"Jacob's Room" is a
novel by English author Virginia Woolf who also wrote "A
Room of One's Own" and "The Voyage Out." "Jacob's Room," published in 1922, is the first of her novels to be issued by the Hogarth Press which she founded with her husband Leonard Woolf in their home in Richmond.
The novel attempts to evoke the
inner life of Jacob Flanders (actually based on the character of Virginia Woolf's brother Thoby), and his
social happenings during the first decade and a half of the twentieth century.
At the beginning, Jacob is discovered wandering on a Cornish beach away from his mother who is recently widowed. Many related impressionistic scenes evolve and capture the
thoughts of the characters – some workings of the now known "stream of consciousness." There are also many brief descriptions of the surrounding landscapes that provide quality poetry with the flow of inner thoughts.
After Cambridge, Jacob is seen with his mistress at social gatherings in London, as well as abroad at Versailles and in Athens, including a
visit to the Acropolis.
The novel ends during World War I as Jacob dies and two friends visit his room in Bloomsbury to assist in disposing his possessions. The novel received a mixture of reviews. Some critics attacked it for its lack of plot while T.S. Eliot praised it.
"Jacob's Room" represents Virginia Woolf's first move towards experimentation.
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