This book is an academic edition of Virginia Woolf's collected essays "The Common Reader" of 1925 and 1932. This outstanding work of European modernism, the largest monument of English essayism of the 20th century, is published in Russian for the first time. The book includes translations of “The Ordinary Reader” based on lifetime editions. It consists of 50 essays, organized chronologically and compositionally as a history of English culture from Chaucer to Conrad. The “Additions” section publishes all of Virginia Woolf’s essays on Russian writers, as well as her programmatic literary critical essays “Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown,” “Letter to a Young Poet,” and “A Room of One’s Own.” The “Appendices” section includes the articles “Virginia Woolf and her “Ordinary Reader” and “Russian Journey” Virginia Woolf." The book is illustrated with rare photographs. CONTENTS: ORDINARY READER. 1925 (translation by N.I. Reingold) The Ordinary Reader (7). The Pastons and Chaucer (8). On Deafness to the Greek Word (25). The Elizabethan Chest (38). Notes on the Margins of Elizabethan Plays (45). Montaigne (53) .The Duchess of Newcastle (61).Wandering through Evelyn (69).Dafoe (76).Addison (83).A Forgotten Life (92).Jane Austen (106).Modern Literature (117).Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights "(123).George Eliot (129).Russian point of view (137).Silhouettes (145).I. Miss Mitford (145).II. Dr. Bentley (150).III. Lady Dorothy Neville (155).IV. Archbishop Thomson (159). The Patron and the Snowdrop (163). A Modern Essay (166). Joseph Conrad (176). In the View of a Contemporary (182). THE ORDINARY READER. Episode 2. 1932 (translation by N.I. Reingold)Unknown Elizabethans (193). John Donne three hundred years later (204). “Arcadia of the Countess of Pembroke” (216). “Robinson Crusoe” (224). “Letters” of Dorothy Osborne (230). Swift’s “Diary for Stella” (236). "A Sentimental Journey" (243). Letters from Lord Chesterfield to his Son (250). Two Priests (255). I. James Woodford (255).II. Reverend John Skinner (261). Dr. Burney's Party (267). Jack Mitt (280). Autobiography of De Quincey (285). Four Figures (291). I. Cowper and Lady Austen (291).II. Beau Brummel (297).III. Mary Wollstonecraft (304).IV. Dorothy Wordsworth (309).William Hazlitt (315).Geraldine and Jane (325).Aurora Leigh (337).The Earl's Niece (347).George Gissing (351).The Novels of George Meredith (355).I Am Christina Rossetti" (364). Novels of Thomas Hardy (370). How to read books? (380).ADDITIONSEssay (translation by N.I. Reingold)V. Wolfe. “Cossacks” by Tolstoy (393).V. Wolfe. More than Dostoevsky (396).V. Wolfe. Maly Dostoevsky (398).V. Wolfe. Russian schoolboy (401).V. Wolfe. Chekhov's Questions (404).V. Wolfe. Valery Bryusov (408).V. Wolfe. A look at the revolution in Russia (410).V. Wolfe. Russian view (412).V. Wolfe. Russian background (414).V. Wolfe. Dostoevsky in Cranford (417).V. Wolfe. “The Cherry Orchard” (419).V. Wolfe. Gorky about Tolstoy (421).V. Wolfe. A fleeting glance at Turgenev (423).V. Wolfe. Dostoevsky in his daughter’s memoirs (425).V. Wolfe. A strong man without strong fists (428).V. Wolfe. Novels of Turgenev (430).V. Wolfe. "Uncle Vanya" (435).V. Wolfe. Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown (436).V. Wolfe. Letter to a young poet (452).V. Wolfe. Own room (463).APPENDICES.I. Reingold. Virginia Woolf and her “Ordinary Reader” (525).N.I. Reingold. Russian journey of Virginia Woolf (627). Notes (compiled by N.I. Reingold) (652). List of illustrations (771).