In her 2003 article, “Modernism, Geopolitics, Globalization,” Melba Cuddy-Keane writes that the “modernist period merits attention for its significant role in the emerging global consciousness” (540). Of all the members of the Bloomsbury group, it is Leonard Woolf who could most easily be singled out for his global—or international— consciousness. In much of his prodigious writing—including more than 22 books and pamphlets and hundreds and hundreds of reports, memoranda, letters, introductions and more—Woolf tirelessly addressed globalization, especially in terms of geopolitics, internationalization, and imperialism, as critics such as Peter Wilson, Duncan Wilson, Janet Manson, and the contributors to the Virginia Woolf Miscellany edited by AnnMarie Bantzinger, have shown. In his role as a co-publisher of the Hogarth Press, Woolf also demonstrated his commitment to what we now call global studies—or in his case, one arm of it, international relations—by publishing works by international authors, and about international subjects.

A related dimension of modernism and globalization that Cuddy-Keane raises is the notion of “inter-cultural connectivity” (540). Through, especially, the Hogarth Press, both Woolfs formed many connections with writers, activists, and thinkers around the world. In this paper I will focus on Leonard's connection with one area: Kenya. Leonard, along with Virginia, published the works of writers on Kenya and British imperialism, including four by the Scottish doctor Norman Leys and one by the Kenyan educator Parmenas Githendu Mockerie. Leonard and Leys formed a lifelong connection, and Mockerie was a protégé of Leys's. One might describe the union of Woolf, Leys, and Mockerie as a kind of informal and small version of the League of Nations. The League of Nations formed in 1919 and lasted just over a quarter of a century, until 1946. Among its purposes, the League administered mandates over territories that were transferred from one country to another. Th ose who are familiar with Leonard Woolf's life know that he played a fundamental part in the League of Nations. His collaboration with Leys and Githendu did not have the same kind of intentionality as the League of Nations…