6 October 2025 (approximately 14 hours of study)
- Recommended editions: The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf, Penguin Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0140185638
- Cost £560, includes notes and critical resources (N.B. travel, food and accommodation are NOT included and participants are responsible for arranging their own travel, accommodation and insurance).
- Recommended places to stay include No 4 St Ives, 3 Porthminster Terrace, Blue Sky, The Olive Branch, Rivendell and the Harbour View Hotel, but PLEASE check web details and review sites before booking to make sure they will meet your needs.
