Virginia Woolf remains one of the most preeminent and prolific authors in literature.  What has remained one of Woolf’s most famous and popular works of writing is her diary.  In it she describes a “madness” which she both laments for stealing her happiness and emotions… but also attributes her literary success to.  More specifically, she describes a severe depression that many historians believe came largely as a result of her painful upbringing.  Having experienced significant loss and both physical and emotional abuse, Virginia Woolf became a recluse and found life in her creative pursuits.  

    In a battle between the purpose her writing gave her and the strain it put on her mind, Woolf remained at a loss in how to overcome her illness. She spiraled mentally in a pursuit of the cause of her depression and drowned her consciousness in questions of “Who am I?” which “usually lead to psychosis and neurotic issues, and in the case of creators they may result in creative blocks" (Stroe).  Woolf found parallels in her pursuit of self and her creative processes.  From this she, like many artists, used her art to further her introspection.  In her most celebrated and experimental literary work “The Waves” she shapes each character on different facets of her personality in order to further understand the workings of her own mind.  In this way, art for many creatives, and especially those struggling with mental illness, is not a form of self-expression but a practice in self-realization (Stroe).  By marrying art and introspection, artists can marry reality and illusion in order to paint a picture of themselves that is more complex but still familiar to their fractured minds.

    Many biographers and researchers of Virginia Woolf view her severe depression as a necessary evil that elevated her to the status of literary genius. It is important to question though what works could have emerged had she not been trapped in the endless loop of her own mental instability and introspection.  If she had been able to apply her unique voice and conceptual understanding of the world to topics outside of herself, we as a society could have gained a new and unique perspective on universal concepts, experiences, and emotions.