[Vwoolf] Vwoolf Digest, Vol 60, Issue 2
Sarah M. Hall
smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk
Tue May 2 03:50:22 EDT 2017
Good point, Michael, we are all 'reading what's there', as Mark put it, and speculating, whether writing fiction or non-fiction about VW. I think there is evidence for Parmar's view of VW, although I don't agree with Levy that it's such a negative one.
From: Michael Lackey <lacke010 at morris.umn.edu>
To: Palvasha von Hassell <p_v_hassell at t-online.de>
Cc: "vwoolf at lists.osu.edu" <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Sent: Monday, 1 May 2017, 18:41
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Vwoolf Digest, Vol 60, Issue 2
I have not been able to access these articles, but I would like to make a quick observation about biographical novelists. Almost all biographical novelists state explicitly that their Virginia Woolf, Marilyn Monroe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Oscar Wilde, etc. are not the same being as the actual Woolf, Monroe, Nietzsche, or Wilde. Joanna Scott has written two wonderful biographical novels, one about Egon Schiele, another about Armand de Potter. When discussing her de Potter character, she says that she had to take that figure "out of history, out of the factual swamp, and to reinvent him as a fictional character." Scott makes this point brilliantly when she says the following about her Schiele: "I was not trying to pretend that my Schiele was the real Schiele. I just wanted him to be real." From Klaus Mann (Alexander the Great) through Zora Neale Hurston (Moses and Herod) to William Styron (Nat Turner) until Joyce Carol Oates (Marilyn Monroe), almost all biographical novelists say that they are appropriating (rather than representing) a biographical subject in order to project into being their own vision of life and the world. Therefore, the measure of a good biographical novel is not whether it accurately represents the biographical subject. It is how the author uses a life in order to project into being his or her own aesthetic vision.
On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 12:19 PM, Palvasha von Hassell <p_v_hassell at t-online.de> wrote:
Hi Trudi,
Yes, I read Priya Parmar's novel and attended her talk at CamLitFest some years ago. Haven't read Levy's account, but the novel was ok. Bit hard on VW, but do we need to see her as an angel?? She was quite sarcastic after all, probably often about Vanessa as well...
Best,
Palvasha von Hassell
Palvasha von Hassell
M.Phil. IR (Selwyn 1985)
Cambridge University
Am Mühlenteich 35
25436 Uetersen
Germany
++49 15161626162
> On 1. May 2017, at 16:05, "vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu" <vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Novel on Woolf and Bell (Dr T Tate)
> 2. Re: The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy | The New
> York Review of Books (David Eberly)
> 3. Re: The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy | The New
> York Review of Books (Dianne Hunter)
> 4. Re: Tate St Ives in 2018 (Annette Oxindine)
>
>
> ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ----------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 1 May 2017 14:33:47 +0100
> From: Dr T Tate <tt206 at cam.ac.uk>
> To: <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: [Vwoolf] Novel on Woolf and Bell
> Message-ID: <e4c9d722740262e4cff2c0ad68a56 e53 at cam.ac.uk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"; format=flowed
>
> Is Levy's account of the Parmar novel (in the NYRB review) fair ? I've
> not yet read it. The novel doesn't come out well in this account.
> (Apologies if I've missed discussions of this topic.)
>
> Interesting to compare with Susan Sellers' novel of Vanessa and
> Virginia, published a few years earlier. Sellers engages in subtle ways
> with this interesting relationship and is I think respectful towards her
> subjects.
>
> The Vanessa Bell exhibition at Dulwich is excellent; good to see her
> getting serious attention.
>
> Trudi Tate
> Clare Hall
> Cambridge
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 1 May 2017 09:34:12 -0400
> From: David Eberly <davidmeberly at gmail.com>
> To: Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>
> Cc: "<vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>" <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy |
> The New York Review of Books
> Message-ID: <8C4F7DA0-A30B-44CE-B02F- 4405BC628807 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Lit crit goes bigly
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On May 1, 2017, at 8:55 AM, Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> "the chilly, concealing shade of her younger sister, Virginia Woolf"--what a
>> vixen that Virginia was!
>>
>> "From Parmar's pages Virginia emerges as an aggressive, often hostile,
>> malicious sibling, and a compulsive flirt. Although based on a huge inquiry
>> into her letters, diaries, and biographies, Parmar's Virginia is a fictional
>> character who is "raving mad and running all over the house shouting
>> nonsense." As Trump would say, "people are saying..." Not me, of course,
>> but "some say...". A "huge inquiry" (whatever that means, beyond reading
>> what's there) comes to the same conclusion as so many British patriarchal
>> critics and laddish writers have done about VW. I am shocked. Shocked!
>>
>> And does a review in the prestigious NY Review of Books about three major
>> recent exhibitions, plus one of many fictionalized versions of the Stephen
>> sisters' lives, and one of myriad recent critical works on Woolf etc. really
>> provide evidence that "the attention paid to the Bloomsbury Group seems to
>> be waning on both sides of the Atlantic"?
>>
>> Stay tuned.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey =verizon.net at lists.osu.edu] On
>> Behalf Of Steve Posin
>> Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 10:18 PM
>> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>> Subject: [Vwoolf] The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy | The New York
>> Review of Books
>>
>>
>> http://www.nybooks.com/ articles/2017/05/11/vanessa- bell-virginia-woolf-paint
>> er-and-novelist/?utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=NYR% 20Easternization%20Bell%2
>> 0and%20Woolf%20Duterte&utm_ content=NYR%20Easternization% 20Bell%20and%20Woolf
>> %20Duterte+CID_ fb747f5149602021aba777a59dd04e dd&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_ te
>> rm=The%20Painter%20and%20the% 20Novelist
>>
>>
>>
>> Steve Posin
>> 415 596 8125
>> Via IPhone
>> ______________________________ _________________
>> Vwoolf mailing list
>> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/ listinfo/vwoolf
>>
>> ______________________________ _________________
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>> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/ listinfo/vwoolf
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 1 May 2017 09:57:45 -0400
> From: Dianne Hunter <dianne.hunter1 at gmail.com>
> To: David Eberly <davidmeberly at gmail.com>
> Cc: "<vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>" <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy |
> The New York Review of Books
> Message-ID:
> <CAL+spjkiVf7ix2naqU5FcX4_ kYqAW7N_btJBLjp8zAd86qTjsg@ mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> NYRB should find better reviewers, and it should announce its truer name:
> New York Review of Each Others' Books.
>
>> On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 9:34 AM, David Eberly <davidmeberly at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Lit crit goes bigly
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>>> On May 1, 2017, at 8:55 AM, Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> "the chilly, concealing shade of her younger sister, Virginia
>> Woolf"--what a
>>> vixen that Virginia was!
>>>
>>> "From Parmar's pages Virginia emerges as an aggressive, often hostile,
>>> malicious sibling, and a compulsive flirt. Although based on a huge
>> inquiry
>>> into her letters, diaries, and biographies, Parmar's Virginia is a
>> fictional
>>> character who is "raving mad and running all over the house shouting
>>> nonsense." As Trump would say, "people are saying..." Not me, of
>> course,
>>> but "some say...". A "huge inquiry" (whatever that means, beyond
>> reading
>>> what's there) comes to the same conclusion as so many British patriarchal
>>> critics and laddish writers have done about VW. I am shocked. Shocked!
>>>
>>> And does a review in the prestigious NY Review of Books about three major
>>> recent exhibitions, plus one of many fictionalized versions of the
>> Stephen
>>> sisters' lives, and one of myriad recent critical works on Woolf etc.
>> really
>>> provide evidence that "the attention paid to the Bloomsbury Group seems
>> to
>>> be waning on both sides of the Atlantic"?
>>>
>>> Stay tuned.
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey =verizon.net at lists.osu.edu]
>> On
>>> Behalf Of Steve Posin
>>> Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 10:18 PM
>>> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>>> Subject: [Vwoolf] The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy | The New
>> York
>>> Review of Books
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.nybooks.com/ articles/2017/05/11/vanessa-
>> bell-virginia-woolf-paint
>>> er-and-novelist/?utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=NYR%
>> 20Easternization%20Bell%2
>>> 0and%20Woolf%20Duterte&utm_ content=NYR%20Easternization%
>> 20Bell%20and%20Woolf
>>> %20Duterte+CID_ fb747f5149602021aba777a59dd04e
>> dd&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_ te
>>> rm=The%20Painter%20and%20the% 20Novelist
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Steve Posin
>>> 415 596 8125
>>> Via IPhone
>>> ______________________________ _________________
>>> Vwoolf mailing list
>>> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>>> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/ listinfo/vwoolf
>>>
>>> ______________________________ _________________
>>> Vwoolf mailing list
>>> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>>> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/ listinfo/vwoolf
>> ______________________________ _________________
>> Vwoolf mailing list
>> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/ listinfo/vwoolf
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> http://trincoll.academia.edu/ DianneHunter
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 1 May 2017 10:04:49 -0400
> From: Annette Oxindine <aoxindine at woh.rr.com>
> To: Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>
> Cc: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Tate St Ives in 2018
> Message-ID: <513F1AB7-646D-4FE3-BB90- C2550D1A3FDB at woh.rr.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Mark writes, "And does a review in the prestigious NY Review of Books about three major recent exhibitions, plus one of many fictionalized versions of the Stephen sisters' lives, and one of myriad recent critical works on Woolf etc. really provide evidence that 'the attention paid to the Bloomsbury Group seems to be waning on both sides of the Atlantic? ?"
>
> There?s even attention being paid to Woolf in St Ives! A Woolf-themed exhibit is opening on January 20, 2018 at the Tate St Ives, which is undergoing expansion. The focus: "The life and writings of English author Virginia Woolf will be the focal point of our exhibition of women artists since the 1850s.?
>
> Link:
> http://www.tate.org.uk/whats- on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/ virginia-woolf
>
> I found it interesting, though not surprising, that the description of the exhibition neglects to mention a connection between To the Lighthouse?the one novel named in the description?and Godrevy Lighthouse, simply noting that "Woolf spent her holidays as a child? in St Ives.
>
> Best,
> Annette
>
> On May 1, 2017, at 8:55 AM, Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net> wrote:
>
> "the chilly, concealing shade of her younger sister, Virginia Woolf"--what a
> vixen that Virginia was!
>
> "From Parmar's pages Virginia emerges as an aggressive, often hostile,
> malicious sibling, and a compulsive flirt. Although based on a huge inquiry
> into her letters, diaries, and biographies, Parmar's Virginia is a fictional
> character who is "raving mad and running all over the house shouting
> nonsense." As Trump would say, "people are saying..." Not me, of course,
> but "some say...". A "huge inquiry" (whatever that means, beyond reading
> what's there) comes to the same conclusion as so many British patriarchal
> critics and laddish writers have done about VW. I am shocked. Shocked!
>
> And does a review in the prestigious NY Review of Books about three major
> recent exhibitions, plus one of many fictionalized versions of the Stephen
> sisters' lives, and one of myriad recent critical works on Woolf etc. really
> provide evidence that "the attention paid to the Bloomsbury Group seems to
> be waning on both sides of the Atlantic"?
>
> Stay tuned.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey =verizon.net at lists.osu.edu] On
> Behalf Of Steve Posin
> Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 10:18 PM
> To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> Subject: [Vwoolf] The Painter and the Novelist | by Paul Levy | The New York
> Review of Books
>
>
> http://www.nybooks.com/ articles/2017/05/11/vanessa- bell-virginia-woolf-paint
> er-and-novelist/?utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=NYR% 20Easternization%20Bell%2
> 0and%20Woolf%20Duterte&utm_ content=NYR%20Easternization% 20Bell%20and%20Woolf
> %20Duterte+CID_ fb747f5149602021aba777a59dd04e dd&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_ te
> rm=The%20Painter%20and%20the% 20Novelist
>
>
>
> Steve Posin
> 415 596 8125
> Via IPhone
> ______________________________ _________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/ listinfo/vwoolf
>
> ______________________________ _________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
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> ------------------------------
>
> End of Vwoolf Digest, Vol 60, Issue 2
> ****************************** *******
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