[Vwoolf] Sad News

Wed Mar 22 17:17:02 EDT 2017

The remembrances of Georgia that have been posted are so accurate, so vivid. They evoke her so beautifully.

Georgia was gracious and gentle, kind and witty, and always, always deeply wise. She was also wonderfully graceful. The angle of her head, her slow gestures, her smile, her elegantly subtle scarves, all glimmer brightly in my memories of her. Of particular intensity is my recollection of her calm and fearless way of coping with the cancer as if it were just a minor obstacle, a mere hindrance, a distraction which she seemingly confronted calmly and fearlessly in its various manifestations over the years.

I first met Georgia in 1992 in New Haven at the second annual conference on Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf: Themes and Variations, the conference I had organized with Mark Hussey, Patricia Morgne and my then-graduate student Donna Risolo. I still remember the joy of talking to Georgia for the first time right at the end of the conference.

At Georgia's 1998 St. Louis conference, it was my friend June Dunn who rescued the kitten mentioned a number of times in the remembrances, further cementing my sense of connection with Georgia, though we did not talk very often.

The last time I saw Georgia was in Leeds at the 26th Woolf conference, Woolf and Heritage,  where I was privileged to chair the panel on which Georgia presented her brilliant paper, "The Aesthetic Heritage of the Outsider." Erin Penner (whose paper was "The Curse of War") was the only other participant on our two-person panel. It was truly a great blessing to have only the two presenters. We had a good number of attendees and were able to have longer presentations, a very relaxed conversational experience and a really rewarding exchange of ideas. Indeed, the panel lasted beyond the full hour and a half. I am very deeply grateful that I was assigned to chair that panel especially since I was able to spend time with Georgia both before and after the session.

It breaks my heart to know that I will never see Georgia again, and truly I cannot believe it.

Vara

Vara Neverow
Department of English
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, CT 06515
203-392-6717
neverowv1 at southernct.edu

________________________________
From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Madelyn Detloff <detlofmm at miamioh.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 3:28 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Sad News

I am heartsick at this news. Georgia was kind, smart, funny, generous, and compassionate.  I very much hope that we will be able to honor her in some way at the conference in June and perhaps talk then about ways to remember her.

Love to all,
Madelyn

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 22, 2017, at 12:17 PM, Kimberly Coates <kimbec at bgsu.edu<mailto:kimbec at bgsu.edu>> wrote:

Hi, Jane and All—

I agree—that we honor her by finishing our writing projects and by continuing to think, teach, and write about Woolf. I am wondering if there is anyway—especially those of us who work on gender and teach gender studies in relation to modernism—might pull together and somehow bring her project to fruition? Or at least talk about the possibility of a collection of essays that honor the direction her project was headed? I have no idea how far along she was, and I know we can’t finish what was hers, but it would be a wonderful tribute to her to somehow honor and acknowledge the work she had done so far on the project.

If that is a possibility, I would certainly be willing to help in any way I could.

All Best,
Kim

Kimberly Coates, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Literature Program Coordinator
Affiliate Faculty Status in American Culture Studies/Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
kimbec at bgsu.edu<mailto:kimbec at bgsu.edu>
419-372-9189

From: Jane Marie Garrity <jane.garrity at colorado.edu<mailto:jane.garrity at colorado.edu>>
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 12:09 PM
To: Kimberly Coates <kimbec at bgsu.edu<mailto:kimbec at bgsu.edu>>
Cc: Gill Lowe <Gill.Lowe1 at btinternet.com<mailto:Gill.Lowe1 at btinternet.com>>, Kristin Czarnecki <Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu<mailto:Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu>>, "vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>" <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>>
Subject: [Vwoolf] Sad News

Kimberly, thank you for sending us the Waves quote which captures the unspeakable shock of Georgia’s loss.

I keep thinking of the book that she was writing and her desire to finish it. In spring 2014 she won a Fulbright and spent the following year in London at Birkbeck College, working on her monograph titled “Gender as Textuality: A Modernist Methodology.” This work in progress sought to put literature into conversation with early twentieth century social science. It’s so painful to think not only of the loss of Georgia, but of her unwritten monograph—all those thoughts and ideas now gone, unrealized.

She was such a gracious colleague over the years and she and I often talked about ways to broaden the visibility of literature by women modernists. She conceived of a possible annual conference on early 20th-century women writers, which she thought should be held at Saint Louis University in 2017—but then she got too sick to follow through on this fine idea.

I think we honor her by finishing our writing projects and remembering her tireless generosity of spirit.

I copy below a brief obituary that was drafted by her colleague, Toby Benis, and circulated to their St. Louis University community.
With warmest wishes and condolences to all who knew Georgia.
Jane

“Georgia Johnston ame to SLU in 1992 after graduating with a doctorate in British literature from Rutgers University in New Jersey.  She was an internationally recognized scholar of Modern British Literature, specializing in the intersections between women’s writing, psychoanalysis, and constructions of gender.  In addition to her work on behalf of the Department of English, Georgia was a tireless advocate for Women’s and Gender Studies at SLU.  She served as the Women’s Studies Program’s director for two years, and mentored many undergraduate and graduate students engaged in the study of gender and literature.  Georgia was an exceptional teacher, completely committed to her students and to the subjects she taught with passion and intelligence.  She was a particularly effective mentor for English graduate students.  She was recognized by the Department’s graduate students 5 years ago when she received the student award for Outstanding Faculty Mentor.  Georgia has served the University in many other capacities as well, including Interim English Department Chair in 1999, and most recently, Coordinator of Graduate Studies in English. She will be much missed by the English Department, the University, and her many students."

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<mailto:Jane.Garrity at Colorado.Edu>

On Mar 22, 2017, at 8:57 AM, Kimberly Coates <kimbec at bgsu.edu<mailto:kimbec at bgsu.edu>> wrote:

Oh my god. I am so deeply saddened. Georgia was a generous scholar and colleague and a beautiful, gentle, warm human being. She was interested, as Gill has said, in everyone. And where you taught, who you were, what you had or had not done never mattered to her. She was always, always warm and welcoming. I had a wonderful conversation with her after a panel I was on at the Woolf Conference a few years back. Such a loss for we as a community of Woolf scholars and friends, for her students—as I’ve no doubt she was a talented and generous teacher—and for her family and loved ones.

I am heartbroken. I had no idea she was ill.  I’m teaching The Waves this week to a terrific group of upper division undergraduates, and I shall be thinking of Georgia as we continue our discussion: “But for pain words are lacking. There should be cries, cracks, fissures, whiteness passing over chintz covers, interference with the sense of time, of space; the sense also of extreme fixity in passing objects; and sounds very remote and then very close; flesh being gashed and blood spurting, a joint suddenly twisted—beneath all of which appears something very important, yet remote, to be just held in solitude” (195).

Be well all—
Kim

Kimberly Coates, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Literature Program Coordinator
Affiliate Faculty Status in American Culture Studies/Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
kimbec at bgsu.edu<mailto:kimbec at bgsu.edu>
419-372-9189

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu>> on behalf of Gill Lowe <Gill.Lowe1 at btinternet.com<mailto:Gill.Lowe1 at btinternet.com>>
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 3:00 AM
To: Kristin Czarnecki <Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu<mailto:Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu>>
Cc: "vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>" <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Sad News

Terrible news. Georgia was such a steady, thoughtful and generous person. She was interested in everyone and wrote so beautifully. I think of her as calm, composed and without egotism. I also recall her dry sense of humour.
Such a shocking premature loss.
Gill

On 21 Mar 2017, at 22:13, Kristin Czarnecki <Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu<mailto:Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu>> wrote:
Hello, Everyone,

It is with deep sorrow that the I share with you the news that Georgia Johnston has passed away after a long battle with cancer. In the Woolf community, she will be remembered as a brilliant, generous scholar and caring friend, and we will keep you informed about plans to honor her and pay tribute.

May she rest in peace.

Best,

Kristin

Kristin Czarnecki
President, International Virginia Woolf Society
Associate Professor of English
Georgetown College, Pawling Hall 110
Georgetown, KY 40324
502-863-8132

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