Introduction: "Almost a face of its own"

In December 1919, Virginia Woolf wrote, “Oh yes, I’ve enjoyed reading the past years diary & shall keep it up. I’m amused to find how its grown a person, with almost a face of its own” (I.317).1 Relatively close to the beginning of her long career as a diarist, Woolf had already recognized the power and possibility to be found in writing a diary. She went on to keep a diary for 22 years, for a total of approximately 38 years, depending on how one categorizes her early journals. Through her diary she was able to craft her personality and her writing.