[Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW

Thu Sep 3 17:56:44 EDT 2015

I can think of at least four fictional versions of George Mallory's life
(with at least two films in production). Tanis Rideout, Above All Things;
Justin Go, The Steady Running of the Hour; Dan Simmons, The Abominable.
There's also a theatrical script (the name of which escapes me just now)
about Mallory, Grant, and Vanessa Bell having some sort of polymorphously
romantic evening. And there's a full-length fanfiction on Mallory with
Virginia Woolf doing tarot cards and Adrian saying "our plays are scrummy"
(whatever that means). Link to the Bloomsbury chapter here:
http://www.everestdream.blogspot.com/2006/08/chapter-nine-bloomsbury-1911-1913.html

I'd hate to think that untimely deaths lead to glamour and hence the
proliferation of bio-fictions, but Mallory -- like Woolf -- seems to
generate them.

Love this thread!

Catherine

On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 7:35 AM, Sarah M. Hall <smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Indeed, ‘that queer amalgamation of dream and reality, that perpetual
> marriage of granite and rainbow’, as one might say if one was a great
> writer.
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Danell Jones <danelljones at bresnan.net>
> *To:* 'Sarah M. Hall' <smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>; 'Mark Hussey' <
> mhussey at verizon.net>; 'Stuart N. Clarke' <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>;
> vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Sent:* Thursday, 3 September 2015, 15:16
>
> *Subject:* RE: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> Can I say how much I love this list? Smart, generous, well-informed, and
> just dang funny!  Thank you.
>
> As I work, I return from time to time to this quote from historian George
> Kenan.  It is a bit long, but so very thoughtful, I think it is work
> sharing:
>
> “The truth is that the historian is not a mere purveyor.  He does not
> stand entirely outside the historical evidence he brings to your
> attention.  He stands in many ways inside of it.  He is himself in many
> ways a part of it.
>
> True, he describes historical events.  And if he is a true historian, he
> describes them as accurately as they can be described on the strength of
> the available record.  But he was not there.  He did not see these events
> with his own eyes…and not having been there and not having seen them, what
> does he have to start with when he envisages these events and portrays them
> for us?  He has, as a rule, only the hieroglyphics of the written word as
> preserved in crumbling old documents, and sometimes a few artifacts that
> have survived the ravages of time and neglect—perhaps even a portrait or a
> drawing or, if he works in recent history, a photograph or two.  But these
> evidences only hint at the real story—they don’t tell it.  It is up to the
> historian to examine them critically and imaginatively, to select among
> them (for they are often multitudinous in number), to try to penetrate the
> reality behind them, and to try to depict them in a way that reveals their
> meaning.  And to accomplish this task, what does he had to draw upon?  Only
> what he already has within him: his knowledge, of course, of the historical
> background, his level of cultural sensitivity, his ability to put the
> isolated bit of evidence into the larger context, and, above all, his
> capacity for insight and empathy, his ability to identify with the
> historical figures he describes, his educated instinct for what is
> significant and what is not—in other words, his creative imagination.
>
>             What emerges from this scrutiny is something that is, of
> necessity, high subjective.  It is not, and cannot be, the absolute and
> total truth.  It is, if the writer is a conscientious historian, as close
> to the truth as he can possibly make it.  But it remains a vision of the
> past—not the past in its pure form (no one could ever recreate that) but
> the past as one man, or one man alone, is capable of envisaging it, of
> depicting it.  It is perceived reality—reality in the eyes of the
> beholder—the only kind of reality that can have meaning for us other human
> being and be useful to us.  That is why every work of history—at least of
> narrative or explanatory history—is at least as revealing of the man who
> wrote it and the period in which it was written as it is of the people it
> portrays and the époque in which they lived.
>
> “Remarks Delivered at a Birthday Party for the Slavic Division of the New
> York Public Library “ 1987, George F. Kennan
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Sarah M. Hall [mailto:smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk]
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 03, 2015 3:22 AM
> *To:* Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>; 'Danell Jones' <
> danelljones at bresnan.net>; 'Stuart N. Clarke' <
> stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>; vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> Fictionalized Danell: have you considered crowdfunding?
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>
> *To:* 'Danell Jones' <danelljones at bresnan.net>; 'Stuart N. Clarke' <
> stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>; vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 2 September 2015, 21:44
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> Michael Lackey’s new listserv on biofiction (details of which I posted
> last week) and his forthcoming book(s) on the subject are evidence of
> growing academic interest in these questions. I shall keep working on my
> fictionalized Danell if I see any money in it!  More seriously, my concern
> is how the fictional version of Woolf so often play into existing
> antagonistic paradigms promulgated by laddish novelists in the UK and other
> Bloomsbury bashers…
>
>
> *From:* Danell Jones [mailto:danelljones at bresnan.net
> <danelljones at bresnan.net>]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 02, 2015 1:54 PM
> *To:* 'Mark Hussey'; 'Stuart N. Clarke';
> vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* RE: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> I love it!  Now I’m dying to know how did I get to the penthouse? Where do
> I keep my opium? The Des Moines thing was clearly a misprint in the
> *Register*.  J
>
> More seriously, I am writing a biography of a African Edwardian living in
> London and am working very, very hard to ground everything in fact, even
> though I am dramatizing some scenes.  It is an interesting process. The
> whole genre of creative nonfiction is exciting, complex, challenging.
>
> I’m always really interested hearing people’s thoughts about where the
> boundaries are in historical novels, creative nonfiction, and even
> sometimes, history.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Danell
>
>
> *From:* Mark Hussey [mailto:mhussey at verizon.net <mhussey at verizon.net>]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 02, 2015 10:48 AM
> *To:* 'Danell Jones' <danelljones at bresnan.net>; 'Stuart N. Clarke' <
> stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>; vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* RE: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> “Danell Jones, a zoo keeper from Des Moines with a secret opium habit and
> a penchant for fast cars, leaned out of her penthouse window one snowy
> morning and ….”
>
> I think, to paraphrase Woolf, there are many varieties of “truth” (just as
> there are many varieties of error…). Brenda Silver’s *Virginia Woolf Icon*
> is instructive here.  I agree, it is a great conversation!
>
> mark
>
> *From:* Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu
> <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu>] *On Behalf Of *Danell Jones
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2015 9:54 AM
> *To:* 'Stuart N. Clarke'; vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> As someone who has fictionalized Woolf, may I defend creative writers by
> suggesting that Woolf quite liked the “truth” of fiction? “I prefer, where
> truth is important,” she wrote, “to write fiction.”
>
> Her “true” story of the *Dreadnought* Hoax, for example, contains a good
> deal of fiction.
>
> This is a great conversation!
>
> Danell
>
>
> *From:* Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu
> <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu>] *On Behalf Of *Stuart N. Clarke
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2015 5:04 AM
> *To:* vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> See VW Letters #264, 270, 271.
>
> Stuart
>
> *From:* Sarah M. Hall <smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2015 11:11 AM
> *To:* Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net> ; 'Leslie Hankins'
> <lhankins at cornellcollege.edu> ; vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu ; 'International
> Virginia Woolf Society' <ivwsociety at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> Dear All,
>
> I've contacted Priya Parmar to ask about the source for the table
> 'incident' and she says:
>
> The incident with the table is definitely rooted in historical fact.  It
> was valuable and she did ask Violet for it and appalled her family.  I
> think it comes from a letter from Vanessa Bell.  It may be mentioned in a
> letter of Virginia's as well.  I do not think it pops up in Lytton
> Strachey's correspondence.  I wish I had my notes!  The dates I know are
> accurate.
>
> I am not sure if that helps!  I have finally stored my research notes in
> America and feel a bit bereft that I do not have them to hand!
>
>
> Obviously in a novel, the author will explore and speculate on people's
> emotions ('particular favourite', 'thundered in'), which can lead to
> difficulties if readers take it at face value. Also, when the
> (non-Woolfian) reader passes on their interpretation of the events, they
> add their own layer of emotion ('predatory', 'demanding', 'heirloom',
> 'horribly embarrassed'). In fact, it has been filtered through three people
> by the time it gets to us; not that I am questioning your interpretation of
> your colleague's words, Leslie.
>
> But you're right, Mark. We can't help readers misinterpreting fiction as
> fact; any more than we can help people believing uncorroborated 'facts'
> they read in a non-fiction book or a newspaper, which it seems to me are
> more dangerous and inexcusable.
>
> All the best,
>
> Sarah
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>
> *To:* 'Leslie Hankins' <lhankins at cornellcollege.edu>;
> vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu; 'International Virginia Woolf
> Society' <ivwsociety at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Saturday, 29 August 2015, 22:06
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> Perhaps we need to institute a fact checking website to counter the
> endless flow of misinformation coming from novelists and tv series writers,
> film-makers and others who prefer fictional versions of VW et al. to
> anything based on the historical record!
>
>
> *From:* Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey=verizon.net at lists.osu.edu
> <vwoolf-bounces+mhussey=verizon.net at lists.osu.edu>] *On Behalf Of *Leslie
> Hankins
> *Sent:* Saturday, August 29, 2015 4:57 PM
> *To:* vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu; International Virginia Woolf
> Society
> *Subject:* [Vwoolf] curiouser and curiouser: the desk(s) of VW
>
> Hello again!  The desk plot thickens.  A colleague at dinner (not a VW
> scholar) told me she had read somewhere that VW was really very predatory
> and rude about asking for and demanding a desk from a friend, a desk that
> was an heirloom, etc.  She said that Vanessa had been horribly embarrassed
> by the whole thing, etc, etc.
>
> I felt at a loss because it didn't sound familiar, at least not the
> outrage of it all.
>
> Finally she tracked it down to the novel Vanessa & Her Sister by Parmar.
>
> The passage in the novel (set up as a journal entry) is rather harsh:
>
> Saturday 5 May 1906--46 Gordon Square (end of a long day)
>
> "Virginia asked Violet for a table.  Such an innocuous sentence, but what
> a rumpus it has caused.  It is apparently a particular favourite of
> Violet's and a valuable antique to boot.  Virginia just thundered in to tea
> at Violet's one afternoon and told her that she would quite like to have
> it.  Mother would be so distressed.  Thoby and Adrian are appalled--"One
> simply does not go about asking for other people's things, Ginia!"--and I
> am now resigned.  I was unsettled at first, wary as I am for any signs of
> imbalance or incongruity in Virginia, but seeing that it was just one of
> her peculiar moments of directness at work, I relaxed.  Violet was an utter
> dear and had the table delivered the next day.  Virginia is planning to
> have two of the legs sawn off, which makes the gift quite irreversible.
>
>       And--Virginia, after listening to a stinging lecture from Thobs, has
> written twice today, pestering poor Violet for the price of the table."
> (87)
>
> I've looked at VW's letters to Violet (Vol 1 270, [May 1906] p 225ff  but
> haven't found anything about Vanessa's reaction.  Does anyone have any more
> information about this?  I've hardly looked at Patmar's book but my
> colleague noted that it made VW out to be rather demonic.
>
> I'll keep looking but it does seem curious.
>
> leslie
> --
> Leslie Kathleen Hankins
> Professor
> Department of English & Creative Writing
>
> *"Moreover, however interesting facts may be, they are an inferior form of
> fiction, & gradually we become impatient of their weakness & diffuseness,
> of their compromises & evasions, of the slovenly sentences which they make
> for themselves, and are eager to revive ourselves with the greater
> intensity & truth of fiction." *
>                                                          Virginia Woolf,
> "How Should One Read a Book?"
>
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-- 
Catherine W. Hollis, PhD
Assistant Editor, The Emma Goldman Papers
Instructor, Fall Program for Freshmen
U.C. Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
hollisc at berkeley.edu
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