Blogging Woolf

Ah, yet another book about the age of Virginia Woolf. Will I ever be able to whittle down my Woolf wish list?

This book, Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper by Alexandra Harris, is reviewed by Peter Parker in the Telegraph.

The book documents England’s particular brand of Modernism, one that successfully linked “the modern” with the quintessentially British. And who did that better than Woolf? According to Parker, no one.

The Guardian review calls the book “brilliant,” a quintessentially British adjective, and reports it is longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.

The Guardian review claims the book also gives us permission to do something as touristy as taking tea at a National Trust property. Instead of being “something to pretend to find a chore,” that activity becomes “dignified,” thanks to the author’s kindness toward British places and people that usually get written off as an embarrassment.

You can read the first chapter on the Guardian website.