[Vwoolf] 'Meow!', forgive me dear reader

Fri May 9 01:52:09 EDT 2025

While it is heartening to read the various clever and no-nonsense replies
that the various authors have for the "Helpful Men", I look forward to the
day when we no longer have to deal with that, and can focus solely on
writing what we wish to write.

On Thu, May 8, 2025 at 12:49 PM Neverow, Vara S. via Vwoolf <
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> Nice find! Alyssa Harad's essay "Helpful Men" (2021) resonates with
> Rebecca Solnit's "Men Explain Things to Me" (2008). The link below provides
> the full text. https: //www. guernicamag.
> com/rebecca-solnit-men-explain-things-to-me/
> Nice find! Alyssa Harad
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thenation.com/authors/alyssa-harad/__;!!KGKeukY!07LEWo9nxEJ5OTX4sqJX-Lt2BNqegepfVFp0Kvyz8EYM0sysUOHIQ5vkqeTtVb2cPkoZ4M0MEfd0OpyFyl-GxMf9LOWe$>'s
> essay "Helpful Men" (2021) resonates with Rebecca Solnit's "Men Explain
> Things to Me" (2008). The link below provides the full text.
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.guernicamag.com/rebecca-solnit-men-explain-things-to-me/__;!!KGKeukY!3Wcuvkf8PJteMbuZpmd_xs4ro2etzPQIEJNkR5lQpwCe2r8etoCHyPd9ayjCGFLM7Wo4EPBxAmWQ4yC5K5fbpKxu$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.guernicamag.com/rebecca-solnit-men-explain-things-to-me/__;!!KGKeukY!07LEWo9nxEJ5OTX4sqJX-Lt2BNqegepfVFp0Kvyz8EYM0sysUOHIQ5vkqeTtVb2cPkoZ4M0MEfd0OpyFyl-GxEAJtRkY$>
>
> Toward the end, Solnit writes:
>
> I think I was at nine books at that point, including one that drew from
> primary documents and interviews about Women Strike for Peace. But
> explaining men still assume I am, in some sort of obscene impregnation
> metaphor, an empty vessel to be filled with their wisdom and knowledge. A
> Freudian would claim to know what they have and I lack, but intelligence is
> not situated in the crotch–even if you can write one of Virginia Woolf’s
> long mellifluous musical sentences about the subtle subjugation of women in
> the snow with your willie. Back in my hotel room, I Googled a bit and found
> that Eric Bentley in his definitive history of the House Committee on
> Un-American Activities credits Women Strike for Peace with “striking the
> crucial blow in the fall of HUAC’s Bastille.” In the early 1960s.
> So I opened an essay for the *Nation* with this interchange, in part as a
> shout-out to one of the more unpleasant men who have explained things to
> me: Dude, if you’re reading this, you’re a carbuncle on the face of
> humanity and an obstacle to civilization. Feel the shame.
> And here's access to a bit of backlash regarding Aciman's great distain
> for Woolf:
>
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/11/28/thank-you-virginia-woolf-conjurer-of-womens-and-queer-lives/__;!!KGKeukY!3Wcuvkf8PJteMbuZpmd_xs4ro2etzPQIEJNkR5lQpwCe2r8etoCHyPd9ayjCGFLM7Wo4EPBxAmWQ4yC5K-GO9BBd$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/11/28/thank-you-virginia-woolf-conjurer-of-womens-and-queer-lives/__;!!KGKeukY!07LEWo9nxEJ5OTX4sqJX-Lt2BNqegepfVFp0Kvyz8EYM0sysUOHIQ5vkqeTtVb2cPkoZ4M0MEfd0OpyFyl-GxNbBUQY9$>
>
> Vara
>
> Vara Neverow
> (she/her/hers)
> Professor, English Department
> Editor, *Virginia Woolf Miscellany*
> Southern Connecticut State University
> New Haven, CT 06515
> 203-392-6717
> neverowv1 at southernct.edu
>
> *I acknowledge that Southern Connecticut **State University was built on
> traditional territory of the indigenous peoples and nations of the
> Paugussett and Quinnipiac peoples.*
>
>
> *Recent Publications:*
>
> Lead editor, *Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources *(Bloomsbury,
> 2020; with Jeanne Dubino, Kathryn Simpson, and Gill Lowe); Editor, Volume
> One, 1975-1984, *Virginia Woolf: Critical and Primary Sources* (Bloomsbury,
> 2020); Co-editor, *The Edinburgh Companion to Virginia Woolf and
> Contemporary Global Literature* (Edinburgh, 2020; with Jeanne Dubino,
> Paulina Pająk, Catherine Hollis, and Celiese Lypka)
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+neverowv1=southernct.edu at lists.osu.edu> on
> behalf of stringsOf Light via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 7, 2025 5:57 PM
> *To:* vwoolf at lists.osu.edu <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu>
> *Subject:* [Vwoolf] 'Meow!', forgive me dear reader
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/virginia-woolf-roth-andre-aciman/__;!!KGKeukY!3Wcuvkf8PJteMbuZpmd_xs4ro2etzPQIEJNkR5lQpwCe2r8etoCHyPd9ayjCGFLM7Wo4EPBxAmWQ4yC5K7fKl7nE$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/virginia-woolf-roth-andre-aciman/__;!!KGKeukY!ymIk7YPjVZtuYb8_UwSwD_cn7xqaIxkGb02Q3xCJe8OgBg_r0fIPrz2sKrmLEPevH1ttRswV9v_fPaPn_yRRt4fmK0ma53oC$>
>
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/virginia-woolf-roth-andre-aciman/__;!!KGKeukY!ymIk7YPjVZtuYb8_UwSwD_cn7xqaIxkGb02Q3xCJe8OgBg_r0fIPrz2sKrmLEPevH1ttRswV9v_fPaPn_yRRt4fmK0ma53oC$>
> Helpful Men: Defending Philip Roth, Dismissing Virginia Woolf
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/virginia-woolf-roth-andre-aciman/__;!!KGKeukY!ymIk7YPjVZtuYb8_UwSwD_cn7xqaIxkGb02Q3xCJe8OgBg_r0fIPrz2sKrmLEPevH1ttRswV9v_fPaPn_yRRt4fmK0ma53oC$>
> Society; May 6, 2021; Helpful Men: Defending Philip Roth, Dismissing
> Virginia Woolf Helpful Men: Defending Philip Roth, Dismissing Virginia
> Woolf Like most women who write, I live my life ...
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.thenation.com__;!!KGKeukY!3Wcuvkf8PJteMbuZpmd_xs4ro2etzPQIEJNkR5lQpwCe2r8etoCHyPd9ayjCGFLM7Wo4EPBxAmWQ4yC5K5YP55OJ$ 
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.thenation.com__;!!KGKeukY!ymIk7YPjVZtuYb8_UwSwD_cn7xqaIxkGb02Q3xCJe8OgBg_r0fIPrz2sKrmLEPevH1ttRswV9v_fPaPn_yRRt4fmK5WAGr3I$>
>
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