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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>In response to Anne Margaret, Woolf <U>did</U> call
herself a snob, believed herself to be one, and demonstrated how it manifested
itself in her behaviour (see 'Am I a Snob?').</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The VWSGB had an interesting talk during its
'Virginia in Debyshire' week, last month, when David Ellis spoke on DHL and
Snobbery. Apparently, TSE accused DHL of being one!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>However, it is the meaning of the word which seems
to have changed during the last century, certainly in the way it is used in
everyday parlance, if not in its formal definition. My 'Concise Oxford
Dictionary' (New Edition, 1982 . . . which I bought in the same transaction as
my first copy of The Voyage Out with some Christmas book tokens)
has:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><STRONG>snob</STRONG> person with
exaggerated respect for social position or wealth and a disposition to be
ashamed of socially inferior connections, behave with servility to social
superiors [etc.]</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Woolf was highly conscious of having
these qualities. For the latter quality in
particular, see this letter to Christabel McLaren (not long
afterwards, <U>Lady</U> Aberconway) who lived in the last private mansion to be
built in central London:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<H3 style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Sunday. [10
November 1929]<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Dearest Christabel,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">How satisfying & pleasant to see your hand again: I
will keep any date to come to you, grey as a mouse & white as a nun, &
hand cocktails to the debauched. Do you really mean it?</SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>And she signs-off the letter:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Your
afflicted but faithful old family servant that has moved in the best circles
& only goes charring to oblige— Virginia</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
face=Arial>As to The Daily Mail: awful, ill-informed, short-hand/lazy
journalism. They are using the word to mean something like
'elitest'. And Hornby? Well, he won't have won many fans here . . . I feel
rather sorry for him, unable to enjoy a masterpiece like Mrs. Dalloway.
'Notoriously difficult prose'??!! Hardly. If only he knew what he
was missing.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT
face=Arial>Stephen</FONT></SPAN></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>