<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Elizabeth, <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">That was a lovely article, beautifully written. I have reread “The Second Coming” many a time since 2016, but I had never thought of it in light of the influenza pandemic-- thank you for that. I also felt very much the passage about contagion guilt: I think sometimes during the rare times I am now out, what if I infect someone? I think, too, of course, about being infected, but the other thought haunts me as well:</div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: garamond-premier-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: garamond-premier-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">The invisibility of the threat in turn produces what we might term contagion guilt, a haunting fear that one might pass a deadly infection to another. Routes of transmission are known generally but rarely specifically; one fears but does not know the precise means of transfer. In William Maxwell’s elegiac novel </span><em style="box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: garamond-premier-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">They Came Like Swallows</em><span style="color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: garamond-premier-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">, which recalls his own pregnant mother’s death in the influenza pandemic, the characters are haunted by all the what-ifs: what if they had taken their boy out of school earlier? What if they had chosen the next train car rather than the first one? What if they had not entered the room that day? Such guilt can live in the mind as a low-lying presence, unresolved and unresolvable. And this guilt comes, too, in its anticipatory form—what if that touch, that visit, that missed hand wash harms a loved one or a stranger? </span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 10, 2020, at 5:55 PM, Diane Reynolds via Vwoolf <<a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.osu.edu" class="">vwoolf@lists.osu.edu</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">And I should have mentioned how much I loved the research from your book that Kindley wove in—that was key to the piece! I look forward to reading your link now ...<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Diane<br class=""><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 10, 2020, at 5:34 PM, Outka, Elizabeth via Vwoolf <<a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.osu.edu" class="">vwoolf@lists.osu.edu</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Hi all,<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Love the Kindley<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i class="">New Yorker</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>piece on reading<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i class="">Mrs</i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i class="">Dalloway</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>amid COVID! Here are some additional musings I wrote on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i class="">Dalloway</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and our times, with Woolf coming in at the end:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/04/08/how-pandemics-seep-into-literature/" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/04/08/how-pandemics-seep-into-literature/</a>. <o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Off to wash my hands,<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">Elizabeth<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Dr. Elizabeth Outka<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Professor of English<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">English Department<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Sarah Brunet Hall (until Fall 2021)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">206 Richmond Way, Office 112<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">University of Richmond, VA 23173<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><a href="mailto:eoutka@richmond.edu" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class="">eoutka@richmond.edu</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature</span></i></b><b class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/viral-modernism/9780231185752" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://cup.columbia.edu/book/viral-modernism/9780231185752</a><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class="">Consuming Traditions: Modernity, Modernism, and the Commodified Authentic<o:p class=""></o:p></span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/consuming-traditions-9780199921843?lang=en&cc=us" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;" class="">https://global.oup.com/academic/product/consuming-traditions-9780199921843?lang=en&cc=us</a></span><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Garamond, serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div></div><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">_______________________________________________</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Vwoolf mailing list</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><a href="mailto:Vwoolf@lists.osu.edu" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; 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