She recorded in her diary in June that Bennett accused her of writing about characters that couldn't survive.

Her response was published in the United States in Nation and Athenaeum in December as Mr. Bennett and Mrs.

[6][7] Woolf addresses what she sees as the arrival of modernism, with the much cited phrase "on or about December, 1910, human character changed", referring to Roger Fry's exhibition Manet and the Post-Impressionists.

She places Bennett in the Edwardians, and the subjects of his attacks as "Georgians" to reflect the change of monarch in 1910 that coincided with Fry's exhibition.

[6] Bell's modernist cover design shown here was used for the entire essay series, depicting a woman reading, with hair and clothing reflecting 1920s style.

[6] The essay has become a key element in the analysis of Woolf's work but also twentieth century literature in general.