[Vwoolf] Vermin

Mon Jul 14 14:32:07 EDT 2025

!-------------------------------------------------------------------|
  This Message Is From an External Sender
  This message came from outside your organization.
|-------------------------------------------------------------------!

Mark,

Why don't you write to her and point out these errors and misreadings? Her website gives her contact as alison at alisonlight.org

Gretchen Gerzina

On 7/14/25, 1:09 PM, "vwoolf-bounces+ozma=sover.net at lists.osu.edu <mailto:sover.net at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>" <vwoolf-bounces+ozma=sover.net at lists.osu.edu <mailto:sover.net at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>> wrote:

Send Vwoolf mailing list submissions to
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf  <https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf >
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf-request at lists.osu.edu>

You can reach the person managing the list at
vwoolf-owner at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf-owner at lists.osu.edu>

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Vwoolf digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. Re: vermin (Christine Froula)
2. Re: vermin (Sarah M. Hall)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:32:24 -0400
From: Christine Froula <cfroula at northwestern.edu <mailto:cfroula at northwestern.edu>>
To: "vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>" <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] vermin
Message-ID: <5bff6599-27da-4e0a-bb6a-c1d9acb94173 at northwestern.edu <mailto:5bff6599-27da-4e0a-bb6a-c1d9acb94173 at northwestern.edu>>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"

And another famous contemporary writer whose name we all know once 
claimed Woolf called someone (I think it was Vita?) a "bitch." (I was 
able to explain that Woolf had used that word only in reference to 
female canines, as far as I could tell, and edit it out of her piece.)

On 7/14/2025 10:56 AM, Mark Hussey via Vwoolf wrote:
> With so many Woolfians?in the UK recently for the Sussex conference, 
> some may have heard a programme on BBC Radio 4 ('Three Transformations 
> of Virginia Woolf'). In the 2nd episode, broadcast on Tuesday July 8, 
> Alison Light, speaking
> With so many Woolfians?in the UK recently for the Sussex conference, 
> some may have heard a programme on BBC Radio 4 ('Three Transformations 
> of Virginia Woolf'). In the 2nd episode, broadcast on Tuesday July 8, 
> Alison Light, speaking about Woolf's relations with servants, said 
> that she uses the word 'vermin' in connection with servants. This is 
> no more true than Merve Emre's claim in her annotated /Mrs Dalloway 
> /that Woolf used the word "coolies" "liberally" in her diary (it's not 
> used there at all). 'Vermin' and 'verminous' appear in a number of 
> instances in Woolf's writing but not describing servants. Ever. This 
> is how rumors start!
>
> (My thanks to Marielle O'Neill for searching?the online complete works 
> before I could get back to my CD-Rom, where I confirmed the above!)
>
>
> -- 
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.markhusseybooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!zW4uZLeiH_enyRypPo0s5OOC43BgWL6y4PQrnvi30_hqNQfv__tRnQOx3S_7_jhQc9eawNrEXTRI1l5IgsmxYceNfeU$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.markhusseybooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!zW4uZLeiH_enyRypPo0s5OOC43BgWL6y4PQrnvi30_hqNQfv__tRnQOx3S_7_jhQc9eawNrEXTRI1l5IgsmxYceNfeU$> 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.markhusseybooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!2ymZQeIbG6488AseqG0pIjm5zDHbS3qBM0jaaWaR3fEp2P46gpYm58JqJZcv_tZSd5LrpnAFTXSBaXemXDHv$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.markhusseybooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!2ymZQeIbG6488AseqG0pIjm5zDHbS3qBM0jaaWaR3fEp2P46gpYm58JqJZcv_tZSd5LrpnAFTXSBaXemXDHv$>> 
>
> /Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel /2025
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/__;!!KGKeukY!zW4uZLeiH_enyRypPo0s5OOC43BgWL6y4PQrnvi30_hqNQfv__tRnQOx3S_7_jhQc9eawNrEXTRI1l5Igsmx_ThWiQQ$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/__;!!KGKeukY!zW4uZLeiH_enyRypPo0s5OOC43BgWL6y4PQrnvi30_hqNQfv__tRnQOx3S_7_jhQc9eawNrEXTRI1l5Igsmx_ThWiQQ$> 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/__;!!KGKeukY!2ymZQeIbG6488AseqG0pIjm5zDHbS3qBM0jaaWaR3fEp2P46gpYm58JqJZcv_tZSd5LrpnAFTXSBaXvh3uQf$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/__;!!KGKeukY!2ymZQeIbG6488AseqG0pIjm5zDHbS3qBM0jaaWaR3fEp2P46gpYm58JqJZcv_tZSd5LrpnAFTXSBaXvh3uQf$>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Vwoolf mailing list
> Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:Vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RWiA_cf0PA-xCM5O6MVyy4vLojBT4xBoBG-4za5Rs2g-VY2kUG-OpoO1Wix8puDUgjAsHqxrJf0raZW6_3kLxIgIXQ$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RWiA_cf0PA-xCM5O6MVyy4vLojBT4xBoBG-4za5Rs2g-VY2kUG-OpoO1Wix8puDUgjAsHqxrJf0raZW6_3kLxIgIXQ$> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20250714/52c8f7ec/attachment-0001.html > <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20250714/52c8f7ec/attachment-0001.html> >

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:09:15 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Sarah M. Hall" <smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk <mailto:smhall123 at yahoo.co.uk>>
To: vwoolf listerve <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>>, Mark Hussey
<markh102 at gmail.com <mailto:markh102 at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] vermin
Message-ID: <1851610131.1058343.1752512955141 at mail.yahoo.com <mailto:1851610131.1058343.1752512955141 at mail.yahoo.com>>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Thanks, Mark. It's very odd that these mistakes are made, especially nowadays when it's so easy to check.
In VW's works I can find one instance of 'vermin' being used in this kind of context; not about servants, but about the poor, and in a satirical reference to Gilbert White's attitude.

White's Selborne
Gilbert White is far less tender to the poor ? ?We abound with poor,? he writes, as if the vermin were beneath his notice ? than to the grasshopper whom he lifts out of its hole so carefully and once inadvertently squeezed to death.

Elsewhere, Woolf uses 'vermin/ous' when referring to other people's points of view; occasionally, I'm afraid, as a personal insult; or about rats or fleas.
'Coolies' is used satirically in Mrs D and The Waves. I hope it won't offend anyone if I say that the term is pejorative now, but, Wikipedia suggests, originated from Hindi, Telugu, Urdu and Tamil words meaning simply 'day-labourer' or 'hireling'. Then in the early 20th century it seems the British Raj started using it patronisingly and offensively, and eventually it turned into a racial slur. Like 'queer', though, it looks as though it's being reclaimed: 'A new Tamil movie titled Coolie [...] is set to release in 2025.'??https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie__;!!KGKeukY!2xl0rcaK99-3zAJHlkut9Us1aClMYfq6_KPVEEEN_un3GXqwnG9rldXocwDg_2Kxdk3IJ6rUYRKpaPYekUzwZRVZ$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie__;!!KGKeukY!2xl0rcaK99-3zAJHlkut9Us1aClMYfq6_KPVEEEN_un3GXqwnG9rldXocwDg_2Kxdk3IJ6rUYRKpaPYekUzwZRVZ$> 

Sarah
Sarah M. Hall
Executive Council
Virginia Woolf Society of GB
Web: virginiawoolfsociety.org.uk
Facebook: @VWSGB
Twitter/X: @VirginiaWoolfGB
Instagram: @virginiawoolfsociety

On Monday, 14 July 2025 at 15:56:11 BST, Mark Hussey via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <mailto:vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>> wrote: 

With so many Woolfians?in the UK recently for the Sussex conference, some may have heard a programme on BBC Radio 4 ('Three Transformations of Virginia Woolf'). In the 2nd episode, broadcast on Tuesday July 8, Alison Light, speakingWith so many Woolfians?in the UK recently for the Sussex conference, some may have heard a programme on BBC Radio 4 ('Three Transformations of Virginia Woolf'). In the 2nd episode, broadcast on Tuesday July 8, Alison Light, speaking about Woolf's relations with servants, said that she uses the word 'vermin' in connection with servants. This is no more true than Merve Emre's claim in her annotated Mrs Dalloway that Woolf used the word "coolies" "liberally" in her diary (it's not used there at all). 'Vermin' and 'verminous' appear in a number of instances in Woolf's writing but not describing servants. Ever. This is how rumors start!
(My thanks to Marielle O'Neill for searching?the online complete works before I could get back to my CD-Rom, where I confirmed the above!)

-- 
www.markhusseybooks.comMrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel 2025?https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/_________________________________________________;!!KGKeukY!2xl0rcaK99-3zAJHlkut9Us1aClMYfq6_KPVEEEN_un3GXqwnG9rldXocwDg_2Kxdk3IJ6rUYRKpaPYekfTiwjrd$ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/_________________________________________________;!!KGKeukY!2xl0rcaK99-3zAJHlkut9Us1aClMYfq6_KPVEEEN_un3GXqwnG9rldXocwDg_2Kxdk3IJ6rUYRKpaPYekfTiwjrd$> 
Vwoolf mailing list
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 > 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20250714/8f4d83bb/attachment.html > <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/vwoolf/attachments/20250714/8f4d83bb/attachment.html> >

------------------------------

Subject: Digest Footer

_______________________________________________
Vwoolf mailing list
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 >

------------------------------

End of Vwoolf Digest, Vol 158, Issue 9
**************************************