[Vwoolf] Virginia Woolf: bi-polar

[Anne Fernald]

Dear Woolfians,

Echoing both the discomfort and much of what Brenda wrote. It's important
to me to distinguish between an educated post-mortem guess, which, I agree,
seems to suggest bipolar or some closely related mental illness, and saying
she was bipolar as a settled fact.

Definitions change and post-hoc diagnoses based on historical evidence can
get us somewhere, but not all the way, so I really want to acknowledge the
fact of Woolf's mental illness, the signs that point scholars to
hypothesize this or that diagnosis, and the fact that, in her lifetime, the
(inadequate) treatment she received did not label her as bipolar.

Anne

On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 11:46 AM, Brenda S. Helt via Vwoolf <
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> What would be the problem with understanding Woolf to have suffered from
> bipolar disorder, exactly?  There’s good evidence for that, which you can
> easily find in the serious Woolf scholarship (not just in a recent news
> article), and saying so shouldn’t negatively affect how we understand/view
> Woolf and her work.  Possibly it will impact how students understand the
> suicide—possibly in a way that’s helpful, even.  As someone with bipolar, I
> can tell you that although the words used to define it have changed (when I
> was diagnosed in my early 20s it was “manic-depressive, for example), the
> disorder has been aroun a long time and a lot of very productive, very
> creative, very intelligent people appear to have had it.  It will help
> students who have it or know someone who does for their teachers not to shy
> away from saying “Yes, there’s a good chance Hemingway, Woolf, Plath et al
> were bipolar.”
>
>
>
> That’s my two cents.  It’s what I always did with my students and I
> personally found only positive consequences to have come of it.  You
> should, though, read up on bipolar before you do that.  It sounds like you
> might accidentally stigmatize Woolf and bipolars generally with the
> attitude towards this disability I’m perceiving in the below.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Brenda Helt
>
>
>
> Co-editor *Queer Bloomsbury*
>
> https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__edinburghuniversitypress.com_book-2Dqueer-2Dbloomsbury.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=kK0-_fx000AiyDdYolqQe4KgXmd3EGWy8BPyWZpCjmQ&s=E-MO8d2oQBZ9pFa06ONK65GRZtR_iD3W5BnElqIKOQY&e=>
>
>
>
> Fine artist
>
> http://www.brendahelt.com
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.brendahelt.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=kK0-_fx000AiyDdYolqQe4KgXmd3EGWy8BPyWZpCjmQ&s=bKWmitZuoMS7xehQqnVL9JNU-MoZX6NXq1M8peAKEEw&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] *On Behalf Of *Ellen
> Moody via Vwoolf
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 07, 2018 8:24 AM
> *To:* Woolf list
> *Subject:* [Vwoolf] Virginia Woolf: bi-polar
>
>
>
> I would like to know how others in classroom respond to students saying as
> a (somewhat settled diagnosis) that Virginia Woolf was 'bi-polar."
>
>
>
> When I resisted partly because since age 9 I have known depression,
> anxiety-attacks, panic and a whole array of mental problems let's say and I
> find each new fashionable set of terms from schizophrenic to bi-polar
> unconvincing. Too simplistic, too reductive.
>
>
>
> But I listened and what I seemed to hear was this diagnosis of "bi-polar"
> made Woolf into a "sane" person who had deep mood swings - from say
> productive, cheerful and "strong" to some snakepit of breakdown, despair,
> suicidal impulses. As used, it seemed a normalzing tool, as if were to make
> Woolf more acceptable
>
>
>
> They said they found it in a New York Times article which was trying to
> sell Cornwall as a place to go through the association with To the
> Lighthouse. On this I remarked that literally To the Lighthouse is situated
> in the Hebrides (I see a connection and memory of Johnson and Boswell here
> too), another place on the edge of the British mainland...
>
>
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/travel/virginia-woolf-cornwall.html
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2018_02_26_travel_virginia-2Dwoolf-2Dcornwall.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=aqMfXOEvEJQh2iQMCb7Wy8l0sPnURkcqADc2guUW8IM&r=k1OoytuRmrU4MiIwbI-7ElFohPGR5Vr0JxDyMjG9DsI&m=kK0-_fx000AiyDdYolqQe4KgXmd3EGWy8BPyWZpCjmQ&s=J2P9W4NmeAsFaPXs6HxIUjvKknrobvyeZv8URrmMubY&e=>
>
>
>
> How do or would others handle this.
>
>
>
> Ellen Moody
>
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Anne E. Fernald <http://www.fordham.edu/info/24101/anne_fernald>
Acting Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences
Professor of English and Women's Studies
fernald at fordham.edu

Rose Hill: Cunniffe 211
718-817-3034

Lincoln Center: Martino Hall 422
212-636-7613
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