Here is a roundup of music and movie news of interest to followers of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group.
Pianist Lana Bode has just released her debut album “I and Silence: Women’s Voices inAmerican Song” with mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons. The album includes a performance of Dominick Argento’s song-cycle “From the Diary of Virginia Woolf,” which some may remember them performing at the 26th Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf at The Clothworkers’ Centenary Concert Hall in Leeds in June 2016.
“Jigsaw,” a 1962 film and Jack Warner’s last, includes some locations of interest to Woolfians — from Brighton to Lewes to Rodmell, along with a 10-second scene of Fr
ank Dean’s garage with the Abergavenny Arms in the background at 1 hr., 10 min., 9 sec. The film is available on DVD.
“Inside Out South West” on BBC iplayer, 16 September 2019, has many shots of Godrevy Lighthouse in the background.
As a woman, I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world. – Three Guineas
If life has a base that it stands upon, if it is a bowl that one fills and fills and fills – then my bowl without a doubt stands upon this memory … It is of lying half asleep, half awake, in bed in the nursery at St Ives. It is of hearing the waves breaking, one, two, one, two, and sending a splash of water over the beach; and then breaking, one two, one two, behind a yellow blind. It is of hearing the blind draw its little acorn across the floor as the wind blew the blind out. It is of lying and hearing this splash and seeing this light, and feeling, it is almost impossible that I should be here, of feeling the purest ecstasy I can conceive. – “A Sketch of the Past”
What is the meaning of life? That was all – a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark … – To the Lighthouse
It is fatal for anyone who writes to think of their sex … one must be woman–manly or man-womanly. – A Room of One’s Own
Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding, O Death! – The Waves
Where: University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD, U.S.A.
Twitter: @vwoolf2020
“Profession and Performance,” the theme of the 30th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, calls to mind not only Woolf’s sense of herself as a writer (her profession) but also the set of specialized occupations she takes up in A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Three Guineas (1938), areas of study and livelihoods traditionally reserved for the sons of educated men.
It also invokes the conference’s commitment over the past three decades to the arts, to theater, to music, to the spoken word, and to the resonances of these media with the performance/performativity of Woolf’s life and writing.
“Profession and Performance” might also encourage us to reflect on the conference’s rich history and to consider the ways in which the professions of those who support and attend the conference might be changing. As an event open to all scholars, students, and common readers of Woolf and Woolfian connections, we encourage 2020 participants to sound and explore echoes of past professions and performances in our present ones.
Possible topics
The 30th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf invites papers addressing these issues as well as other topics addressing “Profession and Performance,” including, but not limited to:
contemporary adaptations of Woolf, her circles, or her work on stage / screen (e.g., Vita and Virginia; Life in Squares; etc.)
the dynamic link between Woolf’s social critique (what she professed) and her art (its performance)
the rich archive of scholarship that brings together studies of the avant-garde, modernism, and the middlebrow
intersections of modernist studies and performance studies
modernism’s role in the professionalization of literature and criticism
the livelihoods and lifestyles of Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group
investigations of identity and community
Woolfian meditations on professions (i.e., on occupations, commitments, allegiances, and declarations)
interpretations of Woolf-inspired performance art (e.g., music, dance, theater)
profession as (public) performance
questions of affect and attachment
strong and weak performances / professions / modernisms
reflections on the selves and the worlds we profess / perform in daily life, in politics, in ethics, in institutions, and in ongoing efforts to teach and learn
the performative life of professionalization (or the subversion of professionalization)
life-writing as performance of self, professionalization of self
gendered performances / performances of gender (on stage / page, in life)
professions for women (history of, literary treatments of, performances of)
Woolf and developments in medical sciences and psychology
the life of the feminist academic; the professionalization and/or institutionalization of feminism outside of academia
Proposal parameters and deadline
Abstracts of maximum 250 words for single papers and 500 words for panels should be sent to Virginia.Woolf@usd.edu by Feb. 10, 2020. In addition to traditional presentations, organizers encourage proposals for workshops (such as bookmaking, translation, publishing, forming writing groups, etc.) and proposals for roundtable or group discussions (such as feminist / queer perspectives, Woolfian pedagogy, staging / performing Woolf, etc.).
For accepted proposals, we ask well ahead of time that presenters bring access copies of their presentations to their panels.
A few caveats: the organizers ask that all abstracts and proposals be submitted in English. Also, to ensure a more effective exchange among all participants, we ask that non-English presentations be accompanied by a handout of main points in English as well as (if possible) a PowerPoint presentation in English. Note that Q&A sessions will be conducted in English as well.
For more information
More information about the 30th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf will be made available in the coming months. Contact conference organizer Benjamin Hagen, at Benjamin.Hagen@usd.edu, with questions.
Charleston had the most powerful identity of any place that I had known. It reeked of itself: of turpentine and toast, of apples, damp walls and garden flowers. The atmosphere was one of liberty and order, and of a strength which came from its being a house in which the inhabitants were happy…
