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

Narrated by: Bill Goldstein

A revelatory narrative of the intersecting lives and works of revered authors Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence during 1922, the birth year of modernism.

The World Broke in Two tells the fascinating story of the intellectual and personal journeys four legendary writers - Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and D. H. Lawrence - make over the course of one pivotal year. As 1922 begins, all four are literally at a loss for words, confronting an uncertain creative future despite success in the past. The literary ground is shifting, as Ulysses is published in February and Proust's In Search of Lost Time begins to be published in England in the autumn. Yet, dismal as their prospects seemed in January, by the end of the year Woolf has started Mrs. Dalloway, Forster has, for the first time in nearly a decade, returned to work on the novel that will become A Passage to India, Lawrence has written Kangaroo, his unjustly neglected and most autobiographical novel, and Eliot has finished - and published to acclaim - "The Waste Land".

As Willa Cather put it, "The world broke in two in 1922 or thereabouts", and what these writers were struggling with that year was in fact the invention of modernism. Based on original research, Bill Goldstein's The World Broke in Two captures both the literary breakthroughs and the intense personal dramas of these beloved writers as they strive for greatness.

©2017 Bill Goldstein (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

An enjoyable listen

A great listen...story and reader, both. Gave the feel of the era and the authors.

To much navel gazing

An important point in time. 4 authors looking for expression. Good premise but wrong focus too much about writing the stories not enough about the world sweeping around them.

Engaging and cohesive tale of the Lost Generation

This book wove together the lives of four authors I had never thought to group together before: T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, and E.M. Forster. Their styles are all vastly different but have one thing in common: an incessant seeking. The author does an excellent job humanizing each writer and giving readers a clear grasp of how these artists helped to move literature into a new era. This era mourned the past as well as the future, and yet, through the beauty of the writers’ words, the era managed to capture glimmers of hope, too. For anyone who loves these writers or simply the era in which they lived, give this book a try. It’s intelligent without being the least dry and will probably inspire you to add a few classics to your to-read or reread lists!

best for those true fans of writers&,poets

This is not a production for the average reader. It worked for me because as a struggeling poet and writer I could relate and appreciate the biographical details of thier lives and times.

Loved this book

A great book about 4 great early 20th century authors, struggling with writer's block (as all author's do) in the aftermath of the largest industrialized war (WWI) in world history. Listeners who haven't read something by all of them or any of them can still find enjoyment in the learning. And in the directing to the period writings. I plan to go back to TS Eliot's which I read when still wet-behind-the ears in high school, I am sure I understood zero back then. I was familiar with Virginia Woolf, the life and the work from 1922, Mrs Dalloway, and also with EM Forster, and with DH Lawrence (if mainly through the movie version of Women in Love). This book will add to my reading list. The book has great pacing, you will not be bored or tempted to drop midway. The narration, by the author, is perfect. I wish he'd written something else I could follow with.