[Vwoolf] News relevant to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury

Pat Laurence pat.laurence at gmail.com
Fri Sep 14 14:23:36 EDT 2018


Greetings,
For another thread in this conversation about spirituality and religion in
Bloomsbury, I would suggest
looking at the figure of Tagore who was interested in culturally and
spiritually connecting India and China,
and made a historic mission from India to China around 1924.. He was
accompanied in China by Leonard Elmhirst (of Dartington Hall and a
supporter of Chinese and Indian causes) Hu Shih (who was at Cornell in
America for a few years), Xu Zhimo
(translator for Tagore on his trip to China; studied at Cambridge; met
Bloomsbury figures; and is connected with Ling Shuhua who corresponded with
Virginia Woolf and was a paramour of Julian Bell) and other Chinese figures
on the margin of Bloomsbury. In addition, there was growing British
interest
in Buddhism and Daoism. See my book, *Lily Briscoe's Chinese **Eyes:
Bloomsbury, Modernism and China* for more information on
Tagore, Fry, Waley.
Pat Laurence


On Fri, Sep 14, 2018 at 3:31 AM Margaret Tudeau via Vwoolf <
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> A student of mine has just completed a masters thesis:
> Titre: Yearning for the ineffable : Arthur Waley's translation of "The
> tale of Genji" and Virginia Woolf's "To the lighthouse" / Piri Kutluoglu
> Auteur: Kutluoglu, Piri
> <https://explore.rero.ch/fr_CH/nj/result?sc=default_scope&qs%5B0%5D%5Bfd%5D=creator&qs%5B0%5D%5Bpr%5D=exact&qs%5B0%5D%5Bse%5D=Kutluoglu%20Piri&qs%5B0%5D%5Bop%5D=AND&lg=&mt=&lb=&sd=&ed=&ex=0&so=rank>
>
> Editeur: Neuchâtel : [s.n.]
> Date: 2018
> Collation: 88 p.
> Note: Mémoire de master Université de Neuchâtel, 2018
> No RERO: R008824869
>
> I can send a pdf to those who would be interested. He does a very good job
> on ‘Japonisme’ and Bloomsbury as well as the relationship between Waley and
> Woolf. His claims for the influence of The Tale of Genji on TL are probably
> over the top, but there are some interesting thoughts on Buddhism.
> Best,
>
> Margaret
>
> On 14 Sep 2018, at 01:05, Brenda S. Helt via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Yes, Reed discusses Waley a bit.
>
> Brenda
>
> *From:* Peter D L Stansky [mailto:stansky at stanford.edu
> <stansky at stanford.edu>]
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 13, 2018 3:56 PM
> *To:* Brenda S. Helt; Woolf list
> *Subject:* RE: [Vwoolf] News relevant to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
>
> What about one of the most prominent Sinologists of the time, Arthur
> Waley,  who had fairly close ties with the Group?  Peter Stansky
>
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+stansky=stanford.edu at lists.osu.edu> on
> behalf of Brenda S. Helt via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 13, 2018 3:34:26 PM
> *To:* Woolf list
> *Subject:* [Vwoolf] News relevant to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
>
> *From:* Brenda S. Helt [mailto:helt0010 at umn.edu <helt0010 at umn.edu>]
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 13, 2018 3:03 PM
> *To:* 'Todd Nordgren'
> *Cc:* harish.trivedi at gmail.com; vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> *Subject:* RE: [Vwoolf] News relevant to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
>
> Thanks Todd.  I want to emphasize, though, that my list is honestly lazy
> and extremely *not thorough*.  Interest in Eastern and Asian art,
> culture, aesthetics, and religion was fairly common to the core
> Bloomsberries, in various degrees, and if you expand “Bloomsbury” to
> include folks like Plomer (or Vita, for that matter), it’s very
> wide-spread.  So the below is fascinating, but my msg really was very lazy
> and deplorably partial and incomplete.  I’ll now lazily add Christopher
> Reed’s recent book *Bachelor Japanists: Japanese Aesthetics & Western
> Masculinities* to the list for those interested in what Todd says below.
> A marked interest in Japan and Japanism (so Western ideas *about* Japan)
> was a way for gay men of the early 20th C (and earlier, and later) to
> connect with each other.  To covertly out themselves to each other.  But
> it’s a good-sized book with many complex and thoughtful arguments,
> case-studies, solid historical scholarship so my sentence about it is
> merely meant as a glimpse.  Reed is also a Woolf and Bloomsbury scholar, so
> his sections on modernism are appropriate to what Todd says below, though
> the book is not really about the Bloomsberries and doesn’t mention Plomer.
>
> Brenda
>
>
> Brenda Helt
>
> Co-editor *Queer Bloomsbury* (with Madelyn Detloff)
> https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html
>
> Fine artist
> http://www.brendahelt.com
>
>
> *From:* Todd Nordgren [mailto:toddnordgren at u.northwestern.edu
> <toddnordgren at u.northwestern.edu>]
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 13, 2018 1:00 PM
> *To:* helt0010 at umn.edu
> *Cc:* harish.trivedi at gmail.com; vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] News relevant to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
>
> To Brenda's thorough list I would also add William Plomer, a novelist and
> poet of the younger generation, who lived in Japan for three years
> (1926-29) after leaving his homeland of South Africa. Plomer's interest in
> Japanese culture, too, stemmed from his association of Japan with queer
> sexualities. His biographer, Peter Alexander, provides a delightful story
> about Virginia bringing Plomer to Quentin Bell's 19th birthday party at
> Charleston only a few months after he arrived in England from Japan, where
> he first met Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Vanessa, and Clive, among many others
> of the group. The Woolfs and Forster showed deep interest in his thoughts
> on Japan and Japanese art and literature, and he often gave talks on the
> subject. In Japan, Guan Yin is often called "Kannon" or "Kwannon" (which,
> as I just learned from a bit of diving on wikipedia, was the inspiration
> for the name of the camera company, Canon).
>
> On Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 2:08 PM Brenda S. Helt via Vwoolf <
> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
> Indeed, several of the Bloomsberries were very interested in, even
> fascinated by, Asian religions, in large part because they understood some
> of them to maintain positive queer religious ideas and traditions.  You
> could see for instance Antony Copley’s *A Spiritual Bloomsbury* on this
> topic.  Forster’s interest is perhaps most well-known, thanks to the
> popularity of *A Passage to India*.  Wendy Moffat’s biography of Forster, *A
> Great Unrecorded History* delves into that interest in detail.  Some of
> the essays in *Queer Forster* also discuss this.  Bill Maurer discusses
> Maynard Keynes’ and Duncan Grant’s interests in Eastern art, aesthetics,
> and religions (which are not really *different* things, entirely) in an
> essay in *Queer Bloomsbury* whose title makes it seem not to be at all
> about this topic:  “Redecorating the International Economy: Keynes, Grant
> and the Queering of Bretton Woods.”  And Simon Watney discusses Grant’s
> interest repeatedly and in detail in his *The Art of Duncan Grant*.  And
> all this is just me being a little lazy and also promoting my baby, *Queer
> Bloomsbury*, as that’s just what I turned around and quickly pulled from
> my shelves.  Others will surely chime in and add to this for you.
>
> Slàinte!
>
> Brenda
>
>
> Brenda Helt
>
> Co-editor *Queer Bloomsbury* (with Madelyn Detloff)
> https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-queer-bloomsbury.html
>
> Fine artist
> http://www.brendahelt.com
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+helt0010=umn.edu at lists.osu.edu] *On
> Behalf Of *Harish Trivedi via Vwoolf
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 13, 2018 11:04 AM
> *To:* kschepis at gmail.com
> *Cc:* vwoolf listserve
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] News relevant to Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury
>
> Many thanks, Krista Schepis, and that is not only prompt but also quite
> convincing and conclusive!
>
> Kuan Yin, more often spelt Guan Yin, is indeed the Chinese goddess of
> mercy and compassion. Before getting transported and transformed to China,
> she was a he in India, a frequently depicted Buddhist deity called the
> Avalokiteshvara (aka Padmapani, the Lotus-in-Hand figure). One of the most
> famous representations of this deity is from the caves of Ajanta in central
> India. (For starters, Wikipedia has a sound enough entry, including a
> reproduction of this iconic mural.)
>
> A kitsch statue I bought of Guan Yin some years ago in Hong Kong showed
> her holding a pot in one hand with its narrow mouth facing down, from which
> water would drip, drop by slow drop, into the mouth of a crocodile lying at
> the feet of the goddess. "It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven..."
> And this was supposed to go on perpetually, until the water needed to be
> replenished in our hot climate.
>
> I look forward to seeing a sharper image of the figure at Charleston.
>
> Did Roger Fry ever write about this or any other Indian/Chinese figures?
>
>
> Best wishes.
>
>
> Harish Trivedi
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 at 22:49, Krista Schepis <kschepis at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> I believe I have found information about this statue on this page,
> https://www.charleston.org.uk/charleston-room-by-room/, clicking "The
> Studio" as the room of interest.
>
> This site tells us: "The walls are deliberately painted in neutral tones
> as a background for paintings. The fireplace decorations, a pair of florid
> caryatids painted by Duncan Grant onto wooden panels around 1935, provide a
> focus for the room. The tiles behind the stove are by Vanessa Bell,
> c.1925-30. The figure of the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin, on the
> mantel shelf is a cast of a sixth century AD original which was owned by
> Roger Fry."
>
> Not sure if that's the one you were thinking of....
>
> Best,
> Krista Schepis
>
> On Thu, Sep 13, 2018 at 1:11 PM Harish Trivedi via Vwoolf <
> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
> Would anyone know what that Hindu/Buddhist statue is right in the centre
> of the mantelpiece? I had no idea any of the Bloomsbury group were into
> appreciating Indian art, much less collecting it.
>
> Any info most welcome. A sharper image of that sculpture would be welcome
> too.
>
> Best wishes to all.
>
>
> Harish Trivedi
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 13 Sep 2018 at 21:37, Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf <
> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> Three articles on Charleston--the expansion and the acquisition of Duncan
> Grant's famous women plates. One on the Bloomsbury Hotel.
>
> Vara
>
>
> https://thespaces.com/the-bloomsbury-groups-storied-charleston-house-expands/
>
>
> <https://thespaces.com/the-bloomsbury-groups-storied-charleston-house-expands/>
>
> The Bloomsbury Group’s storied Charleston house expands
> <https://thespaces.com/the-bloomsbury-groups-storied-charleston-house-expands/>
>
> thespaces.com
>
> With a new gallery by Jamie Fobert Architects
>
> https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/bloomsbury-group-s-country-home-to-open-all-year-round
>
>
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/06/famous-women-orlando-charleston-review-grant-bell-bloomsbury
>
>
> <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/06/famous-women-orlando-charleston-review-grant-bell-bloomsbury>
>
> Famous Women/Orlando at Charleston review – the fundamental daftness of
> Grant and Bell
> <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/06/famous-women-orlando-charleston-review-grant-bell-bloomsbury>
>
> www.theguardian.com
>
> A jokey Famous Women Dinner Service and a faint celebration of Woolf’s
> novel Orlando are lightweight openers for the Bloomsbury Group shrine’s
> spacious new galleries
> And...one more review of the Bloomsbury Hotel.
>
>
> https://sg.asiatatler.com/life/hotel-review-tatler-checks-into-the-bloomsbury-hotel-in-london
>
> Vara Neverow
> Department of English
> Southern Connecticut State University
> New Haven, CT 06515
> 203-392-6717
> neverowv1 at southernct.edu
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>
>
> --
> Todd Nordgren
> Visiting Assistant Professor
> Department of English
> Northwestern University
> toddnordgren at u.northwestern.edu
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