Virginia Woolf spent nearly a month working on the first draft of the “Time Passes” section of To the Lighthouse. Now a new and wonderful Web site gives anyone with a Web connection the opportunity to discover how that passage developed from first draft to first British and U.S. editions.
Called Woolf Online, it is a remarkable piece of scholarship melded with technological know-how. It includes holographs, printer proofs, images of the front pages of newspapers published during the time Woolf was writing the novel, images of St. Ives during the early 20th century and much more.
Take some time to explore the site. Then bookmark it. I guarantee you will want to go back.
According to the site, the initial idea and overall organization of the project was the work of Julia Briggs (1943-2007), in whose memory it has been completed by a team of exceptional individuals.
I live in Northeast Ohio. At this time of year, it’s cold and snowy here. At the moment we have at least eight inches piled up around us.
I’m not complaining, though. I actually like winter. I like staying snug and warm inside, sipping mugs of hot tea and nibbling something chocolate while curled up under my favorite wool blanket with a good book — Pat Barker’s Double Vision at the moment.
All of this is preamble to the fact that my hibernation led me to spend too much time online this weekend. One of the things I did was update the Woolf Sightings page on Blogging Woolf.
In the process I found a Cocktail Party Cheat Sheet about Woolf, which is designed to provide chit chat that will impress people. The problem is that it contains inaccuracies and oversimplifications such as these:
“Woolf grew up in an intellectual family, but didn’t begin writing books until she was in her 30s, after she’d married Leonard Woolf and founded the Hogarth Press.”
“While there’s no question that the work of James Joyce influenced Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf held a generally low opinion of Joyce and thought him a misogynist.”
It does get some things right:
” Woolf’s literary importance can hardly be overstated.”
“Woolf was also a vitally important force in 20th-century feminism.”
Luckily, if one is passing round these remarks with the drinks, fellow party guests are not likely to notice errors of fact or opinion.
