[Vwoolf] New Yorker essay on VW and Wharton

[Jeannette Smyth]

Ha! I've been thinking how much better Wharton is at character and plot, and het sex (?!) than Woolf is. We all know why VW abandoned character and plot and het sex. But I must say I still get the willies when I read House of Mirth, and nearly faint when Archer kisses the hole in Olenska's glove. Compared to the narrative arc of the ladies' quotidian lives in Woolf's attempted novel of fact, The Years, Wharton's much more Aristotelian derriere-garde techniques really are gripping. Also, I think the buccaneer aspects of American society, and the female protagonists of Wharton, are something Woolf -- herself very ambitious, and critical of social climbers -- did not quite, how you say, grok. (All of a sudden, I am overwhelmed with Woolf's use of Aristotelian techniques....Between the Acts, Dalloway....)

Not throwing out old Edith. 

But you are hilarious.

With thanks
Jeannette Smyth


On Sep 23, 2014, at 3:04 PM, Linda Chown wrote:

> Wharton is and, then, she has many patches of isn't.
> 
> From: Vwoolf [vwoolf-bounces+chownl=gvsu.edu at lists.osu.edu] on behalf of Jeannette Smyth [jeannette_smyth at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 4:48 PM
> To: ANNE Fernald [Staff/Faculty [A&S]]
> Cc: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] New Yorker essay on VW and Wharton
> 
> I’m with you. Trying to be positive. But Wharton is, as the guy points out, a writer of another epoch, as contemporary w/ VW as she might be.
> 
> Jeannette Smyth
> 
> On Sep 23, 2014, at 2:42 PM, ANNE Fernald [Staff/Faculty [A&S]] <fernald at fordham.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Dear all,
>> 
>> I'm very interested to know about the letter from Stuart. The truth is, this essay bugs me. I don't think Wharton is a huge influence on Woolf and I am surprised at the level of speculation he permits himself.
>> 
>> But I'm getting grumpy in my dotage,
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> Anne
>> 
>> On Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 4:32 PM, Jeannette Smyth <jeannette_smyth at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Thank you, the truth is mighty and it shall prevail!Jeannette Smyth
>> 
>> 
>> On Sep 23, 2014, at 12:26 PM, Stuart N. Clarke <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> VW ack’d on 18 Nov 1920 the receipt of a copy of “The Age of Innocence” in an uncollected letter to Messrs Appleton & Co. (letter pub’d in the “Virginia Woolf Bulletin” (Jan. 2011)).  Stephen Barkway discusses VW’s published comments on Wharton – and Wharton’s irritation – in his accompanying note.
>>>  
>>> Stuart
>>>  
>>> From: Jeannette Smyth
>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2014 6:51 PM
>>> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>>> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] New Yorker essay on VW and Wharton
>>>  
>>> This is very, very interesting, thank you for the heads up.
>>> I have read every word of the diaries and letters at least three times, where VW's casual reading and influences are most frequently to be found. I can’t remembering her mentioning Edith Wharton in any connection, and the author here notes he cannot find any record of VW’s having read Age of Innocence. 
>>> What interesting ouevres to compare, though. And how interesting Woolf’s contention that Wharton was not a real American — only Walt Whitman, of the fluid gender, was.
>>> Thank you again.
>>> Jeannette Smyth
>>>  
>>> On Sep 23, 2014, at 10:51 AM, Emily Kopley <emily.kopley at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>  
>>>> This recent essay in The New Yorker makes a good case for VW's thinking of The Age of Innocence as she composed Mrs. Ramsay's death:
>>>>  
>>>> http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/virginia-woolfs-anxiety-influence
>>>> 
>>>> Best,
>>>> Emily
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> -- 
>>>> Dr. Emily Kopley
>>>> Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
>>>> McGill University, Department of English
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>>>> Vwoolf mailing list
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>>>  
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Anne E. Fernald
>> Director of Writing/Composition at Lincoln Center,
>> Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies
>> Fordham University
>> 113 W 60th St.
>> New York NY 10023
>> 
>> 212/636-7613
>> fernald at fordham.edu
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