[Vwoolf] History of the phrase "Bloomsbury Set"?

Tue Jul 11 16:55:10 EDT 2017

Wonderful ref-JMK's 'so-called' is telling, I think.

From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey=verizon.net at lists.osu.edu] On
Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 9:20 PM
To: Jane Marie Garrity; Brenda S. Helt
Cc: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu; Laura Zander
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] History of the phrase "Bloomsbury Set"?

1914   J. M. Keynes Let. 2 July in R. F. Harrod Life J. M. Keynes (1951) iv.
171   She..is asking no one but a few of my so-called 'Bloomsbury set'!

Fred Shapiro

  _____  

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Jane Marie Garrity
<jane.garrity at colorado.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 2:03 PM
To: Brenda S. Helt
Cc: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu; Laura Zander
Subject: [Vwoolf] History of the phrase "Bloomsbury Set"? 

Hi all,

This is a follow up to the lively conversation about the use of the phrase
"Bloomsbury Set" in the article about Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Does
anyone know exactly who coined the epithet, "Bloomsbury Set," and when? 

I think rather than take umbrage at such contemporary references to
Bloomsbury we might instead marvel at the fact that the group is being
referred to at all! Here is another interesting reference-this one to the
"silken Bloomsbury-set pajamas"-in an article titled "What Gucci Can Teach
the Democrats" by the NYT chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/sunday-review/gucci-fashion-politics-.htm
l
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2017_0
7_08_sunday-2Dreview_gucci-2Dfashion-2Dpolitics-2D.html&d=DwMGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8
ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=kho7NCGW_g5Jrd
6FGNLyEcKwSUF6pnn5k2kqRF0oj0Y&s=j_gQEnmyFQPx5rbTLue4eOmfcvlHMxUOJrH9Cty9k6o&
e=> . I do not believe that Friedman is using the phrase pejoratively, which
suggests that its usage is much more complicated than earlier comments would
allow. 

On a less controversial note (& just for fun), here is an article by
Francesca Wade on the 50 Wedgwood plates illustrated with portraits of
famous women from history by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in the current
London Review of Books blog: 

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2017/07/07/francesca-wade/out-of-the-bloomsbury-m
ud/
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.lrb.co.uk_blog_201
7_07_07_francesca-2Dwade_out-2Dof-2Dthe-2Dbloomsbury-2Dmud_&d=DwMGaQ&c=cjytL
XgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=kho7NCGW_g
5Jrd6FGNLyEcKwSUF6pnn5k2kqRF0oj0Y&s=YTYPUm01ZHm2KTiRTxwR612K2W9BZaCI7Ob033Q1
_HI&e=> 

If you click on the image you can see approximately dead center that Grant
has included a portrait of himself (it is to the right of the portrait of
Vanessa Bell and diagonal to the portrait of Virginia Woolf) among this
pantheon of famous women. 

Happy summer everyone!

Jane 

Jane Garrity
Associate Professor of English
Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies
University of Colorado at Boulder
226 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309-0226
Jane.Garrity at Colorado.Edu 

On Jul 5, 2017, at 10:58 AM, Brenda S. Helt <helt0010 at umn.edu> wrote:

Well, first, nobody who knows much of anything about the Bloomsbury Group
calls them the "Bloomsbury Set"-that's a largely pejorative label devised in
Britain by homophobic and conservative minded folks who decided the
Bloomsberries represented everything they despised.  It's not always used
pejoratively now, nor only in Britain, but it does still indicate a lack of
knowledge of the Group.  Ironically, Ms. Sanghvi's claim that this tech
think tank is Silicon Valley's answer to the B'bury Group is exactly
correct, though, as point by point that think tank represents the antithesis
of everything the Group valued, achieved, and has come to represent for its
admirers today.

Brenda Helt

Co-editor Queer Bloomsbury

<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__edinburghuniversitypre
ss.com_book-2Dqueer-2Dbloomsbury-2D13031.html&d=DwMGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-
poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=kho7NCGW_g5Jrd6FGNLyEcKw
SUF6pnn5k2kqRF0oj0Y&s=ClWv_cu0pfTl1r8XEKYSgSq67hFWn7yxlexRUET8IZk&e=>
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury-13031.html

From: Vwoolf [ <mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu>
mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Laura Zander
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2017 8:39 AM
To:  <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: [Vwoolf] Silicon Valley's Bloomsbury? Methinks not.

"Ms. Sanghvi describes it as tech's answer to the Bloomsbury Set.."

This is about as far from Bloomsbury as you can get, with a bunch of men
staring into screens as they dream up ways to make money, but sure... go
ahead and use that reference point.

<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2017_0
7_02_business_tech-2Dscene-2Dsouth-2Dpark-2Dcommons-2Dsan-2Dfrancisco.html&d
=DwMGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHS
cg&m=kho7NCGW_g5Jrd6FGNLyEcKwSUF6pnn5k2kqRF0oj0Y&s=NtI1RDG8vZUo7sCkzF2lF04x3
6-1W4b3KK_ZUYYAHFE&e=>
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/business/tech-scene-south-park-commons-sa
n-francisco.html

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