[Vwoolf] "Radical Modernity: From Bloomsbury To Charleston"

Sun Nov 10 21:48:22 EST 2024

Dear Pat

Thanks a lot for this cornucopia of interesting materials.

That quote from Julian Bell is a gem  — even if it does not represent a
more pervasive attitude in Bloomsbury! His political naïveté is touching.
Would the communists have done the bidding of capitalist-imperialists? And
in 1935, the British parliament had already passed the Government of India
Act which led to elections and representative fully  Indian ministries
being formed in the states in India in 1937, and it might have led to
independence sooner than in 1947 had WW II not intervened.  That Act
enraged Kipling, but apparently many others were not far behind — if not
ahead of him.

I’ll look out for your book, and also for some of the other publications
you kindly mention. Meanwhile, many thanks again and best wishes.

Harish

Harish Trivedi

On Sun, 10 Nov 2024 at 11:20 PM, Pat Laurence <pat.laurence at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Harish,
>
> I look forward to reading the collection on Forster's novel. In my
> research on China and Bloomsbury, I discovered Julian Bell’s response—not
> necessarily representative of Bloomsbury—to Forster’s *Passage to India*.
> I quote from my book:
>
>
>
> In another letter, Julian expressed virulent prejudice about the Indians
> while reading E.M. Forster's *Passage to India*, England's colonization
> of India sometimes generating intense feelings of Indian "inferiority."
> Though not shared by all in Bloomsbury, hostility toward Indians, and
> Julian's prejudice is representative of a certain English class. He wrote
> to Eddie Playfair:
>
> how glad I am to be among human beings [Chinese], not his [Forster's]
> revolting blacks [Indians]. What India needs is strong government- whips
> and firing squads-by a really fanatical group of English communists. If one
> could rout out their religion and philiprogenitiveness [i.e. large
> families]...China suffers too from this disease." (JB/EP 2.3.36).
>
> China, on the other hand, distant, in semi-colonial relationship with the
> British, never occupied the same psychological space of subject nation,
> subject people, as India.
>
>
>
> Bloomsbury, in general, favored Chinese aesthetics and culture, but you
> might look at my book, *Lily Briscoe’s Chinese Eyes: Bloomsbury,
> Modernism and China* that threads some commentary on India: influence on
> English gardens, role of Tagore, G.L. Dickinson, Chinese view (Crescent
> Moon group) of India as an alternative to British imperialism.
>
>
>
> Also, I recommend other transnational studies of the “orient” that might
> be helpful to you beginning in 1995: Qian Xiaoming’s  *Bloomsbury and
> Orientalism* (1995), a comparative study; Melba Cuddy Keane and Kay Li’s,
> “Passage to China,” (1996) an exploration of the politics and culture of
> China and the work of Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson;  Urmilla Seshagiri’s
> “Orientalizing Woolf” (2010), a demonstration of how Woolf’s modernist
> aesthetics are shaped by race; Ira Nadel’s “Oriental Bloomsbury,” an
> exploration of the multiple and contradictory responses of Bloomsbury to
> China (2018); Anne Witchard’s collection, *British Modernism and
> Chinoiserie* (2018), Sonita Sarker, *Women Writing Race, Nation and
> History* (2022); Wenjin Cui, *States of Disconnect: The China- India
> Literary Relation in the Twentieth Century* (2023).
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Pat Laurence
>
> City University of New York
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 10, 2024 at 9:16 AM Harish Trivedi via Vwoolf <
> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
>> Dear Vara Thanks for your prompt response. The image and the article you
>> attached from H&G, which had photos of that sculpture from other angles
>> too, are very helpful. And yes, it seems to be the Buddha all right, though
>> the two hand-postures
>> Dear Vara
>>
>> Thanks for your prompt response.
>>
>> The image and the article you attached from H&G, which had photos of that
>> sculpture from other angles too, are very helpful.  And yes, it seems to be
>> the Buddha all right, though the two hand-postures (*mudras*) seem to be
>> only half-familiar to me for they are seldom shown to go together.
>>
>>  The article on "Oriental Bloomsbury" may turn out to have something on
>> the provenance of this piece of sculpture if and when I can access that
>> article (it's beyond a hefty paywall, as usual), though it looks a little
>> too broad in scope.  (Dickinson, Russell, Empson, Acton -- all in
>> Bloomsbury?)   Has anyone read this article?
>>
>> As for Forster, he did see a fair bit of Indian sculpture *in situ* on
>> his two visits to India in 1912-13 and 1021-22, before he published *A
>> Passage to India*. But in that novel, he (creatively) erased even the
>> carvings that actually are there on the Barabar caves, so as to make his
>> Marabar caves primordially bare and featureless.
>>
>> When Forster was setting off on his second visit to India, Virginia Woolf
>> said, perhaps half-jokingly and half-solicitously, that he might be leaving
>> England forever. "He will become a mystic, sit by the roadside and forget
>> Europe."  Nothing like that happened, of course, and F remained very much a
>> British Liberal sceptic.
>>
>> Despite its many "muddles,"  *Passage* " remains probably the best novel
>> ever written about India by a Westerner, and therefore the closest that
>> Bloomsbury got to India in creative terms.  A collection of new essays has
>> recently appeared to mark the centenary of its publication and it has about
>> half a dozen passing references to Virginia Woolf, and a couple to Leonard
>> too.  (See https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://orientblackswan.com/details?id=9789354429293__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNCwllWD-$ 
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://orientblackswan.com/details?id=9789354429293__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqoS5npWf$>
>>  -- and excuse the self-promotion!)
>>
>> As for VW and India, I'll shortly write another mail to this list with
>> some more queries.
>>
>> Best wishes.
>> Harish
>>
>> Harish Trivedi
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 10 Nov 2024 at 09:10, Neverow, Vara S. <neverowv1 at southernct.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Harish,
>>>
>>> The webpage I inserted below has a much better photograph of the
>>> sculpture on the mantel of the fireplace (and also has an amazing number of
>>> other photographs of Charleston).
>>>
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/charleston__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNCVmqWeM$ 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/charleston__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqnujt4HV$>
>>>
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/charleston__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqnujt4HV$>
>>> The interiors of Charleston: the house the Bloomsbury Group turned in to
>>> a living work of art
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/charleston__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqnujt4HV$>
>>> Nestled in bucolic Sussex gardens the seventeenth-century exterior
>>> belies the riot of imaginative decoration inside; a legacy of its function
>>> as artistic residence to the Bloomsbury Group.
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.houseandgarden.co.uk__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNCI5Oqq-$ 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.houseandgarden.co.uk__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqsdLj8hh$>
>>> This article looks like it might be of relevance:
>>> Ira Nadel
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.euppublishing.com/author/Nadel*2C*Ira__;JSs!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqmA2Wdu1$>
>>> "Oriental Bloomsbury"
>>> Modernist Cultures, February 2018, vo. 13, No. 1 : pp. 14-32
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/mod.2018.0192__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNM65E4Sj$ 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/mod.2018.0192__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWql_mNN_Z$>
>>> The abstract states:
>>> The multiple and occasionally contradictory response of Bloomsbury to
>>> the Orient is the focus of this essay which also considers the reverse: the
>>> Orient's response to Bloomsbury and the promotion of their texts in the
>>> East. From Roger Fry to G. L. Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, and Vanessa Bell,
>>> the Orient became a source of aesthetic interest and problematized
>>> politics. French Orientalism and Proust initially corroborated the
>>> experiences of Woolf in Constantinople and Leonard Woolf in Ceylon, soon to
>>> be revised by new views of Imperial authority. Yet Bloomsbury and the
>>> Orient artistically depended on each other, at one point Fry scolding
>>> Bloomsbury and England that ‘we can no longer hide behind the Elgin marbles
>>> and refuse to look at the art of China’. And look they did, from attending
>>> museum shows to collecting Oriental art and furniture, while adopting
>>> Oriental fashions – and, when possible, traveling to China and Japan marked
>>> by visits by Bertrand Russell, William Empson, and Harold Acton. The
>>> response of individual Bloomsbury writers to the Orient mixes curiosity and
>>> jealousy. To her nephew Julian Bell, teaching at Wuhan University, Woolf
>>> wrote that ‘you are much to be envied. I wish I had spent three years in
>>> China at your age’.
>>>
>>> E. M. Forster's *A Passage to India *might also have some traces of
>>> relevance regarding Indian art.
>>>
>>> I hope this response is somewhat helpful.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Vara
>>>
>>> Vara Neverow
>>> (she/her/hers)
>>> Professor, English Department
>>> Editor, *Virginia Woolf Miscellany*
>>> Southern Connecticut State University
>>> New Haven, CT 06515
>>> 203-392-6717
>>> neverowv1 at southernct.edu
>>>
>>> *I acknowledge that Southern Connecticut **State University was built
>>> on traditional territory of the indigenous peoples and nations of the
>>> Paugussett and Quinnipiac peoples.*
>>>
>>>
>>> *Recent Publications:*
>>>
>>> Lead editor, *Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources *(Bloomsbury,
>>> 2020; with Jeanne Dubino, Kathryn Simpson, and Gill Lowe); Editor, Volume
>>> One, 1975-1984, *Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources* (Bloomsbury,
>>> 2020); Co-editor, *The Edinburgh Companion to Virginia Woolf and
>>> Contemporary Global Literature* (Edinburgh, 2020; with Jeanne Dubino,
>>> Paulina Pająk, Catherine Hollis, and Celiese Lypka)
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* Harish Trivedi <harish.trivedi at gmail.com>
>>> *Sent:* Saturday, November 9, 2024 10:05 PM
>>> *To:* Neverow, Vara S. <neverowv1 at southernct.edu>
>>> *Cc:* vwoolf listerve <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] "Radical Modernity: From Bloomsbury To
>>> Charleston"
>>>
>>> Thanks for this.
>>>
>>> Could someone please identify the sculpture on the mantelpiece depicting
>>> the Buddha/ a Hindu deity?  Do we know who acquired it (Vanessa/Duncan
>>> etc.) and in what circumstances?
>>>
>>> Is a better photo of it available somewhere?
>>>
>>> I am especially curious as the Bloomsbury group appears to have had
>>> little interest in Indian art— or did they?
>>>
>>> Best wishes.
>>>
>>> Harish Trivedi
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, 9 Nov 2024 at 8:19 PM, Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf <
>>> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> Greetings, "Radical Modernity: From Bloomsbury To Charleston," Sotheby's
>>> and Charleston's free London exhibition curated by Kim Jones ("Free & Open
>>> to the Public from 9 – 26 November"): https: //www. charleston. org.
>>> uk/press/sothebys-and-charleston-unite-for-a-two-part-exhibition-celebrating-the-bloomsbury-group-curated-by-kim-jones/
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> "Radical Modernity: From Bloomsbury To Charleston," Sotheby's and
>>> Charleston's free London exhibition curated by Kim Jones ("Free & Open to
>>> the Public from 9 – 26 November"):
>>>
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.charleston.org.uk/press/sothebys-and-charleston-unite-for-a-two-part-exhibition-celebrating-the-bloomsbury-group-curated-by-kim-jones/__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNNRMDUjB$ 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.charleston.org.uk/press/sothebys-and-charleston-unite-for-a-two-part-exhibition-celebrating-the-bloomsbury-group-curated-by-kim-jones/__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauv0LSCbW$>
>>>
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.charleston.org.uk/press/sothebys-and-charleston-unite-for-a-two-part-exhibition-celebrating-the-bloomsbury-group-curated-by-kim-jones/__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauv0LSCbW$>
>>> Charleston — Sotheby’s and Charleston Unite for a Two-Part Exhibition
>>> Celebrating The Bloomsbury Group, Curated by Kim Jones
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.charleston.org.uk/press/sothebys-and-charleston-unite-for-a-two-part-exhibition-celebrating-the-bloomsbury-group-curated-by-kim-jones/__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauv0LSCbW$>
>>> The exhibition features rarely-seen works
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.charleston.org.uk__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNIU16LOa$ 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.charleston.org.uk__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauuixoY5i$>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://theweek.com/culture-life/art/vanessa-bell-a-world-of-form-and-colour-an-expansive-exhibition__;!!KGKeukY!1UchvzoeRY-IhLpVOE2UCqgXkSbFqN0ucTOvP7qtrTTzCBov5jKQifhh6gTMBuHFLG6FawQjPEV3b_Rxm8nZNIhCHWl0$ 
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://theweek.com/culture-life/art/vanessa-bell-a-world-of-form-and-colour-an-expansive-exhibition__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauvIpgTfB$>
>>>
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://theweek.com/culture-life/art/vanessa-bell-a-world-of-form-and-colour-an-expansive-exhibition__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauvIpgTfB$>
>>> Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour – an 'expansive' exhibition
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://theweek.com/culture-life/art/vanessa-bell-a-world-of-form-and-colour-an-expansive-exhibition__;!!KGKeukY!0wbxDlH59or105RtN1AyADko9WbYWl7fiox6TwlsWkzM8L0DFrtiRpfWT6JX2fURZu0PISDNyNj2OzQ4egtauvIpgTfB$>
>>> The 'sweeping' show features over 140 works from paintings to ceramics
>>> theweek.com
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://theweek.com/__;!!KGKeukY!zR-9joDmm9lcxGu5P1MtkfE-w9nlzHy_GxLjY_0C6HKPC1z4-5Jan3i57kxC51EFaFRLlKn2FoKP7SjYmjwWqolaCkmQ$>
>>>
>>> [image: Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant painted much of Charleston's
>>> interiors (Image: Lee Robbins)]
>>> Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant painted much of Charleston's interiors
>>> (Image: Lee Robbins)
>>> Works by the Bloomsbury group will go on loan and up for sale at an
>>> exhibition hosted by a London auction house.
>>> The event at Sotheby’s will celebrate art and literature by the
>>> Bloomsbury group, with works for sale alongside loans from the collection
>>> at Charleston, near Firle.
>>> Radical Modernity: From Bloomsbury To Charleston, a private selling and
>>> loan exhibition in collaboration with Charleston, will highlight the
>>> “indefatigable spirit of the Bloomsbury Group” across paintings, drawings,
>>> furniture, ceramics and literature by Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Roger
>>> Fry, Virginia Woolf and Henry Lamb.
>>> As part of the exhibition, the historic farmhouse will be loaning some
>>> of its most significant pieces, many not usually on public view.
>>> They include recent acquisitions made as part of Charleston’s 50 for 50
>>> campaign, a hunt for the best Bloomsbury works still in private collections
>>> to help mark the forthcoming 50th anniversary.
>>> In 2030, Charleston will celebrate 50 years since the charity that saved
>>> it was established.
>>> The Bloomsbury group was a circle of intellectuals including artists and
>>> writers in the 20th century. Charleston, the home and studio of painters
>>> Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, became one of the hubs where the group met.
>>> The Sotheby's exhibition is free and runs from November 9 to 26.
>>> Best,
>>> Vara
>>> Vara Neverow
>>> (she/her/hers)
>>> Professor, English Department
>>> Editor, *Virginia Woolf Miscellany*
>>> Southern Connecticut State University
>>> New Haven, CT 06515
>>> 203-392-6717
>>> neverowv1 at southernct.edu
>>>
>>> *I acknowledge that Southern Connecticut **State University was built
>>> on traditional territory of the indigenous peoples and nations of the
>>> Paugussett and Quinnipiac peoples.*
>>>
>>>
>>> *Recent Publications:*
>>>
>>> Lead editor, *Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources *(Bloomsbury,
>>> 2020; with Jeanne Dubino, Kathryn Simpson, and Gill Lowe); Editor, Volume
>>> One, 1975-1984, *Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources* (Bloomsbury,
>>> 2020); Co-editor, *The Edinburgh Companion to Virginia Woolf and
>>> Contemporary Global Literature* (Edinburgh, 2020; with Jeanne Dubino,
>>> Paulina Pająk, Catherine Hollis, and Celiese Lypka)
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>>
>
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