[Vwoolf] Bloomsbury-bashing

Sat Mar 23 16:12:51 EDT 2019

Years ago when I was just getting acquainted with VW and Bloomsbury, I
chanced upon this essay, and I have never forgotten it. I was blown away by
the writer's contemptuous vitriole. He seemed to go very far out of his way
to take the most negative interpretation possible on everything to do with
her. I had trouble imagining why anyone would take this so very seriously,
as if he'd suffered personally as a direct result of something VW said or
did. I still don't understand it. Something in the Bloomsbury subculture
reeeeally pushes some peoples' buttons. 

https://www.city-journal.org/html/rage-virginia-woolf-12371.html

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+melanie.white=comcast.net at lists.osu.edu> On
Behalf Of Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2019 2:06 PM
To: Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>; 'Woolf Listserv'
<vwoolf at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Bloomsbury-bashing

Thanks, Mark! Much appreciated. And thanks, Stuart, for posting a similar
snarky rant by the same Bloomsbury-hater. And, of course, thanks to Brenda
for the reference to Christopher Reed's extremely detailed and nuanced
essay. 

As to my own rationale for the request, I think it's worth keeping track of
these snide remarks. They illuminate the motivations, misunderstandings and
misinterpretations of the adversaries and reveal the flawed rationales for
their various vendettas. 

Best,

Vara

Vara Neverow
Department of English
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, CT 06515
203-392-6717
neverowv1 at southernct.edu

  _____  

From: Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2019 1:59:34 PM
To: Neverow, Vara S.; 'Woolf Listserv'
Subject: RE: [Vwoolf] Bloomsbury-bashing 

Not sure why anyone would want to waste their time on this old buffer's
ramblings, but here Heffer goes again. (It is possible to register for a
free account to have full access to a limited number of articles; the
readers' comments are even more depressing and ill-informed than Heffer's
nonsense):

Last summer, at my wife's suggestion, we went to
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fart%2Fwhat-to-see%2Fcharleston-farmhouse-review-bloomsbury-sets
-radical-spirit-restored%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78
bd77e72248fe753f08d6aef02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C63
6888743777486797&sdata=ZoffTIdunZ0oN7mDOMlowuqdBx8NdtdNqcymeTstK5U%3D&reserv
ed=0> Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex, a place of pilgrimage for devotees of
the Bloomsbury Group. In the Twenties, this collection of writers and
artists supposedly changed - in their view, modernised - British culture.
Charleston was acquired by
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fart%2Fartists%2Ftime-save-vanessa-bell-beasts-bloomsbury%2F&dat
a=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77e72248fe753f08d6aef02512%7C
58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C636888743777496806&sdata=fPnxbJpH
d3EqG7O%2BSclsD4wISNt1mA611xdCov85HmA%3D&reserved=0> Vanessa Bell, sister of
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fbooks%2Fauthors%2Fvirginia-woolf-remains-one-literatures-alluri
ng-writers%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77e72248fe75
3f08d6aef02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C6368887437774968
06&sdata=RBYnmR%2F5KFxmFOeH5qbUhTMAVZbgNMpAd%2FgCS2dlJ%2BQ%3D&reserved=0>
Virginia Woolf, during the Great War. Her husband was Clive Bell, an art
critic. However, Mrs Bell shared the house with Duncan Grant, by whom she
had a daughter, Angelica. Grant was homosexual, and one of his boyfriends
had been David Garnett, a novelist, whom Angelica married. It is little
wonder that biographies, diaries, films and television programmes about the
denizens of Bloomsbury seem to have such enduring appeal.

But is it all a bit of a con? Charleston heaves with visitors. Yet the decor
- Bloomsbury colour schemes imposed on the walls, furniture and doors, the
paintings, even the lampshades - causes the uncouth, me among them, to
marvel at its crudity. It gave me the same sensation as seeing ancient cave
art, only without the anthropological resonance. One senses that most who go
to Charleston do so to commune with the spirit of Bloomsbury, which hangs
heavily over it. Leonard and Virginia Woolf were frequent visitors; so were
Roger Fry and Lytton Strachey.

Yet when one reads about these people, one soon realises the benefit of
Bloomsbury for those who were part of it: the mutual backslapping, with
everyone praising everyone else's work. The paintings of Grant and Bell are
not in the league of
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fart%2Fartists%2Fwork-meals-sex-untold-story-picassos-early-year
s%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77e72248fe753f08d6aef
02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C636888743777506811&sdata=
RfnzsyV5OTtAESV44i5kMegcc0SMqsGZg3pWbDHhWYE%3D&reserved=0> Picasso; and yet
many regard them with comparable reverence. Not everyone has fallen under
the spell: in 1935, the Cunard Line commissioned Grant to design murals for
the first-class lounge of the Queen Mary, but ordered them to be removed
once they saw them the following year.

The literary side of Bloomsbury continues to capture the imagination of
successive generations; and Woolf and Strachey, from the group's hard core,
are the most prominent. (EM Forster, often accused of being a Bloomsbury
man, had far more diverse connections.) Both Woolf and Strachey merit more
detailed consideration than there is space for here, but a general
observation about each will suffice.

Woolf was brilliant at conveying her own psychoses in her prose, and in her
adoption of the stream of consciousness as developed by Proust and
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fart%2Fartists%2Fhow-james-joyces-ulysses-inspired-good--and-bad
--art%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77e72248fe753f08d
6aef02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C636888743777506811&sd
ata=GWzg8zwZjOJAjj6Xf7zC2U1umdgb9kuZz3wSbRyW0CE%3D&reserved=0> Joyce. I have
yet to detect any originality in her literary conceptions, although she was
capable of effective communication of scenes, characters and ideas. Her
fiction is laced with her snobbery, and her criticism throbs with it: if one
finds such things amusing, then Woolf is a hoot.

Strachey had an entirely destructive mentality. Eminent Victorians (1918),
praised for its wit, makes cheap laughs out of twisting the truth. His essay
on Thomas Arnold is a travesty, and his decision to mock a culture that made
Britain into the world's leading power is instructive - though only of
Strachey himself. He shared the self-obsession of the rest of the group, who
were united above all by an unshakeable belief in their superiority. Perhaps
the Bloomsberries were rather superior in their time. Happily, the
intervening years have given the rest of us the chance to catch up, and see
through their collective self-regard.

From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey=verizon.net at lists.osu.edu] On
Behalf Of Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2019 10:00 AM
To: vwoolf listserve
Subject: [Vwoolf] Bloomsbury-bashing

Greetings,

Possibly of interest is a link below to an article in the Telegraph. The
article seems to be is dedicated to Bloomsbury-bashing. Alas, the article is
only accessible to subscribers. Perhaps someone who has access will be able
to share it with those of us who do not. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/snobbish-crude-self-obsessed-
has-bloomsbury-group-lost-bloom/
<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fbooks%2Fwhat-to-read%2Fsnobbish-crude-self-obsessed-has-bloomsb
ury-group-lost-bloom%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77
e72248fe753f08d6aef02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C636888
743777516820&sdata=uzFgLV7zA9DbR%2B17z8CJg18d2%2FiQoZqdZ%2B82RbRc9rQ%3D&rese
rved=0>  

<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwwwtelegr
aph.co.uk%2Fbooks%2Fwhat-to-read%2Fsnobbish-crude-self-obsessed-has-bloomsbu
ry-group-lost-bloom%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77e
72248fe753f08d6aef02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C6368887
43777516820&sdata=%2FgVmA6oCSlsmcJR91Vql31UxZjhAtfQjWGhZe9e4%2BpI%3D&reserve
d=0> 

<https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teleg
raph.co.uk%2Fbooks%2Fwhat-to-read%2Fsnobbish-crude-self-obsessed-has-bloomsb
ury-group-lost-bloom%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cneverowv1%40southernct.edu%7Cfd78bd77
e72248fe753f08d6aef02512%7C58736863d60e40ce95c60723c7eaaf67%7C0%7C0%7C636888
743777526825&sdata=mO%2F22TlUopwsmT3gk9koSIgH3gD1xQIWPGupjav1AB8%3D&reserved
=0> Snobbish, crude and self-obsessed: has the Bloomsbury Group lost its
bloom? - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

L ast summer, at my wife's suggestion, we went to Charleston Farmhouse in
Sussex, a place of pilgrimage for devotees of the Bloomsbury Group. In the
Twenties, this collection of writers and ...

Best,

Vara

Vara Neverow
Department of English
Southern Connecticut State University
New Haven, CT 06515
203-392-6717
neverowv1 at southernct.edu 

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