[Vwoolf] Sad News

Erin Penner ekp23 at cornell.edu
Wed Mar 22 17:32:23 EDT 2017


Thank you for remembering that event, Vara.  I was just working on my
article from the Leeds conference this week, of all things, and at the top
of my current draft, in bold, is a question Georgia asked me during that
panel, and which I'm *still *mulling over.  I'm so very saddened by the
news, but heartened by these wonderful remembrances of a woman whose life
and work I only knew in part.

Erin

On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 5:17 PM, Neverow, Vara S. <neverowv1 at southernct.edu>
wrote:

> 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 <(203)%20392-6717>
> 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> 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
>
> 419-372-9189 <(419)%20372-9189>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Jane Marie Garrity <jane.garrity at colorado.edu>
> *Date: *Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 12:09 PM
> *To: *Kimberly Coates <kimbec at bgsu.edu>
> *Cc: *Gill Lowe <Gill.Lowe1 at btinternet.com>, Kristin Czarnecki <
> Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu>, "vwoolf at lists.osu.edu" <
> 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
>
>
>
> On Mar 22, 2017, at 8:57 AM, Kimberly Coates <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
>
> 419-372-9189 <(419)%20372-9189>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Gill Lowe <
> Gill.Lowe1 at btinternet.com>
> *Date: *Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 3:00 AM
> *To: *Kristin Czarnecki <Kristin_Czarnecki at georgetowncollege.edu>
> *Cc: *"vwoolf at lists.osu.edu" <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@
> 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 <(502)%20863-8132>
>
>
>
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-- 
Erin Kay Penner, Ph.D.

13 Holywell Street
Oxford OX1 3SA
01865 791916
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