A detailed and mostly involving study of four literary titans during a stalled period in their respective careers. Virginia Woolf, EM Forster, DH Lawrence and TS Eliot round out the cast--an impressive group of groundbreaking artists whom the author depicts as either highly self-critical, self-pitying, suffering from repressed sexuality, burdened by spousal problems, lack of money, etc - in other words, life. Ezra Pound dances through the pages, offering valuable assistance both literary and in reaping opportunities for fame as they arise. A readable literary history of a critical moment in 20th century literature. Recommended.

This could have been an extremely dry literary history, but in the hands of the stellar Bill Goldstein, it reads like a novel. The interaction between the principles is engaging and the historical context is a very new and unique perspective of these famous writers. Getting a glimpse of them on the cusp of greatness with all their insecurities and doubts, makes one look at their work in a completely different way. A read book nerds and history nerds can discuss together.

Willa Cather pronounced that 'the world broke in two in 1922 or thereabouts'. WWI had been one of the most devastating conflicts in world history, leaving 41 million dead. Those who survived combat returned home wounded in body and soul and mind. Vast stretches of Europe had been turned into a wasteland, leaving millions of refugees. The Victorian world view and values were irrelevant and archaic. A new world view was arising from the ashes.

The World Broke in Two by Bill Goldstein presents the personal and artistic struggles of T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and D. H. Lawrence to create literature that spoke to this changed world.

James Joyce's Ulysses and the newly translated In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust were the literary sensations of the day. T. S. Eliot was a huge promoter of Joyce's book, which Lawrence found unreadable. Proust was a huge influence on Woolf, as was Eliot's poem The Waste Land which he had read aloud at her home. Forster was inspired by Proust. Each writer was searching for a new voice and vision.

"Well--what remains to be written after that?" Virginia Woolf after reading Proust in 1922

The authors' personal lives were a mess.

Eliot suffered a nervous breakdown and had an ill wife. He could not seem to let go of his poem The Wasteland and strung publishers along. He wore green tinted makeup to appear even more pathetic.

It had been years since Forster's last published novel. He lived with his smothering mother and was sexually frustrated, longing for love. He escaped by taking a position in India. He fell in love with a younger, married man who played the lovestruck Forster. And then the man died. Forster was in grief, unable to finish what was to become his last novel, A Passage to India.

Woolf was ill much of the year. She was trying to find a voice and style that was new. Mrs. Dalloway started as a minor character but was growing into her own novel. Goldstein writes that Joyce, Proust, and Eliot seemed to raise the question: "What connects it together?" Woolf sought to find "some sort of fusion" that was missing in Ulysses and The Waste Land.

And Lawrence continued to wander the world with Frieda, his novels banned as obscene. They had left England in 1917, going to Australia, and then America. Invited to live in Taos, he determined to write an "American novel from that centre."

The Waste Land was finally published late in the year, and a monetary prize was given to Eliot. He left his bank job to work for the publisher that became Faber and Faber. Forster's novel A Passage To India was published in 1924, dedicated to his beloved, and became a best seller. Lawrence published Aaron's Rod in 1922 and his Australian novel Kangaroo the following year. He became financially comfortable. Woolf's story Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street was published in 1923 and her novel Mrs. Dalloway in 1925.

My first Forster book was A Passage to India. I discovered Eliot in my late teens. Woolf was a later happy discovery; I have also read several books about her life. Although I have not read Lawrence's novels I have enjoyed his stories and poetry. And, in college, I had an honors course on Joyce's Ulysses.With this background, I was very interested in learning about the relationship between these writers and how they were inspired by Joyce and Proust.

I had not realized how much of Eliot's personal life can be found in The Wasteland, including clips of conversations. The oppression felt in the poem was very personal, rooted in his private life, as well as influenced by his contemporary world. Forster, Woolf, and Eliot suffered from depression and were emotionally fragile. Poor Forster, unable to be open about his sexual orientation, writing about love between men and women and longing for a fulfilling adult love of his own.

A reviewer I read said she would not want to spend time with any of these writers. I found that sad. I am amazed to think what these authors accomplished considering the burdens they labored under, Eliot working in a dull office job, his loveless marriage and ill wife; lonely Forster staying with his overbearing mother; Woolf fighting depression; Lawrence driven from place to place with Frieda. All having seen a devastating war upend everything that seemed permanent.

I found Goldstein's book an interesting read both as biography and as an examination of an important moment in literature.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The year 1922 ushered in a new style of English modernist literature. The popularity of Victorian and Edwardian Literature seemed to have passed. Bill Goldstein’s superbly written informative book, “The World Broke in Two: Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster and The Year That Changed Literature” recalls that specific literary era, the lives of these notable authors, and those affiliated with them.

The Hogarth Press was small and successful. Still, Virginia and Leonard Woolf had declined to publish James Joyce “Ulysses”. Books of such large volume were difficult for such a small press, they may have feared the book would be banned. In that case, the Hogarth Press could have been confiscated and/or shut down by the authorities. The controversial “Ulysses” was very troubling for Virginia, she found it dull and boring, didn’t finish it, and wouldn’t praise it in a favorable review, as other critics. Woolf continued writing “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street” a series of stories, and happily returned to reading Proust.

Book critic John Middleton Murray, immediately recognized “Ulysses” as a “literary milestone” and highly praised it—noting that writing careers could be advanced (or not) by the novel alone. Other critics noted: “It is no proof that a man is a fool if he doesn’t admire Ulysses, and no proof either that a person was a genius for admiring it.” It was odd that Murray didn’t hesitate to publically bash his close friend, D.H Lawrence in his review of “Women in Love” (1921). According to Murray, Lawrence had passed his prime as a writer before actually reaching it.
When he traveled, D.H. Lawrence could write at will, and easily abandoned “Mr. Noon” to focus on “Kangaroo” after his stay in Australia. Some of Lawrence’s books were banned in England, and dealing with unwelcoming ramifications of obscenity laws/acts, may have kept him away. An invitation to visit America took Lawrence and his wife Frieda to visit Mable Dodge Sterne at her exclusive community in Taos, New Mexico. The idea was for Lawrence to write about southwest native culture. Frieda likely sabotaged efforts of Sterne to work to closely with her husband.

T.S. (Tom) Eliot and E.M. (Morgan) Forster both visited Virginia and Leonard Woolf often. Lenard cautioned Morgan about a “wrong channel “ for the direction of his writing. As a gay man, Morgan’s fictional stories of love between men, and love that endured after death was a powerful inspiration in life and work. Following the death of his lover Mohammed, in Cairo, Egypt, Morgan faced a private, quiet mourning. “A Passage to India” was his greatest achievement, “Maurice” (1971) was published posthumously.

In 1922, the influenza epidemic affected thousands of people in England and Wales. Tom Eliot and Virginia Woolf corresponded, sharing the misery of their symptoms. As Leonard had cared for Virginia when she was mentally unstable, Eliot cared for his wife Vivienne in a similar way. In addition, Eliot had anxiety and depressive moods of his own, and his editor found it difficult for Eliot to deliver his poems within agreed upon time frames for publication. Ezra Pound sometimes sent allowances and income to Eliot, feeling great writers should be supported financially if necessary, to maintain excellence in authorship. When Eliot’s greatest poem “The Waste Land” was finally released, new subscriptions to literary journals increased significantly.

The literary loop featuring “Ulysses” was a creative and connective feature throughout the book. D.H Lawrence observed: “I am sorry, but I am one of the people who can’t read Ulysses. Only bits. I am glad I have seen the book, since in Europe they usually mention us together—James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence—and I feel I ought to know in what company I creep into immortality.”
Goldstein has skillfully researched his subject matter in this fascinating literary period. He is the founding editor of the New York Times books website, his book reviews and author interviews are featured on NBC television programming. Goldstein earned his PhD in English from the City University of New York Graduate Center. ~ Special thanks and appreciation to Henry Holt and Company via NetGalley for the direct e-copy for the purpose of review.

The World Broke in Two: Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster and the Year that Changed Literature by Bill Goldstein is the interconnected story of four of the twentieth century’s greatest writers and the influence of two of their peers. Goldstein is a multifaceted littérateur and holds a Ph.D. in English from the CUNY Graduate Center, with a specialization in early modern English literature. Goldstein has also worked both in publishing and in journalism, most notably as a senior editor at Scribner, and then at the New York Times, where he was the founding editor of the nytimes.com Books section.

The premise of the book is stated early on -- “The World Broke in Two tells the story of 1922 by focusing on four legendary writers: Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence, who were all similarly and serendipitously moved during that remarkable year to invent the language of the future.” The title itself comes from a 1936 Willa Cather essay “The world broke in two in 1922 or thereabouts.” She was referring to the publication of Joyce’s Ulysses and the publication of The Waste Land. H. L. Mencken referred to 1922 as the end of the Christian Era and as year 1 p.s. U. -- Year 1 post scriptum Ulysses.

In literature, it was a time of great change. The increased momentum of change may very well have been the Great War. Its influence can be seen in Eliot’s The Waste Land and even in Virginia Woolf’s story that became book “Mrs. Dalloway of Broad Street”. A backfire of a car startles people back to memories of war. Mrs. Dalloway even makes notice of the eleven o’clock hour in her shopping, the hour the war ended. That shock which rocked Europe from 1914 through 1918 produced the change which blossomed four years later.

Goldstein writes a web of connection between the main writers. Chapters center around individual writers but form connections between each and all. Included in the connections are Ezra Pound, publishers, and the driving influence of change, James Joyce. The writers all had their problems; Woolf with physical and mental health. Eliot with nervous breakdowns and an ill wife. Forster with sexuality and perhaps too strong of an attachment to his mother. Lawrence traveled the world to be left alone. He was a letter writer, not a mingler or conversationalist. He also faced censorship troubles and at least one psychiatrist who read his earlier work deemed him a homosexual who overcompensated for this by his erotic works. Despite difficulties 1922 saw the publication and beginnings of Jacob’s Room and Mrs. Dalloway (Woolf), The Waste Land (Eliot), Aaron’s Rod and Kangaroo (Lawrence), Alexandria: A History and Guide and A Passage to India (Forster).

Several other themes run through the book. Censorship of Joyce and Lawrence particularly in the United States and the battle fought by the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. The early twentieth century allowed for easy suppression of literature. Groups like the New York Society had enough clout to get works banned by their say so and possessed some extra-legal powers to confiscate books. Their standing was much like the religious police currently in several Islamic countries. Lawrence’s publisher, Seltzer fought back and won the battle for Lawrence’s Women in Love in 1922. This opened the way and the ruling that just because there was an obscene part of the book did not mean the entire book could be banned as a result. This, however, was not the end of censorship in the US or even of Seltzer, he eventually went bankrupt fighting for his right to publish.

Reaction to the other writer’s work is also interesting. Woolf disliked Ulysses but was influenced nonetheless. She stated she never read The Waste Land but loved the reading of it by Eliot. Lawrence could not read Ulysses. Eliot wrote of Joyce in The Dial ‘the most important expression which the present age has found’. Forster like Woolf preferred Proust to Ulysses. Regardless of their individual opinions, all were influenced by that work.

The World Broke in Two presents the change in literature with authors who were struggling in their own ways do provide something new. Jacob’s Room was a clear departure from Day and Night for Woolf who turned forty in 1922. She would find the connection she searched for once Mrs. Dalloway on Broad Street became a novel. Woolf saw connection as an important part of literature and, in a way, provides a connection between the other authors. The Waste Land was a clear departure from Eliot’s earlier work, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" five years earlier. Lawrence continues his writing while doing his best to isolate himself from people. Forster, pushing fifty, struggles to write his India story. Forster would finish his India book, A Passage to India, a few years later, a full fourteen years after publishing Howards End.

Goldstein weaves history, literature, and psychology together in a spectacular read. His narrative moves smoothly between the authors and the topics. Woolf who was constantly flustered with the lack of connectivity in Jacob's Room and The Waste Land would be happy at the connectivity Goldstein establishes between the writers and the development of the literary modernism. Coming into this book I was familiar with Eliot, but more so with Woolf. However, introducing the other authors helped complete the picture of the modernist movement in literature. A very important read concerning the development of twentieth-century literature. The best nonfiction that I have read this year.

Available August 15, 2017