This is a reconstructed version of Virginia Woolf's first novel (using manuscripts from her archival collections -- woo hoo!), which was ultimately reworked into the published The Voyage Out. The plot of both books is pretty identical, and many scenes are duplicated, but the focus on politics and gender, the focus on sexuality, and most of all the more exuberant and less interior character of Rachel make Melymbrosia a different book. Louise Desalvo's archival research and painstaking piecing together of these pages is to be commended (although, honestly, I didn't love her intro). A must read for true Woolf fans! ( )

Virginia Woolf completed Melymbrosia, her first novel in 1910, but she did not publish it until 1915 after two complete redraftings and retitling it as The Voyage Out. Louise DeSalvo, a Woolf scholar, spent seven years at the Berg Collection piecing together the early manuscripts until she established the text of Melymbrosia, and the New York Public Library published it in 1982 with a description of her methodology. That book, long out of print, was re-released by Cleis Press, with a new introduction by DeSalvo, in 2002.

The basic plot line and characters of the two versions are the same, but the writing in The Voyage Out is more highly refined and somewhat more oblique than in Melymbrosia. The protagonist of the story is Rachel Vinrace, a young woman in her early 20s, daughter of the owner of a fleet of ships that trades in South America. Her mother died in childbirth, and she was raised by her two maiden aunts in Richmond, outside of London. Like most privileged young women of the time, her education was spotty, but she is a talented pianist, who has not really been afforded the training to make her a serious one. She has embarked upon a South American voyage on one of her father's ships along with her maternal uncle and aunt, Ridley and Helen Ambrose. When the ship arrives at the Ambroses' destination, a villa in Santa Rosa, an European tourist spot, Helen convinces Rachel and her father that she should stay with them until her father completes his business further up the Amazon. In the village near where the villa is located is a tourist hotel. The interaction of the denizens of the hotel and the villa and the growing awareness by Rachel of the expectations of English society and her place within it define these rites-of- passage novels.

There is a ship of fools quality to the picture of this microcosm of privileged British society caught in a colonial getaway for a few weeks. Woolf chronicles the male privileging, the female frustration, the sexual hypocrisy and the basic uselessness of most of the members of this society. The two forays made by the adventurous ones in the troupe, up a mountain trail and down the river to a native village, are completely managed by local guides and laborers who are utterly ignored by those they lead. I was reminded of the river voyage into the interior described by Aphra Behn in Oronooko, and some critics have referenced Joseph Conrad.

In both versions, the writing is exquisite, but Melymbrosia is more savagely satiric, funnier, less inhibited in its depictions of characters and their thoughts, and generally more alive than The Voyage Out. It's certainly not necessary, and indeed somewhat repetitive, to read both versions -- either is revealing as a first novel by a great novelist. Personally, I preferred Melymbrosia. ( )

Readers familiar with Virginia Woolf’s first published novel, The Voyage Out, often note how peculiar the novel is with its inaccurate depictions of the southern hemisphere and puzzling interactions between characters. Truly, there is something decidedly naive, almost fearful about The Voyage Out that makes it an uncomfortable read. The recently published Melymbrosia, the result of years of scholarship by a Woolf scholar, provides an explanation for why The Voyage Out is the flawed read it is: Melymbrosia is the novel Woolf had meant to publish but, for its unabashed critique of British society, was cautioned against publishing. Heavily rewritten, the novel was later published as The Voyage Out. Now, Woolf readers are are presented with the novel Woolf had originally intended-- and it is brilliant. While certainly representative of Woolf’s early pre-stream of conscious narratives, Melymbrosia is a coming of age novel that takes a scathing look at what it meant to be a young women coming of age at the twilight of the British Empire. This is a delicious read for anyone who loves Woolf. ( )