[Vwoolf] Thoughts about the 25th Annual and Truly Awesome International Conference on Virginia Woolf at Bloomsburg University

Wed Jun 10 19:58:01 EDT 2015

The tattoos!

[image1.JPG]
Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 10, 2015, at 4:41 PM, Tonya Krouse <krouset at nku.edu<mailto:krouset at nku.edu>> wrote:

Vara,
Thank you so much for this recap of the conference!  It was truly the most generative and inspiring meeting of scholars that I have attended in years. Nineteen years ago, just after I had received my B.A. in English and just before I was about to embark upon graduate school, I attended my very first Woolf conference, and in many ways this conference and the "Woolfian pack" who welcomed me so warmly influenced who I have become as a scholar, teacher, and thinker.  This year, I felt so fortunate to bring undergraduates of my own to the conference - undergraduates who were so inspired that they got "VW" tattoos to commemorate the occasion - even though they thought I would be mad at them for doing so!  So I just wanted to add my voice to yours in thanking Julie and thanking all who were in attendance for one of the most energizing professional weekends I've had in years.

All the best,
Tonya

Tonya Krouse
Professor of English
Northern Kentucky University
________________________________
From: Vwoolf [vwoolf-bounces+krouset=nku.edu at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf-bounces+krouset=nku.edu at lists.osu.edu>] on behalf of Neverow, Vara S. [neverowv1 at southernct.edu<mailto:neverowv1 at southernct.edu>]
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 5:54 PM
To: VWOOLF listserv; IVWSMEMBERS at LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU<mailto:IVWSMEMBERS at LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject: [Vwoolf] Thoughts about the 25th Annual and Truly Awesome International Conference on Virginia Woolf at Bloomsburg University

Dear all,

I am reporting on the absolutely fabulous, amazing, and incredible Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf hosted by the brilliant and scintillating Julie Vandivere and her devoted co-conspirators, including the intrepid and undaunted Erica Delsandro as well as the ever-present, deeply wise and dedicated Megan Hicks and Emma Slotterback and everyone else who worked so hard to create something so memorable and durable—a conference that is a gift to marvel over and recall with great pleasure.

The conference was truly a work of art in every possible sense, It was as if every piece of the conference was curated and placed exactly where it was supposed to be. (And Thursday evening at the conference also included an actual and truly lovely art exhibit/art competition where attendees imbibed delicious beverages and snacked on heavenly hors d’oeuvres while chatting and mingling and looking at the works.)

The papers, panels and plenaries were all inspiring and dynamic and brilliant. The opening reception was gracious and intimate. Cecil Woolf and Jean Moorcroft Wilson arrived at the conference on Thursday with numerous copies of Bloomsbury Heritage pamphlets. Bloomsburg itself was beautiful, as was the university campus, and the restaurants in the town were delightful. The performance of Septimus and Clarissa, with the playwright, Ellen McLaughlin, taking the part of the older Clarissa, was stupendous, and Mrs. Dalloway’s Party, which followed the performance, offered an abundance of tasty tidbits as well as hilarious opportunities for the attendees to try on a variety of vintage hats, activities resulting in many, many photographs. The food at the conference was abundant and delicious. At one break, mounds of whipped cream, fresh strawberries and sponge cake were served. And the banquet itself was nourishing for both the mind and body, a wonderful chance for creating new friendships and spending time with those one sees so rarely. Jean Moorcroft Wilson interviewed Cecil Woolf at the banquet in a wonderfully playful but also quite substantive fashion—one of the many high points of the conference. And, as always, the Virginia Woolf Players read from Woolf’s works as the closing event of the gathering.

The shuttle bus to and from Newark gave Woolfians coming from afar a chance to bond with each other on the journey. And the weather was, of course, perfect. To have so many Woolfians gathered in one place is always a peak moment of the year for me and, I am sure, for many others. To also have at the conference, in keeping with its inclusive title, so many scholars who study Woolf’s female contemporaries was a superb new feature and one that clearly will influence future research and create new connections among the various interwoven webs that connect Woolf to other modernists. That there were so many new faces was particularly lovely. The newcomers ranged from the modernist scholars to the high-school students who presented their papers with aplomb and confidence and from the graduate students who had never before attended this conference to the common readers who are always most welcome to join the Woolfian pack. Rumor has it that the annual Woolf conference is the very best first conference for graduate students because it is the most nurturing, and I can’t say I was surprised. But this one was particularly open to a range of participants.

In addition to all the ebullient excitement of the conference, there was also a time of reflection. At the Thursday evening reception, Jane Marcus was remembered. Linda Camarasana, Mark Hussey, Jean Mills, J. Ashley Foster, and Suzette Henke all spoke and shared with those present their memories of a formidable and magnificent Woolfian who, among her many achievements as a teacher and a friend and a scholar was bold enough to challenge the conventional perception of Woolf as an aesthete and a mad woman and was among those scholars who brought Woolf’s work and her feminism, socialism and pacifism into focus in ways that will continue to endure. Jane Marcus’s landmark works include Art and Anger: Reading like a Woman and Virginia Woolf and the Languages of Patriarchy. Also remembered at the conference with sorrow and gratitude was Shari Benstock,  some of whose most familiar works are Women of the Left Bank, Paris 1900-1940, Textualizing the Feminine: On the Limits of Genre and the co-edited A Handbook of Literary Feminisms. These two women truly shaped the way we read Woolf and her contemporaries. I was very glad that both were acknowledged.

For those of you who weren’t at the conference and would want to “see” it, you should check the social media. There have been lots of postings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WoolfConference2015 (which is maintained by Paula Maggio) and on Paula’s own Blogging Woolf site at https://bloggingwoolf.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/join-mrs-dalloway-at-her-party-at-woolfconf15/. You can also go online on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hashtag/woolfconf15 or with the app at #woolfconf15 to see comments about the conference.

Finally, for those of you who want to share your remembrances of Jane Marcus and Shari Benstock, I encourage you to send me your recollections for the Virginia Woolf Miscellany. I will be compiling these contributions to a section of a future issue. Remembrances of all aspects of the conference itself are also very welcome.

I am deeply grateful to all those who worked so hard to make this unforgettable conference possible. This was a truly stellar labor of love, and one that will always be cherished by those who attended.

Vara

Vara Neverow
Managing Editor, Virginia Woolf Miscellany
Professor, English and Women’s Studies
English Department Engleman Hall D265
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street
New Haven, CT 06515

Phone:   203-392-6717
Fax:       203-392-6731
Email:    neverowv1 at southernct.edu<UrlBlockedError.aspx>

_______________________________________________
Vwoolf mailing list
Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20150610/0bf4de03/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image1.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 76973 bytes
Desc: image1.JPG
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20150610/0bf4de03/attachment-0001.jpe>