[Vwoolf] VWoolf's "mental health"
Brenda S. Helt
helt0010 at umn.edu
Tue Mar 13 16:29:20 EDT 2018
At base what I'm saying, Palvasha, is that discussions of Woolf's work that
attempt to side-step her biography and are not grounded socio-historically
are not useful to students and will inadvertently stigmatize Woolf and/or
students in the classroom. What are concepts of mental health? They are
socio-historically and culturally specific ideas about mental health. What
is "beauty"?
Brenda Helt
Co-editor Queer Bloomsbury (with Madelyn Detloff)
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+helt0010=umn.edu at lists.osu.edu] On
Behalf Of Palvasha von Hassell via Vwoolf
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2018 1:09 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] VWoolf‘s „mental health“
Oh golly, Brenda, genius by another name then, breathtaking beauty or
whatever. Or actually, let‘s just stay with genius: I‘m sure VW would take
it as a compliment.
Do, please, carry on with whatever you‘re doing to satisfy your student‘s
curiosity about the possible reasons why she wrote as she did and lived as
she did. Only she herself really knew, and gave us her wonderful WORDS. The
notion of trying to explain that beauty by employing concepts of mental
health (what is that anyway)? is, well...redundant.
Palvasha von Hassell
M.Phil. IR (Selwyn 1985)
Cambridge University
Am Mühlenteich 35
25436 Uetersen
Germany
++49 15161626162
> On 13. Mar 2018, at 20:41, " <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>
vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu" < <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>
vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
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> 1. Re: Woolf bipolar (Brenda S. Helt)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2018 12:40:39 -0700
> From: "Brenda S. Helt" < <mailto:helt0010 at umn.edu> helt0010 at umn.edu>
> To: "'Morgne Cramer'" < <mailto:morgnecramer at yahoo.com>
morgnecramer at yahoo.com>, "Woolf list"
> < <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Woolf bipolar
> Message-ID: < <mailto:005701d3bb03$2b72b4b0$82581e10$@umn.edu>
005701d3bb03$2b72b4b0$82581e10$@umn.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Morgne, I specifically said, several days ago: ?Again, this is a
literature course, so it seems useful to me to bring the discussion of
Woolf?s personal psychological and physiological health at any given point
in her life back to the literature. As one Woolf scholar put it offlist, we
need to ask students how questions or biographical information about Woolf?s
health and death affect how they ?read this novel? (which is, btw, not an
autobiography nor a memoir?).?
>
>
>
> I think all of us who teach Woolf?s work are aware that it is
> impossible not to address the biographical information students come into
the classroom with and want to discuss, be it her sexuality, her death, her
struggles with psychological/mental health. What Madelyn and I (and others)
are saying in different ways is that we should be prepared to discuss these
issues with students, as they will come up, and we should do it in ways that
neither stigmatize nor romanticize Woolf, those with bipolar disorder or
schizophrenia or who have suffered from incest or sexual abuse, or lesbians,
or bisexuals, or those who understand themselves or their worldview as
queer. Attempts to avoid those conversations may well seem to students as
attempts not to associate Woolf with controversial and often stigmatized
topics and identities. Whatever we may call them, ideally we would avoid
using our role as authority figures in the classroom to inadvertently
endorse cultural stigmas of non-nor mativity and anti-normativity. And that
requires some careful planning on our part as teachers. It also menas
taking seriously the work of Woolf scholars who have done extensive work on
these topics. Yes. Sure. Why not?
>
>
>
> But ?genius.? Pavasha and Morgne, it?s worth remembering that Woolf
> worked to debunk the notion of ?genius? in her work. That concept of
> genius, as Woolf well knew, privileges men and maleness, and excuses
selfish and reprehensible behavior in men. In ?A Sketch of the Past,? for
example Woolf exposes the notion of genius as a useful ?convention? for
nineteenth-century intellectual men, an excuse for self-obsessive behavior
that made them ?invariably ?ill to live with?.? And Milton with his
?genius? does not come off well at all in Orlando. I?ve written about this
issue quite a bit in ?Passionate Debates on ?Odious Subjects?: Bisexuality
and Woolf?s Opposition to Theories of Androgyny and Sexual Identity? (in
Twentieth-Century Literature 56.2, 2010) which is a long essay?the second
longest TCL has ever published?long because this is a very complex topic.
One can?t just say ?Let?s not talk about Woolf?s mental health or about how
being sexually abused by her half-brother affected her life and work, or
about her sexual relationship with Vita and her love of women. Let?s only
talk about her work and her genius.? How is that possible? These questions
are pervasive in her work?and they are all of a piece. How Woolf felt about
?genius? bears on how she felt and wrote about gendered and sexual
identities, as well as non-normative mental and psychological states and
non-normative ways of understanding the cultures we live in. Much of that
complexity is what most of us love about Woolf and her work, after all. And
although some may feel strongly put off by the academic jargon of Queer
Theory and Crip Theory, I would say (and Madelyn has argued) that Queer and
Crip Theory come out of Woolf scholarship, rather than those theories being
forced onto discussions of Woolf?s work. We don?t have to use the academic
jargon in the classroom or elsewhere if it seems unhelpful, but I think it?s
a mistake to be unprepared to address these issues in non-st igmatizing and
non-romanticizing ways with our students in the classroom. Concepts like
?androgynous genius? were being appropriated by writers like H.D. at this
time, but Woolf was exposing their history and the way they disempowered and
stigmatized female artists or would-be artists. There?s important
socio-political history here to be learned through Woolf and her work. It?s
really not useful to ?just focus on Woolf?s work and genius? in the way I
think some would like to do. And your students will not allow it. Good for
them!
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Brenda
>
>
>
>
>
> Brenda Helt
>
> Co-editor Queer Bloomsbury (with Madelyn Detloff)
>
> <https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html>
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Vwoolf [ <mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu>
mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Morgne
> Cramer via Vwoolf
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2018 11:15 AM
> To: Palvasha von Hassell via Vwoolf
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Woolf bipolar
>
>
>
> At last.
>
>
>
> Thank you, Palvasha von Hassell.
>
> Patricia Morgne Cramer
>
> UCONN Stamford
>
>
>
> On Monday, March 12, 2018, 1:06:57 PM EDT, Palvasha von Hassell via Vwoolf
< <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> Agree 100% with Laurie, it?s her extraordinary genius that should be our
concern, not morbid preoccupation with what she might possibly have suffered
from. In fact, lrt?s agree we all live in some kind of glass house...
>
>
>
> Palvasha von Hassell
>
> M.Phil. IR (Selwyn 1985)
>
> Cambridge University
>
>
>
> Am M?hlenteich 35
>
> 25436 Uetersen
>
> Germany
>
>
>
> ++49 15161626162
>
>
>
>>> On 12. Mar 2018, at 17:48, " <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>
vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu" < <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>
vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
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>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
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>> than "Re: Contents of Vwoolf digest..."
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>>
>
>>
>
>> Today's Topics:
>
>>
>
>> 1. Re: Virginia Woolf: bi-polar (Laurie Reiche)
>
>> 2. Re: Virginia Woolf: bi-polar (Brenda S. Helt)
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>
>>
>
>> Message: 1
>
>> Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2018 14:11:44 -0800
>
>> From: Laurie Reiche < <mailto:lauriereiche at gmail.com>
lauriereiche at gmail.com>
>
>> To: Christine Froula < <mailto:cfroula at northwestern.edu>
cfroula at northwestern.edu>
>
>> Cc: <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>
>> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Virginia Woolf: bi-polar
>
>> Message-ID: < <mailto:BC968963-711C-4477-B964-234CEED5E51E at gmail.com>
BC968963-711C-4477-B964-234CEED5E51E at gmail.com>
>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
>>
>
>> I wrote this a few days ago while on a vacation but it didn?t get
delivered so I just thought I?d try again and throw this out to contribute:
>
>>
>
>> ...I'm away from my home-library now so can?t pull books out to
>> refresh my memory, but my feeling is that Woolf suffered from the
>> typical (ill-chosen word!) effects of childhood sexual abuse: anxiety
>> syndromes, ptsd, depression, mood swings, etc., even hearing voices,
>> and dissociation are very common... See Louise DeSalvo's books about
>> Woolf and sexual abuse. I think DeSalvo debunks, quite efficiently,
>> the idea that Woolf was "crazy" or whatever diagnosis one wants to
>> pull out of one's denial-hat to avoid the sexual abuse issue in her
>> life (and Vanessa?s!), and with it the terrible psychological wounds
>> that that abuse imparted. (As well suffering at such a young age the
>> traumas so many sudden deaths of those she loved?) Her ?symptoms?
>> don?t seem to be very mysterious in light of the fateful events
>> during her most formative years?and none of that matters to me just
>> as Beethoven's psychology or Plath?s or O?Keefe?s or Hemmingway?s
>> or... matter?.it is the genius of their g
> enre
>
>> s, the art they gave us that I am ever so grateful for?..of course?..
>
>> Laurie?
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>> On Mar 10, 2018, at 6:23 AM, Christine Froula via Vwoolf <
<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
>>>
>
>>> I've always cherished a New York Times Book Review heading from long
ago, perhaps about VW's essays when they were coming out:
>
>>> Exceptionally Sane Most of the Time
>
>>>
>
>>>> On 3/10/2018 6:54 AM, Madelyn Detloff via Vwoolf wrote:
>
>>>> I hesitate to enter this conversation again, since we have had forms of
it for years on this list and it always seems to devolve into an either or -
either trauma or neuroaffective atypicality as if we are not allowed to
imagine that Woolf might have been a survivor of sexual abuse and someone
who may have had a condition that looks like what we call bipolar disorder
or some other atypicality that she lived with while also being a prolific
author and critic. There is stigma connected to each hypothesis that we
ought to challenge. What I wish for us as a community of scholars is that
we don?t fall prey to the desire to ?rescue? Woolf?s reputation from one
stigma by reinforcing the stigma of the other hypothesis.
>
>>>>
>
>>>> There have been a number of well meaning posts that nevertheless
participate in ableist logic and language regarding neuroaffective
atypicality. Woolf was not ?crazy? or ?insane? whether or not she
experienced something like bipolar disorder, or PTSD, or some mixture of
both (I happen to think both is quite likely). To be sure, there has been a
lot of damage done in the name of psychiatry, medicine, other various forms
of ?cure? that aim to normalize our body minds. We ought to expose and
critique that damage. But I think we can do that without suggesting that
people who take medicine or other therapies for neuroaffective atypicalities
(lithium for example) are somehow suffering from false consciousness
or are to be distinguished from ?essentially sane? people who have mood
swings or struggle with PTSD.
>
>>>>
>
>>>> I?ve written a little about this dilemma in the Blackwell Companion
>>>> to Woolf
>
>>>>
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary>
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary <
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary%20>
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary%20> <
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com
_doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_summary%20%3chttps://urldefense.proofpoint.c
om/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com_doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_
summary&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe
5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WP
Gc&s=Et8k7OcqA7iOvBFe3L8J8EYhjBtu2u_IfWhtM9rF_pU&e=>
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com_
doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_summary
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com
_doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_summary&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE
7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP
-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=Et8k7OcqA7iOvBFe3L8J8EYhjBtu2u_IfWhtM9r
F_pU&e=>
&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8N
EkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=Et
8k7OcqA7iOvBFe3L8J8EYhjBtu2u_IfWhtM9rF_pU&e=>. It also might be helpful to
read Alison Kafer?s Feminist Queer Crip on the ?curative imaginary,? as well
as Margaret Price?s Mad at School.
>
>>>>
>
>>>>
>
>>>> Please note: what I write is not directed at any one post or poster on
this list. The discussion we are having now has a long history on this list
and I worry that we are simply repeating our positions rather than evolving
them.
>
>>>>
>
>>>> Best,
>
>>>>
>
>>>> Madelyn
>
>>>>
>
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>
>>>>
>
>>>>> On Mar 7, 2018, at 12:24 PM, Diane Reynolds via Vwoolf <
<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu%20%3cmailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>> wrote:
>
>>>>>
>
>>>>> Ellen,
>
>>>>>
>
>>>>> I have not had this question come up in class, but it is topical
>>>>> and relevant. In my Quaker meeting, we have concerns about gun
>>>>> control being off-loaded, as it were, onto the mentally ill,
>>>>> however, that term is defined, and we fear it will lead to further
>>>>> stigmatization of mental illness, especially bi-polar
>>>>> disorders?and of course, Woolf feared the consequences of her
>>>>> illness. What I would emphasize with Woolf, is that mental
>>>>> illness is increasingly understood to come out of childhood trauma
>>>>> and that while it is biological to some extent, our brain biology
>>>>> actually changes to become more ?depressive? as a result of
>>>>> trauma. This is in an interesting article:
>>>>> <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/will-take-political-revolu>
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/will-take-political-revolu
>>>>> tion-cure-epidemic-depression.html
>>>>> <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/will-take-political-revol
>>>>> ution-cure-epidemic-depression.html%20>
>>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nakedcap
>>>>> italism.com_2018_02_will-2Dtake-2Dpolitical
> -2Drevolution-2Dcure-2Depidemic-2Ddepression.html
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nakedcapital
> ism.com_2018_02_will-2Dtake-2Dpolitical-2Drevolution-2Dcure-2Depidemic
> -2Ddepression.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA
> 6ws&r=B> &d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B
>
>>
2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LS
SAyfNwh2WPGc&s=Jd3mmmzVE3W1gbC489_WNAj_Sf6tY5oCI6WYx4JohK4&e=> that makes
the point that if we want to reduce mental illness, we need to fix society.
This seems to me, in the context of Woolf, a good launching point for trying
to imagine what it was like trying to grow up in that Victorian household
with abusive half brothers, a self-absorbed father, a mother stretched too
thin who labeled her ?goat? and the whole set of oppressive mores?you well
know the drill?that beset her.
>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>
>>>>> Vwoolf mailing list
>
>>>>> <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <
<mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
>
>>>>> <https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf>
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
>>>>> < <https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf%20>
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf%20>
>>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.ed
>>>>> u_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf
>>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.ed
>>>>> u_mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtN
>>>>> Xt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbb
>>>>> BluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5j
>>>>> g2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=>
>>>>> &d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKh
>>>>> nYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG
>>>>> -LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=>
>
>>>>
>
>>>>
>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>
>>>> Vwoolf mailing list
>
>>>> <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <
<mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
>
>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_>
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_
>>>> mailman_listinfo_vwoolf
>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu
>>>> _mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt
>>>> _d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBlu
>>>> CeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7
>>>> D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=%20>
>>>> &d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhn
>>>> Ye5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-L
>>>> SSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=
>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu
>>>> _mailman_listinfo_vwoolf
>>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu
>>>> _mailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt
>>>> _d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBlu
>>>> CeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7
>>>> D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=> &d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes
> 5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7W
> nzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBw
> gOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=>
>
>>>
>
>>> _______________________________________________
>
>>> Vwoolf mailing list
>
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>
>>> <https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf>
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
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>> <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20180310/2775cbf4/
>> attachment-0001.html>
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>> ------------------------------
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>>
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>> Message: 2
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>> Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2018 09:48:33 -0700
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>> From: "Brenda S. Helt" < <mailto:helt0010 at umn.edu> helt0010 at umn.edu>
>
>> To: "'Laurie Reiche'" < <mailto:lauriereiche at gmail.com>
lauriereiche at gmail.com>, "Woolf list"
>
>> < <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
>
>> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Virginia Woolf: bi-polar
>
>> Message-ID: < <mailto:000f01d3ba21$f60fbcf0$e22f36d0$@umn.edu>
000f01d3ba21$f60fbcf0$e22f36d0$@umn.edu>
>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
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>>
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>> Dear Laurie,
>
>>
>
>>
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>>
>
>> One of the reasons Madelyn and I put together Queer Bloomsbury is to make
some of the scholarship about Louise DeSalvo?s scholarship easier for folks
to get a hold of. Please see Christopher Reed?s essay ?Bloomsbury Bashing?
(originally published in Genders in 1991) and his brand spanking new preface
for that essay in Queer Bloomsbury.
>
>>
>
>>
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>>
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>> Very best,
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>> Brenda
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>> Brenda Helt
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>>
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>>
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>> Co-editor Queer Bloomsbury (with Madelyn Detloff)
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>>
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>> <https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html>
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>> From: Vwoolf [ <mailto:vwoolf-bounces+helt0010=umn.edu at lists.osu.edu>
mailto:vwoolf-bounces+helt0010=umn.edu at lists.osu.edu]
>> On Behalf Of Laurie Reiche via Vwoolf
>
>> Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2018 2:12 PM
>
>> To: Christine Froula
>
>> Cc: <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>
>> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Virginia Woolf: bi-polar
>
>>
>
>>
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>>
>
>> I wrote this a few days ago while on a vacation but it didn?t get
delivered so I just thought I?d try again and throw this out to contribute:
>
>>
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>>
>
>>
>
>> ...I'm away from my home-library now so can?t pull books
>> out to refresh my memory, but my feeling is that Woolf suffered from
>> the typical (ill-chosen word!) effects of childhood sexual abuse:
>> anxiety syndromes, ptsd, depression, mood swings, etc., even hearing
>> voices, and dissociation are very common... See Louise DeSalvo's
>> books about Woolf and sexual abuse. I think DeSalvo debunks, quite
>> efficiently, the idea that Woolf was "crazy" or whatever diagnosis
>> one wants to pull out of one's denial-hat to avoid the sexual abuse
>> issue in her life (and Vanessa?s!), and with it the terrible
>> psychological wounds that that abuse imparted. (As well suffering at
>> such a young age the traumas so many sudden deaths of those she
>> loved?) Her ?symptoms? don?t seem to be very mysterious in light of
>> the fateful events during her most formative years?and none of that
>> matters to me just as Beethoven's psychology or Plath?s or O?Keefe?s
>> or Hemmingway?s or... matter?.it is the genius of
>
>
>> their genres, the art they gave us that I am ever so grateful for?..of
course?..
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>>
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>> Laurie?
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>>
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>>
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>>
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>>
>
>>> On Mar 10, 2018, at 6:23 AM, Christine Froula via Vwoolf <
<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> I've always cherished a New York Times Book Review heading from long ago,
perhaps about VW's essays when they were coming out:
>
>>
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>> Exceptionally Sane Most of the Time
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>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>> On 3/10/2018 6:54 AM, Madelyn Detloff via Vwoolf wrote:
>>
>>
>
>> I hesitate to enter this conversation again, since we have had forms of
it for years on this list and it always seems to devolve into an either or -
either trauma or neuroaffective atypicality as if we are not allowed to
imagine that Woolf might have been a survivor of sexual abuse and someone
who may have had a condition that looks like what we call bipolar disorder
or some other atypicality that she lived with while also being a prolific
author and critic. There is stigma connected to each hypothesis that we
ought to challenge. What I wish for us as a community of scholars is that
we don?t fall prey to the desire to ?rescue? Woolf?s reputation from one
stigma by reinforcing the stigma of the other hypothesis.
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> There have been a number of well meaning posts that nevertheless
participate in ableist logic and language regarding neuroaffective
atypicality. Woolf was not ?crazy? or ?insane? whether or not she
experienced something like bipolar disorder, or PTSD, or some mixture of
both (I happen to think both is quite likely). To be sure, there has been a
lot of damage done in the name of psychiatry, medicine, other various forms
of ?cure? that aim to normalize our body minds. We ought to expose and
critique that damage. But I think we can do that without suggesting that
people who take medicine or other therapies for neuroaffective atypicalities
(lithium for example) are somehow suffering from false consciousness or are
to be distinguished from ?essentially sane? people who have mood swings or
struggle with PTSD.
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
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>> I?ve written a little about this dilemma in the Blackwell Companion
>> to Woolf
>
>>
>
>> <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary>
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary <
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary%20>
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118457917.ch20/summary%20> <
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com
_doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_summary%20%3chttps://urldefense.proofpoint.c
om/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com_doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_
summary&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe
5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WP
Gc&s=Et8k7OcqA7iOvBFe3L8J8EYhjBtu2u_IfWhtM9rF_pU&e=>
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com_
doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_summary
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com
_doi_10.1002_9781118457917.ch20_summary&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE
7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP
-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=Et8k7OcqA7iOvBFe3L8J8EYhjBtu2u_IfWhtM9r
F_pU&e=>
&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8N
EkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=Et
8k7OcqA7iOvBFe3L8J8EYhjBtu2u_IfWhtM9rF_pU&e=> . It also might be helpful to
read Alison Kafer?s Feminist Queer Crip on the ?curative imaginary,? as well
as Margaret Price?s Mad at School.
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> Please note: what I write is not directed at any one post or poster on
this list. The discussion we are having now has a long history on this list
and I worry that we are simply repeating our positions rather than evolving
them.
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> Best,
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> Madelyn
>
>>
>
>>
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>>
>
>> Sent from my iPad
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>> On Mar 7, 2018, at 12:24 PM, Diane Reynolds via Vwoolf <
<mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>
>> Ellen,
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> I have not had this question come up in class, but it is topical and
>> relevant. In my Quaker meeting, we have concerns about gun control
>> being off-loaded, as it were, onto the mentally ill, however, that
>> term is defined, and we fear it will lead to further stigmatization
>> of mental illness, especially bi-polar disorders?and of course, Woolf
>> feared the consequences of her illness. What I would emphasize with
>> Woolf, is that mental illness is increasingly understood to come out
>> of childhood trauma and that while it is biological to some extent,
>> our brain biology actually changes to become more ?depressive? as a
>> result of trauma. This is in an interesting article:
>> <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/will-take-political-revolutio>
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/will-take-political-revolutio
>> n-cure-epidemic-depression.html
>> <https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/will-take-political-revoluti
>> on-cure-epidemic-depression.html%20>
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nakedcapita
>> lism.com_2018_02_will-2Dtake-2Dpolitical-2D
> revolution-2Dcure-2Depidemic-2Ddepression.html
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nakedcapital
> ism.com_2018_02_will-2Dtake-2Dpolitical-2Drevolution-2Dcure-2Depidemic
> -2Ddepression.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA
> 6ws&r=B2e-U>
> &d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-U
>
>>
KKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyf
Nwh2WPGc&s=Jd3mmmzVE3W1gbC489_WNAj_Sf6tY5oCI6WYx4JohK4&e=> that makes the
point that if we want to reduce mental illness, we need to fix society. This
seems to me, in the context of Woolf, a good launching point for trying to
imagine what it was like trying to grow up in that Victorian household with
abusive half brothers, a self-absorbed father, a mother stretched too thin
who labeled her ?goat? and the whole set of oppressive mores?you well know
the drill?that beset her.
>
>>
>
>> _______________________________________________
>
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>
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>
>> <https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf>
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf
>> < <https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf%20>
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf%20>
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_m
>> ailman_listinfo_vwoolf
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_m
>> ailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d01
>> 2z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4
>> -MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxAR
>> y_ycK6sk&e=>
>> &d=DwMFaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe
>> 5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAy
>> fNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=>
>
>>
>
>>
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>>
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>>
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>> _______________________________________________
>
>> Vwoolf mailing list
>
>> <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
>
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_ma>
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_ma
>> ilman_listinfo_vwoolf
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_m
>> ailman_listinfo_vwoolf%20>
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_m
>> ailman_listinfo_vwoolf
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__lists.osu.edu_m
>> ailman_listinfo_vwoolf&d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d01
>> 2z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4
>> -MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAyfNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxAR
>> y_ycK6sk&e=>
>> &d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe
>> 5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAy
>> fNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=>
>> &d=DwICAg&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=B2e-UKKhnYe
>> 5lrEq8NEkMf9o4KvCJF-4y7Z7WnzjMp0&m=xbbBluCeP-K4-MtgVPHpJkYqCqXG-LSSAy
>> fNwh2WPGc&s=d9_cIMP_CrXsvBwgOERca5jg2D7D0_MhxARy_ycK6sk&e=
>
>>
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>>
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