[Vwoolf] (no subject)

[Mary Ellen Foley]

Beware!  To my eye, at least, the article may begin as a comment on
troll-ery, but it became something else entirely, outlining Woolf's
supposed five deaths, just in case we haven't harped enough on her suicide,
dwelling on snobbery above all else, damning her work with faint praise,
and getting enough tiny details wrong that could have been checked, that
the effect was of contempt: the author  didn't bother to check.  (The worst
example, possibly: No, it doesn't matter how many stories the Stephen
family house had, unless you give the number of residents, undercount the
number of stories by a factor of two, and make a point about overcrowding.
With 5 above ground level and one below, the enormous family and their
servants did not occupy a 3-story house -- no big deal, except that it's
easily checkable, and he makes a point of how packed in they were, linking
that to her wish for a room of one's own, which of course is a mistaken
understanding of what she meant by "a room of one's own."  Even if he was
referring to the years before the top floor was added, this is very sloppy
work.)

I made the mistake of reading some of the comments.  This is a civilized
site, so the comments were courteous, but that only means that many simply
used more polite language in dismissing Woolf in the same way she is
generally dismissed by detractors.  (If you aren't a member, you can see
only a selection of comments; I visited twice and was shown different
comments, but the selection was possibly not representative.)

I totally agree that the Woolf who/that has been constructed in more recent
times serves as a figure on whom we can hang whatever ideas we like; that
is because this figure has been crafted by articles such as this one, doing
the same.

Unfortunately, I read this first thing this morning. I hadn't wanted to
begin the day so irritated!

Mary Ellen

On Fri, Sep 10, 2021 at 7:27 PM Andre Gerard via Vwoolf <
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> Woolf as a guide to our troll tormented times:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://unherd.com/2021/08/why-was-virginia-woolf-so-rude/__;!!KGKeukY!jjUCMOBRyTAtqzmNjaSloxuUr1hsXdtrWDz-121j7BfHvWP0GcI3y50ve9Zin7hvV0I$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://unherd.com/2021/08/why-was-virginia-woolf-so-rude/__;!!KGKeukY!nf304ToEUjNd-Nsi_srJ4SrBkBCO1jUg3xAZQI-lYN5-9Mo3_0r0qTsgpJKtDF_daT8$>
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