Anne, did you take Ellen's Woolf Seminar at Purdue? I felt simultaneously awed and intimidated, so much so that--with the exception of A Room of One's Own--I avoided Woolf for years. Now, in my fifties, I'm finally returning to her work. I'm teaching a Subversive Women Writers course next semester and plan to add Orlando or Mrs. Dalloway to the reading list!
HI Rebecca--No, I didn't. Interesting that you had similar feelings about Woolf and are returning to her now. Your course sounds fabulous! And thank you for becoming a paid subscriber. I'm so grateful! And I'm so curious about your own move. I hope to hear more!
One thing I appreciate about Woolf is how I've been able to read her at different ages and find new things in her work as I get older. I first read Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse when I was 19. I loved the language and structure then. Her descriptions in To the Lighthouse were especially astonishing. I mentioned before that I've returned to the Time Passes section of To the Lighthouse often over the past thirty (!) years since I first read it, as I take a lot of comfort in it. The first time I read it, I was first blown away just by the language and description in the section--and that you could actually do that in a novel, that near the beginning.
At that time, reading Virginia Woolf was also something of a status symbol. Indigo Girls had recently recorded their song about her. Reading her diaries was a kind of intellectual Girl Scout badge. My mother's new husband gave me a copy of Quentin Bell's biography of her as a gift then, attempting to bond with me.
Over the years, I've most often re-read Mrs. Dalloway--the older I get, the more I see in Mrs. Dalloway's perspective, what seeing an old beau suddenly can do to you, what it's like to try to make sense of one's own past and identity. I read a lot of Woolf the fall of 2005--that summer, my beloved aunt died and then we had to evacuate our home in New Orleans because of Katrina. As my husband and I tried to figure out our next step while staying with family in Tennessee, we got library cards, and I read a lot of Woolf. The quiet tone of her books was a balm.
Hi again Monica--I am jealous of your life-long relationship with Woolf! I wish I had read her when I was younger. I should probably have explained at some point that I never studied British Literature (although I was an English professor). I studied American Studies and focused on literature and history. I love this: "Reading her diaries was a kind of intellectual Girl Scout badge." And I love that you took time to read her after Katrina. That was a major time of upheaval for me, as we lost our home in Lakeview, and I had a small child. But I found the time to take up birdwatching. The small things in life took on a new importance.
Anne, I love that reading Virginia Woolf is inspiring you "to write literature itself rather than only about literature." Discovering writers who gobsmack you into wanting to do more with your own writing, discover more about yourself, go out into the world and conquer: that's what literature can do in those rare and wonderful moments when you connect deeply with what you are reading.
I have never been able to connect with Virginia Woolf. I feel like I SHOULD like Virigina Woolf, and I've tried reading To the Lighthouse on several occasions during the past three or four decades. Either the time is never right or Virginia and I simply are not simpatico. Perhaps I should give her yet another try. Can you recommend any other Woolf books you like, since I am hesitant to try To the Lighthouse again? Many thanks!
I read Mrs. Dalloway in college. I remember that Woolf's style was so new and unexpected that I couldn't get past that. I really liked Michael Cunningham's The Hours, which I read about 10 years ago, so maybe I will pick up Mrs. Dalloway and give it another go. Thank you for the suggestion.
Oh, I remember seeing that in the store. Yes, it's lovely. As soon as I finish the other 5 (yes, I know, I have a problem) books I'm reading now, I'll get Mrs. Dalloway out of the library and give her a try.
Like you, I have about 5 different books going at the moment. That is a perennial issue for me (and finishing them all is another story!). I'm glad Monica stepped in to recommend Mrs. Dalloway. I have only read that and Orlando and To the Lighthouse. Mrs. D. sounds like a good choice given your affection for The Hours. Let us know what you think!
Thank you, Ellen! I'm so glad that you are enjoying my letters. And I really appreciate your kind words re: my courage. Sometimes it felt more like trying to rescue myself from drowning. I am a late-comer to Woolf (never having studied British lit--my degrees were in American Studies), but I taught Orlando once (in a grad course on "Writing Lives") and have been an avid rereader of "A Room of One's Own" over the years. That essay still haunts me, and sometime I'll write more about it. I'm so glad you are here!
Anne, did you take Ellen's Woolf Seminar at Purdue? I felt simultaneously awed and intimidated, so much so that--with the exception of A Room of One's Own--I avoided Woolf for years. Now, in my fifties, I'm finally returning to her work. I'm teaching a Subversive Women Writers course next semester and plan to add Orlando or Mrs. Dalloway to the reading list!
HI Rebecca--No, I didn't. Interesting that you had similar feelings about Woolf and are returning to her now. Your course sounds fabulous! And thank you for becoming a paid subscriber. I'm so grateful! And I'm so curious about your own move. I hope to hear more!
Thanks so much. More please.
Will do!
One thing I appreciate about Woolf is how I've been able to read her at different ages and find new things in her work as I get older. I first read Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse when I was 19. I loved the language and structure then. Her descriptions in To the Lighthouse were especially astonishing. I mentioned before that I've returned to the Time Passes section of To the Lighthouse often over the past thirty (!) years since I first read it, as I take a lot of comfort in it. The first time I read it, I was first blown away just by the language and description in the section--and that you could actually do that in a novel, that near the beginning.
At that time, reading Virginia Woolf was also something of a status symbol. Indigo Girls had recently recorded their song about her. Reading her diaries was a kind of intellectual Girl Scout badge. My mother's new husband gave me a copy of Quentin Bell's biography of her as a gift then, attempting to bond with me.
Over the years, I've most often re-read Mrs. Dalloway--the older I get, the more I see in Mrs. Dalloway's perspective, what seeing an old beau suddenly can do to you, what it's like to try to make sense of one's own past and identity. I read a lot of Woolf the fall of 2005--that summer, my beloved aunt died and then we had to evacuate our home in New Orleans because of Katrina. As my husband and I tried to figure out our next step while staying with family in Tennessee, we got library cards, and I read a lot of Woolf. The quiet tone of her books was a balm.
Hi again Monica--I am jealous of your life-long relationship with Woolf! I wish I had read her when I was younger. I should probably have explained at some point that I never studied British Literature (although I was an English professor). I studied American Studies and focused on literature and history. I love this: "Reading her diaries was a kind of intellectual Girl Scout badge." And I love that you took time to read her after Katrina. That was a major time of upheaval for me, as we lost our home in Lakeview, and I had a small child. But I found the time to take up birdwatching. The small things in life took on a new importance.
Anne, I love that reading Virginia Woolf is inspiring you "to write literature itself rather than only about literature." Discovering writers who gobsmack you into wanting to do more with your own writing, discover more about yourself, go out into the world and conquer: that's what literature can do in those rare and wonderful moments when you connect deeply with what you are reading.
I have never been able to connect with Virginia Woolf. I feel like I SHOULD like Virigina Woolf, and I've tried reading To the Lighthouse on several occasions during the past three or four decades. Either the time is never right or Virginia and I simply are not simpatico. Perhaps I should give her yet another try. Can you recommend any other Woolf books you like, since I am hesitant to try To the Lighthouse again? Many thanks!
This is so beautifully stated, re: what literature can do. Thank you, Christina!
Have you read Mrs. Dalloway? That's the Woolf novel that I return to most often.
I read Mrs. Dalloway in college. I remember that Woolf's style was so new and unexpected that I couldn't get past that. I really liked Michael Cunningham's The Hours, which I read about 10 years ago, so maybe I will pick up Mrs. Dalloway and give it another go. Thank you for the suggestion.
I have this very pretty edition that has Mrs. Dalloway on one side and The Hours on the other. I love the cover artwork.
https://www.amazon.com/Hours-Mrs-Dalloway-Novel-ebook/dp/B09CNFWCZ7#:~:text=In%20The%20Hours%2C%20the%20acclaimed,and%20inheritance%2C%20hope%20and%20despair.
Oh, I remember seeing that in the store. Yes, it's lovely. As soon as I finish the other 5 (yes, I know, I have a problem) books I'm reading now, I'll get Mrs. Dalloway out of the library and give her a try.
Like you, I have about 5 different books going at the moment. That is a perennial issue for me (and finishing them all is another story!). I'm glad Monica stepped in to recommend Mrs. Dalloway. I have only read that and Orlando and To the Lighthouse. Mrs. D. sounds like a good choice given your affection for The Hours. Let us know what you think!
Thank you, Ellen! I'm so glad that you are enjoying my letters. And I really appreciate your kind words re: my courage. Sometimes it felt more like trying to rescue myself from drowning. I am a late-comer to Woolf (never having studied British lit--my degrees were in American Studies), but I taught Orlando once (in a grad course on "Writing Lives") and have been an avid rereader of "A Room of One's Own" over the years. That essay still haunts me, and sometime I'll write more about it. I'm so glad you are here!