October 24, 2019
I stumbled into the NYT review of Virginia Woolf's first novel.
I'm working on a little research project — results later — that got me into the June 13, 1920 issue of the paper. The short review ends delightfully:
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I don’t know that her stream of consciousness thing was ever very interesting, but as a man, I abstract, as a woman, she relates a long stream of details connected by stuff that women care about, I guess, like making a party. Maybe I was just too stupid to get it.
It was reissued a couple of years ago and I started reading it out of voyeurism. The dust jacket promised that there would be some provocative things in the novel. I got bored and stopped reading after about one chapter.
At least they're not afraid of her.
For once I agree with the NYT!
Tcrosse quips: At least they're not afraid of her.
Beat me to it! :-(
Stream of consciousness was Gertrude Stein.
Saying.
At least they didn't crib from Ambrose Bierce: "The covers are too far apart."
The merits of VW's writing aside (I have no opinion on that), the snooty NYT tone we know so well seems to be a traditional specialty of the house.
I don't know if Mencken ever reviewed Woofe's work but if he did I doubt that after reading it you'd have the urge to open a window and take a few deep breaths.
By way of clarification, I did read "Mrs. Dalloway", but it was under duress (=undergraduate school) and while not hating it as I recall, I can't say I gave it a completely fair hearing.
That said, my complaint about the NYT stands. Evidently Our Hostess' constitution is made of sterner stuff than mine when it comes to that sort of thing.
Kirk Parker @5:02 PM: Ambrose Bierce: "The covers are too far apart."
Or Dorothy Parker: "This is not a book that should be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."
Or Doctor Johnson (on "Paradise Lost"): "No man wished it longer."
Separately, Mencken, mentioned in my post above, was personally acquainted with Bierce. One can only speculate on what their conversations must have been like. I hope to meet them in Hell, once I get there. I'll buy them a round, but I'm not smoking any cigars, even if I'm dead.
Suggestion to Our Hostess: Fully in mind that Our Esteemed Hostess instinctively and vigorously rebels against all suggestions about what She should blog on, I nonetheless dare to suggest that the topic "People I'd Like To Meet In Hell, And Why" might be an interesting one.
I don't know if Mencken ever reviewed Woofe's work
I can't tell if this is a review by Mencken or a report to an insurance company.
The Voyage Out?
Is the the one where nothing happens, and then she dies?
[Spoiler Alert]
V. Woolf's growth as a novelist came to an end when she committed suicide at 59. She was mentally ill throughout her life. I always found old time reviews much more interesting than current ones.
She's definitely a women's novelist.
Following and extending the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel Proust and James Joyce, the plot of To the Lighthouse is secondary to its philosophical introspection. Cited as a key example of the literary technique of multiple focalization, the novel includes little dialogue and almost no action; most of it is written as thoughts and observations. The novel recalls childhood emotions and highlights adult relationships. Among the book's many tropes and themes are those of loss, subjectivity, the nature of art and the problem of perception.
You will have to forgive me.... Sayin’
I really despise novelists who think that the demand by the reader for plot is an imposition on their artistic expression. Write a fucking journal then!
Coincidentally, I finished reading The Voyage Out a week ago. I had never read any VW and was curious. The book was free from the Gutenburg Project, the only one of VW's novels apparently out of copyright. I enjoyed it as a contrast to all the British and American detective novels from 1880 to 1920 that I'd been using to fill my light-reading needs. I didn't mind that it didn't have much of a plot. I enjoyed the way she captures the rapidly shifting nuances of thought, perception and emotion that make up so much of experience. And I thought the covers were about the right distance apart, although there was one chapter I could have done without.
Another tortured soul. Suicide by Anglo Saxton Language Metaphysics. Not funny, but she outlived Ted Bundy by more than a decade. I do wonder if Dr. Ruth chose wisely in her profession. Also Mr. Burns from Simpsons is an inspiration.
Your damned if you do, damned if you don't
PluralThumb - a few years ago, I would have been able to talk hour after hour about how much Virginia Woolf loved this world - I could have gone on for hours about her love for Proust, her love for the good things in life that rich women born in England after thousands of generations of Englishmen and Englishwomen had been born in England always knew how to recognize even before the first day they could talk, speaking English words - I could have talked hour after hour about how happy she was in so many moments,
Sure Virginia Woolf and me might have had a few theological differences here or there but
WE BOTH ALWAYS KNEW GOD WAS ALWAYS READY TO TELL US THAT WE WERE LOVED BY GOD
Goes without saying, I always knew that better than poor Virginia did ----
but she had a harder life than me.
God blesses us all.
Stephen Cooper - I do apologize for summoning Lady Woolf's name in vain about judging an individual in a different time and place. Some of the photography of her on the web that I've found, has reminded me of Princess Diana. I have researched the former Princess before and that may have biased my condescending post and I do apologize if I was out of line. Ted Bundy on the other hand, was a recent research project passer bye. As cold case files, the two individuals are extreme cases, speaking from way too much TV crime type shows. Is the point not to prevent the extremes, and if no solution is found for so called ' preventive maintenance ' does the uncertainty in itself lead towards a certain extreme. I don't know.
The blog mentions to keep away from making reply posts personal and that I realize is more complex than the previous I've mentioned.
A pebble turned into mountain type theory.
Goes without saying, I always knew that better than poor Virginia did ----
but she had a harder life than me.
Coming from Stephen Cooper that's a big statement. I seem to recall that Jesus had not had as hard a time as ol' Coop.
Nichevo -
Thanks for remembering !
The funny thing is, I am almost certain you are a very nice guy in real life .... (IRL as the kids say)
I am not being sarcastic. Believe it or not, I understand people very well, and I know what effect my words have on people. It is a good thing for the world that I do not want to be rich and powerful or to take advantage of others - I really just want to play golf on the weekends and to have people at work during the week be minimally polite to me and to those who I care about.
If nothing else, you just got a compliment from someone who said what you think he said, or something like that ------ God loves us all my friend and it is not every day you get a comment like that in a context like this.
Plural Thumb - I like it when people say things I find hard to understand correctly, keep up the good work, my friend. I am sure that Althouse does not mind, every once in a while a specific reply to a specific question.
Cor ad cor loquitur
and if anyone else who thinks I am a phony is reading this, - whether or not you have weighed in on your opinion that I was a phony back in the day --- well of course I am ! But that being said,,,
I literally pray for others hundreds of times every day, and you do not need to ask me to pray for you, the Holy Spirit will ask me to pray for you, if you want to be someone I pray for.
Please just be willing to accept the fact that there are very powerful forces - God the Father, God the Son, and my favorite, the Holy Spirit ----- who CARE SO MUCH ABOUT YOU.
THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL ASK ME TO PRAY FOR YOU
and like I said, I pray for others hundreds of times a day.
And I am not really all that good at this, there are so many people who are better at it than I am
GOD LOVES YOU MY FRIENDS
said the guy who REMEMBERED AS IF IN A DREAM
all those so so many happy moments Virginia Woolf, whom GOD LOVED, was happy enough to remember.
Proverbs 8
And no, I have never accepted a single cent for my attempts at being a faith healer, and no, I have my faults but I never have used
MY KNOWLEDGE THAT GOD LOVES YOU
in a manipulative way.
AND NO I HAVE NOT HAD A PAIN FREE HOUR SINCE THE SUMMER OF 1980
well, not counting hours when I was sleeping the sleep of the weary ,,,,
I hope, reading this, that you now understand me better than you did before you had read this.
It does not matter, one way or the other.
GOD LOVES YOU
and that is what matters
cor ad cor loquitur
thanks for the bandwidth, Ann.
I remember that day when I scored the best score in tax law at my law school ----- the best law school in the country for tax law ---- not by a little but by a lot
and I remember the day when I said to myself
I am gonna never be a tax lawyer I am gonna
do what I think is right.
Proverbs 8.
Please pray for me as I attempt to be one of those faith healers who never ever ever get recognized
that is the only way to do it
just today there was a HUMAN BEING WHO HAD ONCE BEEN A FIRST BORN CHILD AND WHOSE MOTHER LOVED HER SO MUCH
I saw that ----
all anyone else saw - trust me - was was an old lady using a walker
BUT I SAW THAT OLD LADY EXACTLY AS HER MOTHER WANTED HER TO BE BACK IN 1946
I saw the wonderful beautiful human being she is in the eyes of God
DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID?
I looked at the blue sky above her and I prayed to God that God would relieve her sufferings by as much as God can
AND I AM ALWAYS READY TO SAY TO GOD IT IS OK GOD IF I SUFFERED EVERY HOUR SINCE THE HOUR I WAS BORN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
That is my problem, God, not yours
God, your problem is this
I WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IF YOU DO NOT TRY TO HEAL OR AT LEAST TRY TO COMFORT ANYONE I PRAY FOR
1980 was a long time ago
and I have not had a pain free our since 1980
and yes, I know what I am talking about.
And God has always comforted anyone I prayed for.
Those are the facts.
This is the internet. I will never get a single cent for my efforts at praying for those who suffer, My comments here will be read by few, I think, and I am fine with that, believe me, and time will go on, and people will either care or not care about each other
BUT TODAY I WHO HAVE NOT HAD A PAIN FREE HOUR SINCE 1980
was able to make life a little less difficult for an old lady using a walker under
THE SAME SKY SHE LAUGHED AND SMILED UNDER WHEN SHE WAS A BELOVED BABY
cor ad cor loquitur
I remember 1946 as if it were yesterday
feel free to insult someone who remembers 1946 like it was yesterday
there is nobody who has insulted me on the internet who I do not know this about
GOD LOVES YOU
seriously you can't win when you are fighting someone who knows
THAT GOD LOVES YOU
yeah I may have said the wrong thing here or there, and sure it is ok if you pointed that out
BUT YOU CANNOT DEFEAT LOVE
thanks for reading
you really can't help liking me, can you
NOT A SINGLE PAIN FREE HOUR SINCE 1980
except when, weary of this world, I was deep in sleep
but you know this is not about me, don't you?
I remember 1946 like it was yesterday
GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH
and what have you recently done for old people looking sad because they have to use a walker - I hope you have done as much or more than me !!!!!!!!
WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP
that voice I heard in the archbishop's palace was no accident
Thanks, Coop! I don't think you're a phony...if you'll allow me, I think you're weird as snake suspenders, but annoyingness aside I suppose you're a good egg in your way.
If you believe you have some good you can do people, you're welcome to pray for my mother and father, both of whom are getting older.
Gospodin' Nichevo, thanks for reading, and of course I will pray for your parents, who are obviously wonderful people.
Also, I have several very reliable - and non-weird - close friends who pray for anyone I ask them to, and they will be praying in their special way too. Each of them are a lot closer to God than me, trust me, and their prayers are very effective.
For the record, the reason I have written so many "strange" things here - sometimes portraying myself in the worst light credibly possible - is this.
I feel extremely capable of few things, but one thing I know I can do is communicate with that small group of persons who are
(a) very intelligent and (b) weirdly mean spirited, for reasons that are certainly not completely their fault ....
You are not in that small group of people (you fall into group a but not group b) and I completely get it that I came across as weird to people not in that small group.
Please pray for me, too.
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