The literature of the 1930s, commonly characterized as anti-modernist because of the prevalence of documentary realism, political purpose, and autobiographically-inflected fiction, bears witness to Woolf’s most daring — The Waves (1931) — and most commercially successful — The Years (1937) –
This issue of the Virginia Woolf Miscellany seeks contributions that explore Woolf’s relationship to the canonical literature of the 1930s, such as but not limited to: Auden’s poetry, Isherwood’s Berlin fiction, Auden’s and Isherwood’s plays, Spender’s commentary, and Waugh’s comedic novels.
In addition, this issue encourages responses to the following questions:
- How does Woolf scholarship, if at all, engage with the critical study of 1930s literature?
- How does Woolf’s modernism disrupt or complement the critical understanding of 1930s literature?
- What can Woolf’s late fiction and essays reveal about the 1930s and its literature that the common scholarly narrative conceals or overlooks?
A note on submissions: We think, read, and work intertextually. With that in mind, I encourage potential contributors to engage with their previous publications if they are, in fact, related to their submission. Footnote or reference in text any previous life a paper may have had; that will only enrich our conversation, not detract from it. We are all involved in the ongoing and evolving conversation about Woolf; let’s celebrate that intertextual evolution.
Send submissions of no more than 2,500 words to: Erica Gene Delsandro, ericadelsandro@gmail.com
Deadline for submissions: Aug. 1, 2014
