[Vwoolf] vermin

Tue Jul 15 04:12:32 EDT 2025

There seems to be a lot of sensitivity on all sides in our politically
correct times regarding the use of such terms.

The use of "vermin" cited in two personal (and once deemed private) letters
cited by Vara is in both instances obviously jocular, as being consciously
exaggerated and hyperbolic. But now, nothing is private, and part of the
blame must attach to our own obsession as readers and critics with the
biographical approach in reading major writers -- what the New Critics
sternly called "the Biographical Fallacy."

As for "coolie," when Peter Walsh recalls that he had in India invented a
new plough and imported wheel-barrows from England, "but the coolies
wouldn't use them" (*Mrs Dalloway*, Hogarth ed., rpt.1963, p. 55), he is
narrating the episode fairly dispassionately, rueing the mismatch between
his approach and theirs rather than blaming them entirely.

What is palpably inept about this passage is that the term "coolies" was/is
never used in India for peasants or farm-labourers. They are in Hindi
called *kisan*. Coolies in Hindi are load-bearing porters, casually hired
for a specific task, often on railway platforms or steep hill roads.  (See
Mulk Raj Anand's novel *Coolie*, London 1936.)  It's not Walsh who betrays
ignorance here after over two decades in India but clearly Virginia Woolf.
But such ignorance is a far less serious crime than knowingly offering
insult or deprecation; it's not the same thing, really.

The word coolie in India, or abroad in the subaltern diaspora, connotes
generally someone put to hard labour for little reward. Once, in
controverting an essay by Susan Sontag titled "The World as India," I used
the term "cyber-coolies" for underpaid backroom on-line workers in poorer
countries employed by multinationals (*TLS* , letters, 13 June 2003).

Best wishes.
Harish

Harish Trivedi

On Mon, 14 Jul 2025 at 23:16, Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf <
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> The term "vermin" is applied to humans in two of Woolf's writings: 2263:
> To Quentin Bell 28th Oct. [1930]: “Ottoline is on the ramp; but I cant
> go—not to meet Italian novelists, because when she says they admire me, it
> means they are
> The term "vermin" is applied to humans in two of Woolf's writings:
>
> 2263: To Quentin Bell 28th Oct. [1930]:
> “Ottoline is on the ramp; but I cant go—not to meet Italian novelists,
> because when she says they admire me, it means they are cretinous,
> *verminous* and lecherous. If you were here we would go together.”
>
> 3543: To V. Sackville-West 19th Aug: [1939]:
> “I’m in a rage. That devil woman Giselle Freund calmly tells me she’s
> showing those d—d photographs—and I made it a condition she shouldn’t. Dont
> you think it damnable?—considering how they [Ocampo and Freund] filched and
> pilfered and gate crashed—*the treacherous vermin*. Do give her a piece
> of your mind if you see her. I loathe being hoisted about on top of a stick
> for any one to stare at. Shall you send me a book to read soon?”
>
> And...intriguingly (disturbingly?) but totally off topic (!) is that a
> certain type of lampshade is *still* referred to as a “coolie" (the
> reference is to the hat worn by workers, not the workers themselves:
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_conical_hat__;!!KGKeukY!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe87rDNdM-$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_conical_hat__;!!KGKeukY!wNhivc5Zpm1yvZ9x9U8u_EWTZxvKHGMU7XhlK7fdaQ4XZBmQHVjQryr5gUPWePc4T5dcTpeXE4ZoPXaXZmsYXI-fb7wL$>
> ).
> Various versions of the "coolie" lampshade--with the term--can be viewed
> here:
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.etsy.com/listing/1513832674/large-bloomsbury-lampshade-pink-and-blue__;!!KGKeukY!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe8-XEJ13V$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.etsy.com/listing/1513832674/large-bloomsbury-lampshade-pink-and-blue__;!!KGKeukY!wNhivc5Zpm1yvZ9x9U8u_EWTZxvKHGMU7XhlK7fdaQ4XZBmQHVjQryr5gUPWePc4T5dcTpeXE4ZoPXaXZmsYXC6Q1I0w$>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://royaldesignsinc.com/product/coolie-empire-lamp-shade/__;!!KGKeukY!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe87nWdgxL$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://royaldesignsinc.com/product/coolie-empire-lamp-shade/__;!!KGKeukY!wNhivc5Zpm1yvZ9x9U8u_EWTZxvKHGMU7XhlK7fdaQ4XZBmQHVjQryr5gUPWePc4T5dcTpeXE4ZoPXaXZmsYXFbHeGx6$>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bibelothome.com/collections/coolie-lampshades__;!!KGKeukY!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe88US1axl$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bibelothome.com/collections/coolie-lampshades__;!!KGKeukY!wNhivc5Zpm1yvZ9x9U8u_EWTZxvKHGMU7XhlK7fdaQ4XZBmQHVjQryr5gUPWePc4T5dcTpeXE4ZoPXaXZmsYXNfyNjj8$>
>
> Vara
>
> Vara Neverow
> (she/her/hers)
> Professor, English Department and Women’s and Gender Studies Program
> Managing 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
> Paugusett and Quinnepiac peoples.
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+neverowv1=southernct.edu at lists.osu.edu> on
> behalf of Sarah M. Hall via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> *Sent:* Monday, July 14, 2025 1:09:15 PM
> *To:* vwoolf listerve <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>; Mark Hussey <
> markh102 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] vermin
>
> 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!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe8xr7jE1D$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie__;!!KGKeukY!2xl0rcaK99-3zAJHlkut9Us1aClMYfq6_KPVEEEN_un3GXqwnG9rldXocwDg_2Kxdk3IJ6rUYRKpaPYekUzwZRVZ$>
>
>
> Sarah
>
> Sarah M. Hall
> Executive Council
> Virginia Woolf Society of GB
> Web: virginiawoolfsociety.org.uk
> Facebook: @VWSGB
> Twitter/X: @VirginiaWoolfGB
> Instagram: @virginiawoolfsociety
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, 14 July 2025 at 15:56:11 BST, Mark Hussey via Vwoolf <
> vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:
>
>
> With so many Woolfians in the UK recently for the Sussex conference, some
> may have heard a programme on BBC Radio 4 ('Three Transformations of
> Virginia Woolf'). In the 2nd episode, broadcast on Tuesday July 8, Alison
> Light, speaking about Woolf's relations with servants, said that she uses
> the word 'vermin' in connection with servants. This is no more true than
> Merve Emre's claim in her annotated *Mrs Dalloway *that Woolf used the
> word "coolies" "liberally" in her diary (it's not used there at all).
> 'Vermin' and 'verminous' appear in a number of instances in Woolf's writing
> but not describing servants. Ever. This is how rumors start!
>
> (My thanks to Marielle O'Neill for searching the online complete works
> before I could get back to my CD-Rom, where I confirmed the above!)
>
>
> --
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.markhusseybooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe8z5dGXK3$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.markhusseybooks.com__;!!KGKeukY!2ymZQeIbG6488AseqG0pIjm5zDHbS3qBM0jaaWaR3fEp2P46gpYm58JqJZcv_tZSd5LrpnAFTXSBaXemXDHv$>
> *Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a Novel *2025
>  https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/__;!!KGKeukY!zJmf1frVCu40ECy8JrWEqyj-xAkP-efhzhh941j-sZekCTNFUB5lFgNrEp_vXO43lydgYrKRXtO9GiNqMefe89s8CVtD$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526176813/__;!!KGKeukY!2ymZQeIbG6488AseqG0pIjm5zDHbS3qBM0jaaWaR3fEp2P46gpYm58JqJZcv_tZSd5LrpnAFTXSBaXvh3uQf$>
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