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<DIV>As a common reader, this piece from The New Yorker resonated much more for
me than the one authored by Michael Cunningham. My interest in Virginia
Woolf did come from the movies, but not from the film of Mr. Cunningham’s ‘The
Hours’. I saw Sally Potter’s interpretation of ‘Orlando’ shortly after it
was released and was intrigued, amused and fascinated by the playful treatment
of gender and time. So I bought a used paperback and read the book.
Sometime later a film of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ was released directed by Marleen Gorris
who had directed the delightful ‘Antonia’s Line’ and starred the great Vanessa
Redgrave, one of my favorite actresses. Again, I got a copy of Woolf’s
novel and, as Jenny Offill expressed so well in her piece in The New Yorker, I
was struck by the beauty of the writing. I also reread books that have a
special resonance for me and find something fresh and new in them with every
reading. After reading the novel, I also realized that the film hardly did
more than scratch the surface or penetrate into the ‘beautiful caves’ that Woolf
had dug out behind her characters. Finally I saw ‘The Hours’, was very
impressed with the acting and, having lived through the AIDS pandemic and lost a
partner and several close friends, was very moved by Ed Harris’s portrayal of
the character that parallels Septimus Smith. But later I read Hermione
Lee’s biography of Woolf and began to wonder who it was exactly that Nicole
Kidman was portraying. Much was made of the prosthetic nose (which did not
make the actress look anything like Woolf, in my opinion) and to give Kidman
credit where credit is due as an actress, she did seem to disappear into the
character. But from what I gleaned from Hermione Lee’s biography, the
character Kidman inhabited was...not Virginia Woolf.<BR><BR>Finally, at some
point, I read Cunningham’s book ‘The Hours’ and, quite frankly, found what I
thought was his attempt to give an impression of Woolf’s writing to be quite
annoying. I am also not a fan of biofiction and although I read ‘The Wide
Sargasso Sea’ with some interest, I don’t find any great desire to read novels
that are sequels or prequels of classic works written by contemporary
authors. I did read the excerpt from Cunningham’s introduction to ‘Mrs.
Dalloway’ in The New York Times with a bit of an eye roll that here was one more
article from an author who seems to have been appointed by the mainstream press
as the foremost authority on Virginia Woolf. Popular culture in the
twenty-first century is largely centered on the culture of celebrity. In
the very particular niche of popular culture that is devoted to ‘serious’ art or
literature, Michael Cunningham is the celebrity name that is most associated
with Virginia Woolf. The new Vintage addition of ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ is more
than likely being published to appeal to as broad a readership as possible and
is not being marketed as a text for scholarly study of the novel. Michael
Cunningham’s name on the book’s cover as author of the introduction will do more
to sell copies than the name of one of the respected, legitimate scholars that
subscribe to this listserv. I read your emails and I admit that I
sometimes am amused by what seems to be nitpicking. How many Angels of the
House can dance on the head of one of Slater’s Pins? All joking aside, I
do recognize the importance of what you all do, not, I suspect, that that makes
any difference to any of you and why should it? That being said, I wish
you luck in your quest for the Harcourt editions of Woolf’s novels. I have
read all of the novels as well as the diaries. I have for some time now
been reading the collected letters and have made it to the sixth volume.
Maybe I have a bit of apprehension about coming to the end since I have not
picked that worn out paperback up for some time now. But finish it, I will
when the time comes that I feel inclined to do so. The insights that your
emails often bring to light are greatly appreciated.</DIV>
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<DIV>Mark Scott</DIV>
<DIV>Common Reader </DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=vwoolf@lists.osu.edu>Kristin Czarnecki via Vwoolf</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, December 29, 2020 9:08 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=vwoolf@lists.osu.edu>vwoolf@lists.osu.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Vwoolf] New Yorker Article</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>Mrs.
Dalloway is certainly having a moment!
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-lifetime-of-lessons-in-mrs-dalloway__;!!KGKeukY!mAqfa4PNoJOQ4DOa0c4fgqVKODxKSAJF96K2G_YdJt3Q6y3YfjZ3RwNNYy4qhp6zRxw$">https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-lifetime-of-lessons-in-mrs-dalloway</A><BR><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr>Sent from my iPad</DIV></DIV>
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