The correspondence between Leonard Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, in the aftermath of Virginia Woolf’s suicide, is devastating for what cannot be expressed.
That’s a quote from a New York Times review of the book To the Letter by Simon Garfield in which Garfield takes, “a nostalgic and fretful look at the ‘lost art’ of letter writing.”
Woolf, of course, was a prolific letter writer, and Garfield’s book includes anecdotes, historical tidbits and excerpts from some of hers.
Alice Lowe
Catherine
Kaylee Baucom
Paula Maggio
Stefano Rozzoni
seanmcphail
suzannebellamy1
veronikakra
Vara Neverow
William Patrick Wend
Zoe Wolstenholme
Personally, I do miss the days of letter writing. It was always exciting wondering if the postman was going to push a reply to a letter one wrote to a friend through the letter box. Emails are just not the same.
Thank you for your wonderful blog. I have a favor to ask – I’m looking for the source of this quote (in Woolf’s essay Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid. She says these are the words of a young Englishman who fought in the last war. but who was he? Google doesn’t find anything. Here is the quote: “To fight against a real enemy, to earn undying honour and glory by shooting total strangers, and to come home with my breast covered with medals and decorations, that was the summit of my hope. . . . It was for this that my whole life so far had been dedicated, my education, training, everything.. ..” Many thanks in advance!
I don’t know the source for this. Anyone else want to chime in?
I can’t be certain but it is possible that it was spoken by the poet, Rupert Brooke. He was friends with many of the Bloomsbury Group and in particular with Virginia Woolf.
Many thanks!
You might enjoy this Billy Collins poem, Constellations, that I received today from Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac daily newsletter. See below.
Jeanne Mills, who receives your blog and enjoys it very much. San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico
Thank you for informing me to this wonderfully interesting looking publication. Woolf is such a fascinating figure.