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

Jean Mallinson annaj at telus.net
Thu Sep 3 23:03:09 EDT 2015


While reading the letters about biography and fiction I thought of the 
book of stories by Angelica Bell Garnett. I bought and read these 
stories only because they were by her. They complicate and enrich one's 
sense of some of the people she lived her life with, Duncan Grant in 
particular. I suppose I feel     that she  had a right to this material, 
to embroidering and imagining it.  They were inside stories.
Jean Mallinson

On 9/3/2015 2:56 PM, Catherine Hollis wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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
>         <mailto:danelljones at bresnan.net>>
>         *To:* 'Sarah M. Hall' <smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk
>         <mailto:smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>>; 'Mark Hussey'
>         <mhussey at verizon.net <mailto:mhussey at verizon.net>>; 'Stuart N.
>         Clarke' <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com
>         <mailto:stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>>;
>         vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>         <mailto: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
>         <mailto:smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>]
>         *Sent:* Thursday, September 03, 2015 3:22 AM
>         *To:* Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net
>         <mailto:mhussey at verizon.net>>; 'Danell Jones'
>         <danelljones at bresnan.net <mailto:danelljones at bresnan.net>>;
>         'Stuart N. Clarke' <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com
>         <mailto:stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>>;
>         vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>         <mailto: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
>             <mailto:mhussey at verizon.net>>
>             *To:* 'Danell Jones' <danelljones at bresnan.net
>             <mailto:danelljones at bresnan.net>>; 'Stuart N. Clarke'
>             <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com
>             <mailto:stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>>;
>             vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>             <mailto: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]
>             *Sent:* Wednesday, September 02, 2015 1:54 PM
>             *To:* 'Mark Hussey'; 'Stuart N. Clarke';
>             vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>             <mailto: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]
>             *Sent:* Wednesday, September 02, 2015 10:48 AM
>             *To:* 'Danell Jones' <danelljones at bresnan.net
>             <mailto:danelljones at bresnan.net>>; 'Stuart N. Clarke'
>             <stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com
>             <mailto:stuart.n.clarke at btinternet.com>>;
>             vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>             <mailto: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] *On
>             Behalf Of *Danell Jones
>             *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2015 9:54 AM
>             *To:* 'Stuart N. Clarke';
>             vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>             <mailto: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] *On
>             Behalf Of *Stuart N. Clarke
>             *Sent:* Tuesday, September 01, 2015 5:04 AM
>             *To:* vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>             <mailto: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 <mailto:smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>
>             *Sent:*Tuesday, September 01, 2015 11:11 AM
>             *To:*Mark Hussey <mailto:mhussey at verizon.net> ; 'Leslie
>             Hankins' <mailto:lhankins at cornellcollege.edu> ;
>             vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>             <mailto:vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu> ;
>             'International Virginia Woolf Society'
>             <mailto: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
>                 <mailto:mhussey at verizon.net>>
>                 *To:* 'Leslie Hankins' <lhankins at cornellcollege.edu
>                 <mailto:lhankins at cornellcollege.edu>>;
>                 vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>                 <mailto:vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>;
>                 'International Virginia Woolf Society'
>                 <ivwsociety at gmail.com <mailto: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]
>                 *On Behalf Of *Leslie Hankins
>                 *Sent:* Saturday, August 29, 2015 4:57 PM
>                 *To:* vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu
>                 <mailto: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?"
>                 _______________________________________________
>                 Vwoolf mailing list
>                 Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
>                 https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
>
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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 <mailto:hollisc at berkeley.edu>
>
>
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