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<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN>In
the 2013 vol. of “Woolf Studies Annual”, there is a very interesting reading of
“The Moment: </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Summer’s
Night”, marred for me by being pretty heavy going in places, particularly at the
beginning. It would therefore be forgivable for someone to start reading it, and
then give up.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Which would be a
pity. However, I have the following specific criticisms, which do not invalidate
the argument of the piece:</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">(a)<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt">
</FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I was
shocked/saddened/disappointed/appalled that the author used Leonard Woolf’s
various edns of Woolf’s essays, rather than the 6-vol. McNeillie/Clarke edn—esp.
when I had gone to all the bleeding trouble of rechecking the typescripts and
including textual variations for this essay.</SPAN></P>
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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">(b)<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt">
</FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Although the author must have been aware
of Leonard’s warning that the essay had been taken</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
from ‘a rather rough typescript heavily corrected in handwriting’, she
criticises the essay for “fail[ing] in part, falling into disarray rather than
being strengthened and unified …’ (p. 163), without acknowledging that it is
very much a draft.</SPAN><SPAN></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">(c)<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt">
</FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dating the essay</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Fn.
1 (p. 147) reads:</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“Published
in 1947, ‘Summer’s Night’ has eluded the attempts of scholars to date it.
The editors of ‘Modernism’ place it ‘c.1927’ (Kolocotroni, et al. 392).
Guiguet (294) and Goldman (‘Feminist’ 2) suggest ‘c.1929.’ Hussey,
however, pushes this date back to 1938 with the belief that the essay is
‘related to the composition of '”Between the Acts”’ (164). I find
Guiguet’s comparison of ‘Summer’s Night’ with several of Woolf’s diary entries
quite compelling, especially as this would align the piece chronologically with
the conclusions Reed has drawn regarding Woolf’s engagement with formalist
aesthetics.”</SPAN></P>
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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Note
(1) the wish fulfilment in the last sentence; (2) the disregard of </SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">V
VW Diary</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">,
p. 133, n. 3:</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">‘This
is the first allusion in VW’s diary to what was to develop into a new book . . .
<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Between the Acts</I>, the first page of
the first draft of which is dated 2 April 1938 and headed “Summer Night”; see <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Virginia Woolf: Pointz Hall.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The Earlier and Later Typescripts of
BETWEEN THE ACTS</I>, edited by Mitchell A. Leaska, New York, 1983 . . . “The
Moment: Summer’s Night” . . . from the evidence of the typescript in the Berg .
. . appears to be a later (1940) attempt by VW to form “a complete whole” of her
idea.’<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
I had no special new knowledge, I merely quoted this in my annotation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>*I* had no axe to grind.</SPAN></P>
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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoListParagraph
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-INDENT: -18pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-bidi-font-family: calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin"><SPAN
style="mso-list: ignore">(d)<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt"> </FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The author wishes to emphasise
“defamiliarisation” in Woolf’s essay.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>As an example, she quotes the second sentence:</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">An
owl, blunt, obsolete looking, heavy weighted, crossed the fading sky with a
black spot between its claws.”</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">And
comments:</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“The
description is visually potent yet oddly puzzling; how might an owl be ‘obsolete
looking’? What exactly distinguishes a ‘blunt’ owl from a non-blunt (a
sharp) one?” (p. 151). </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Again,
the author is pursuing her own agenda.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>To take the second question first, I’m sure Virginia Woolf saw more barn
owls than I ever have and that she knew what she was writing about.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As Oscar Wilde might have said: “Some
owls are blunt, some owls are not blunt. That is a matter that surely an owl may
be allowed to decide for itself.”</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><U><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><A
href="http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/barn-owl.html#comp.asp?recid=58651860&xtra="><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/barn-owl.html#comp.asp?recid=58651860&xtra=</FONT></A></SPAN></U><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In
reply to the first question, I would like to suggest, tentatively, that a blunt
barn owl may be reminding Woolf of a dirigible, while, say, a swallow would make
her think of a modern aeroplane.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">‘Approaching
the mooring mast minutes before landing on 6 May 1937, the <I>Hindenburg</I>
burst into flames and crashed. Of the 97 people aboard, 36 died: 13 passengers,
22 aircrew, and one American ground-crewman. The disaster happened before a
large crowd, was filmed and a radio news reporter was recording the arrival.
This was a disaster which theater goers could see and hear the next day. The
<I>Hindenburg</I> disaster shattered public confidence in airships, and brought
a definitive end to the "golden age". The day after <I>Hindenburg</I> crashed,
the <I>Graf Zeppelin</I> landed at the end of its flight from Brazil, ending
intercontinental passenger airship travel.’ (Wikipedia)</SPAN></P>
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style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">If
I had that axe, grinded or ungrinded, I might argue that this strongly suggests
that the essay was written after 1937!</SPAN></P>
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style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
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style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-pagination: none"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ; mso-fareast-language: en-gb; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Stuart</SPAN></P>
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