Sunday 20 November 2022 06:23 PM Relative of Virginia Woolf slams critics of £50k statue of the author next to ... trends now
Virginia Woolf's great-great niece has hit back at critics of a recently unveiled riverside statue of the author, whose location has been described as 'insensitive'.
The celebrated English author, who was dogged by mental illness throughout her life, drowned herself in the River Ouse near her Sussex home in 1941, aged 59.
Campaigners claimed the new £50,000 bronze statue, unveiled this week, is in bad taste, 'insensitive' and could even trigger similar suicide attempts.
The life-size figure of the iconic Mrs Dalloway author now sits on one end of a bench overlooking the Thames in Richmond, south west London.
The Richmond Society said placing the statue near water was 'inappropriate', with the group's chairman Barry May suggesting that it 'might distress anyone who knows her story and is in a vulnerable state of mind'.
But, speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Woolf's great-great niece Sophie Partridge said critics of the project had a 'very narrow way of thinking' - and insisted her late relative should not be defined by the way she died.
Virginia Woolf's great-great niece Sophie Partridge (pictured left with Emma Woolf and Ludo Woolf) said she thinks the criticism of the statue's location 'is a very narrow way of thinking about it'
Virginia Woolf (pictured in the 1930s) drowned herself in the River Ouse near her Sussex home in 1941, aged 59
Ms Partridge said: 'I think the criticism is a very narrow way of thinking about it.
'Virginia Woolf has been defined by her death, but she is so much more than that.
'She is sitting by the river and, to me, the river is an expression of life.'
Ms Partridge said the author is remembered in the family as a fun, vivacious woman who was 'always interesting and interested'.
She added: 'She was always described as very warm, generous and loving, and as somebody who was witty and fun.
'It is not how one tends to think about Virginia Woolf.
'She was someone who loved to play games with her family.
'I particularly remember my aunt describing her voice and laugh. She had a very particular laugh.
'My impression of her is that she was a complex person with perhaps more contrast than you would expect.
'She was very intelligent and vivacious, very thoughtful, interesting and interested.
'I am really happy to see this statue of her being unveiled, there is something about the way she is sitting in front of the river which is very natural.
'It is a good moment for her and her family.'
The life-size figure of the iconic Mrs Dalloway author now sits on one end of a bench overlooking the Thames in Richmond, south west London
Virginia Woolf is considered one of the most influential modernist authors of the twentieth century
Earlier her great niece Emma Woolf added: 'It is a beautiful statue and it is a beautiful place for it to be.
'I hope everybody will enjoy this statue on such a beautiful, grey Richmond day.'
Plans for the statue overlooking Richmond Riverside were first revealed in 2017 to commemorate
