[Vwoolf] vermin

[stringsOf Light]

For the most part, however I have come across this: In VW letter to Vanessa Bell, on Thursday, Aug. 10th [1922] she writes 'I met that rakish bitch Margery in the Square—incredibly dirty, dowdy, and raffish. She has been advertising her school at 15 Gordon Sq. as well as 51.'

________________________________
From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu> on behalf of Christine Froula via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Sent: 14 July 2025 17:32
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] vermin


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 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!)


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