[Vwoolf] Michael Cunningham attempts to explain Woolf's importance: "Mom is adoring and nurturing and ever-so-slightly out of touch."

Neverow, Vara S. neverowv1 at southernct.edu
Thu Jul 18 15:26:17 EDT 2013


All I can say is that I think Michael Cunningham is a very lucky man who has done exceptionally well by exploiting Woolf. He isn't very talented, but he did generate an interesting idea with tripartite narrative in The Hours; he also happened to win the Pulitzer Prize for the novel (thus, one assumes that other books under consideration were even more unworthy of the prize). The novel launched the film, which I think is actually quite good thanks to the direction of Stephen Daldry and the exceptional skills of the various actors (though I have issues with the focus on the suicide scene).

If one wants to wallow further in Cunningham's dreadful writing on things Woolfian, one should definitely read his abominable introduction to The Voyage Out https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-voyage-out/id420479599?mt=11.

Cheers,

Vara Neverow

From: Jean <millsj7 at gmail.com<mailto:millsj7 at gmail.com>>
Date: Thursday, July 18, 2013 3:11 PM
To: Jean Mallinson <annaj at telus.net<mailto:annaj at telus.net>>
Cc: VWOOLF listserv <vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Michael Cunningham attempts to explain Woolf's importance: "Mom is adoring and nurturing and ever-so-slightly out of touch."

Agreed! And what's this Woolf "could not, would not write about sex" b.s?? Then, why am I so turned on by her books? :/

Jean Mills


Sent from my iPhone


On Jul 18, 2013, at 11:29 AM, Jean Mallinson <annaj at telus.net<mailto:annaj at telus.net>> wrote:

This is a banal piece, which only confirms my opinion of Cunningham. I intensely disliked The Hours and was bewildered by its popularity with critics and readers.
Jean Mallinson
On 7/18/2013 4:52 AM, Christine Froula wrote:
That's indeed "more than enough out of [Cunningham]." Not worthy of the Guardian either, I'd have thought.

On 7/18/2013 5:46 AM, Gregory Jordan Dekter wrote:
>From The Guardian Books Blog, July 16: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2013/jul/16/michael-cunningham-folio-joyce-woolf

Forgetting the cliched gender analogy, this article isn't doing Woolf or Joyce any favours. Cunningham seems overly focused on personal traits which 1) he doesn't even support and 2) he twists the meaning of to be sensational. What about facilitating a discussion on the importance of these works, instead of baseless (and ultimately uninteresting) claims about their authors?

Also: "Woolf, in To the Lighthouse, is Winnicott's good-enough mother, the one who's able to love her children while simultaneously urging them towards lives of their own, beyond her reach or influence." Does Cunningham think Woolf and Mrs Ramsay are the same? Certainly he knows that an author, narrator, and character are all completely different things? But then, what could he mean by this?



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