Flush: A Biography (Illustrated ed)

Flush, an imaginative biography of Elizabeth BarrettBrowning's cocker spaniel, is a cross-genre blend of fictionand non fiction.

This unusual biography traces the life ofFlush from his carefree existence in the country to hisadoption by Ms Browning and his travails in London, leadingup to his final days in a bucolic Italy.

Woolf ostensibly usesthe life of a dog as pointed social criticism, ranging acrosstopics from feminism and environmentalism to class conflict. She creates a biography that works on three levels.

It isovertly a biography of a dog's life. Since this dog is of interestprimarily for its owner, the work is also an impressionisticbiography of Elizabeth Barrett during the most dramaticyears of her life.

At this level, Flush mostly recapitulates theromantic legend of Barrett Browning's life: early confinementby a mysterious illness and a doting but tyrannical father;a passionate romance with an equally talented poet; anelopement that permanently estranges the father, but whichallows Barrett Browning to find happiness and health inItaly.

On a third level, the book gives Woolf an opportunityto return to some of her most frequent topics: the glory andmisery of London; the Victorian mindset; class differences;and the ways in which women oppressed by `fathers andtyrants' may find freedom.