Those moments — in the nursery, on the road to the beach — can still be more real than the present moment. – Virginia Woolf, “A Sketch of the Past,” p. 67.
The second edition of Moments of Being (1985) consists of five pieces that make up Virginia Woolf’s only autobiographical writing, with the exception of her diaries and letters. This edition is now available online as a PDF that is searchable using the “Find” option under your browser’s “Edit” tab.
This edition incorporates 27 pages of a 77-page typescript version of “A Sketch of the Past” acquired by the British Library in the early 1980s. This addition of entirely new material includes Woolf’s description of her father, Leslie Stephen, and the ambivalence of her relationship to him as a result of her reading of Freud.
In addition, a number of passages, such as Woolf’s reflections on her methods of writing and on the nature of consciousness, are expanded and clarified, the Preface to the second edition notes (193).
The second addition includes an introduction by Hermione Lee, along with these five essays:
“Reminiscences,” begun in 1907
“A Sketch of the Past,” begun in 1939 and completed in 1940
Three Memoir Club contributions, papers delivered between 1920 and 1936:
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” – Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own, p. 76
Yesterday, after weeks of drought in Northeast Ohio, the skies clouded over and the rain came down as both a drizzle and a downpour, continuing all afternoon and into the evening. At last!
Although I considered staying cozy and dry at home, I had a meeting to attend. So I grabbed my raincoat, started my car, flipped on my wipers, and drove along streets shining wet with our much-needed rain.
When I arrived, I would find food. I would find wine. But more importantly, I would find a gathering of mostly women doing their best to resist the tyranny under which we are all living at this terrible time in the history of the United States of America.
Not in my lifetime
I have not been around forever, but I can say that we are living in a time like none I have experienced before.
Not during my childhood, when some whites and many Blacks of all ages lay their lives on the line to demand civil rights. Not during my college years, when students faced teargas (and in the case of Kent State University on May 4, 1970—bullets) to protest the Vietnam War and women of all ages marched for equal rights.
So it is no surprise that I—and many others—feel anxious. And afraid. And disillusioned, depressed, and angry. But many of us also feel resolute, determined, and strong. Because we are committed to the belief that wecan take our country back if we keep our minds free, keep the truth safe, and work together to take action.
Woolf’s words apply today
At this moment I find that Virginia Woolf’s words quoted above speak to me more than ever. They soothe my soul and give me hope that despite everything the felon’s regime is doing to destroy our freedoms, we will always have the freedom of our minds. That is the one thing that no one—not even autocrats—can control.
But here is how they persist in trying.
Libraries — and their books — under threat
Libraries are not locked yet, but they are under threat. Federal grant funding has been eliminated, and book bans are widespread.
School is back in session, but public schools, which Thomas Jefferson and John Adams believed were necessary for an educated populace and a successful democracy, are losing funding to unregulated charter and private schools through voucher programs pushed by the right.
In addition, our felon in chief has made it legal for individuals to donate up to $1,700 to an organization that supports private schools and take a 100 percent tax credit for their donation.
Our federal Department of Education is being dismantled. And diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have been banned across the board.
At the state level, Texas has mandated that some time each day be allotted to prayer and Bible study. Ohio has passed a law that requires schools to give students “release time” to attend religious instruction during school hours. And according to a Pew Research Report, “Just over half of U.S. adults (52%) say they favor allowing public school teachers to lead their classes in prayers that refer to Jesus.”
Colleges and universities are still open, although the felon’s administration has withheld or threatened to withhold billions of research dollars from Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Northwestern, Penn, Princeton and the University of California, Los Angeles until they succumb to his demands.
Professors are still teaching, although they are being closely watched, with at least 60 of them suffering recent retaliation due to comments they made on social media regarding Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Campus women’s centers and LGBTQ+ centers closed before fall semester. And ethnic studies programs are either dead or under threat.
Media censored
The media—public broadcasting, legacy media, and the major television networks—are still functioning, although in the case of for-profit media, their hands are increasingly tied and their mouths shut so their business mergers will receive government approval.
The felon’s toadies in Congress cut $1.1 billion of funding for NPR and PBS this year. The felon himself filed lawsuits against the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CBS News (Paramount), and ABC News for simply reporting news he did not like.
And two of the main comedic truth tellers of our time—late night TV hosts Stephen Colbert (CBS) and Jimmy Kimmel (ABC)—have either had their show’s tenure cut short or suspended because they dared to criticize the felon in the White House.
Woolf’s eternal relevance
Today, in the face of this rising tide of autocratic populism, Woolf is more relevant than ever. Her methods of thinking, reading, and writing—as both critic and creator—remain effective fighting tools for us today and into the future.
Like her, we must value and preserve the freedom of our minds, so we can wage a smart fight against those who would take away our freedoms. As Woolf wrote in her diary during World War II:
“This idea struck me: the army is the body: I am the brain. Thinking is my fighting” (D5 285).
And so we must do as Woolf advised in Three Guineas (1938):
Think we must. Let us think in offices; in omnibuses; while we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations and Lord Mayor’s Shows; let us think as we pass the Cenotaph; and in Whitehall; in the gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law Courts; let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals. Let us never cease from thinking – what is this ‘civilization’ in which we find ourselves? (62-3)
We must use our thinking to resist the horrors we confront in the news each day, as Woolf did in the face of even graver threats. For ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny—and we will never become handmaids.
Woolf Salon No. 31: Let Flowers Fall, will celebrate Virginia woolf scholar and friend Elisa Kay Sparks, who passed away Aug. 16 in Seattle, Washington.
A message about the salon, set for Saturday, Sept. 27, at 1 p.m. EST on Zoom, included these words:
We loved her. Love her. The salons delighted no one more than Elisa. In fact, a Zoom get-together that she hosted for Woolfians in early June 2020 was the inspiration for the Salon Project, which launched a little over a month later (23 July 2020). She attended nearly all—if not all thirty—of the salons and especially loved seeing new faces among the faces of her friends. And she’ll be in attendance again—with us, through us—for No. 31. And 32. And 33…
We plan to dress in teals, purples, greens, and pinks; to read favorite floral passages together (from Woolf or elsewhere!); and to share memories of dear Elisa, too. We encourage you to do the same—to dress in her colors, to bring passages to read, to share memories. In short: to celebrate.
The details
Hosts: Salon Conspirators Date: Saturday, Sept. 27 Length: 2 hours
Time: 1 p.m. EDT (New York); noon CDT (Chicago); 11 a.m. MDT (Albuquerque); 11 a.m. CST (México City); 10 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles); 2 p.m. (Rio de Janeiro)
6 p.m. BST (London); 7 p.m. CEST (Paris); 8 p.m. (Tallinn; Istanbul; Moscow); 2 a.m. JST Sat 9/28 (Tokyo); 3 a.m. AEST Sat 9/28 (Sydney) Please check time conversions. Who is invited: Any and all who wish to attend: common readers, close friends, admirers from afar, Woolfians, non-Woolfians, the Woolf Curious and on… Where: On Zoom Homework: Bring some colors, some passages to read, and some memories to share. Floral profusions encouraged. How: Contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.
Background on the Salon
The Salon Conspirators — Benjamin Hagen, Shilo McGiff, Amy Smith, and Drew Shannon — began the Woolf Salon Project in July 2020 to provide opportunities for conversation and conviviality among Woolf-interested scholars, students, and common readers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference will be held 24-28 June, 2026 at İstanbul Bilgi University in İstanbul,Turkey.
About the theme
I always think of my books as music before I write them – Virginia Woolf to Elizabeth Trevelyan, The Letters of Virginia Woolf, Vol. 6, Sept. 4, 1940.
The organizers of the 35th Annual International Virginia Woolf Conference warmly invite proposals for individual papers, panels, workshops, and exhibitions that engage with the theme “Virginia Woolf and Sound.” This year’s conference seeks to explore the rich and varied dimensions of sound in Woolf’s writing, her historical and cultural milieu, and the broader literary and artistic landscapes that shaped and were shaped by her work.
Woolf and sound studies
As sound studies continues to expand the boundaries of how we understand sensory experience, media, and cultural production, its intersection with Virginia Woolf studies offers rich terrain for rethinking literary form and perception.
From the rhythmic structures of her prose to her representations of listening, voice, and acoustic space, Woolf’s work engages with sound, not only as aesthetic texture, but as a means of exploring subjectivity, embodiment, and social experience.
Her experimental prose resonates with the concerns of sound studies: the politics of listening, the materiality of voice, and the acoustic dimensions of space and time.
Engaging Woolf through the lens of sound studies not only deepens our understanding of her modernist aesthetics but also opens new interdisciplinary pathways for exploring how literature listens, performs, and constructs meaning through sonic texture.
Possible areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to:
Virginia Woolf’s engagement with classical music and musicians
The idea of books as musical compositions
Music in Woolf’s social and emotional life
Politics of music and sound
Music and gender
Woolf as a performer, listener and music critic
Representations of different musical genres in Woolf’s fiction and essays
Intersections between poetry and music
Nationalist and pacifist discourse and music
The role of rhythm and cadence in Woolf’s prose style
The soundscapes of nature in Woolf’s works
The influence of emerging sound technologies, such as the gramophone and the radio
Listening to the infrastructure: the auditory experience of urban life and the sound of the modern city (street music, church bells, etc.)
Virginia Woolf’s musical legacies
Silence
Noise and sound parasites in Woolf
Animal sounds
Biosounds
Sound and affect
Deadly sounds: war and sound
Sound properties of the written word
The act of listening
This list of suggested topics is intended as a starting point rather than a limitation. Organizers encourage interdisciplinary approaches and welcome contributions from scholars, artists, performers, and practitioners working across literature, musicology, sound studies, media studies, and related fields.
Organizers invite submissions that explore how sound—whether musical, environmental, technological, or textual—resonates throughout the work of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group.
They encourage contributions from scholars at all career stages, independent researchers, students, artists, and readers with a deep interest in Woolf’s work.
The conference will also feature 90-minute interactive workshops, and proposals in non-traditional formats that engage participants in creative or experimental ways are welcome.
Formats for proposals
Proposals are welcome for panels, roundtables, workshops, and exhibitions that take innovative, interdisciplinary, transhistorical, or collaborative approaches to the theme of “Virginia Woolf and Sound.”
Submissions in the following formats will be accepted:
Individual papers (abstract of 250 words)
Panels or roundtables (abstract of 500 words for the entire panel or roundtable)
Interactive workshops (abstract of 500 words)
Digital/material exhibition or posters (abstract of 250 words)
Non-traditional or experimental forms of presentation—including dissident, performative, or hybrid formats (abstract of 250-500 words)
We encourage creative and boundary-pushing proposals that challenge conventional academic formats and open new ways of engaging with Woolf’s work and legacy.
Proposal submission deadline: Extended abstract submission deadline: 15 January 2026
How to submit: Please submit inquiries and abstracts to woolf2026@bilgi.edu.tr
A screenshot of the title page of the scanned Common Reader: Second Series
Edward Mendelson of Columbia University has shared scanned images of three sets of proofs newly discovered in Columbia’s library. They include two Virginia Woolf novels, as well as an edition of The Common Reader: Second Series.
These invaluable resources are available on Mendelson’s web page — where he has shared his scanned proofs of other Woolf novels. The new scans include the following:
The corrected proofs sent to Harcourt, Brace of The Waves (1931) “in which the multicolored revisions on p. 301 are a sight to behold,” according to Mendelson. He notes that the page contains links to scanned PDF images of the proofs and early printings of The Waves and to PDF documents containing the texts of those editions, extracted from the scanned images. This page also includes notes on the text and on existing editions of the novel.
The corrected proofs sent to Harcourt, Brace of The Common Reader: Second Series (1932). Scanned images of the marked proofs sent to Harcourt, Brace from the Columbia University Library.
The uncorrected proofs sent to Harcourt, Brace of Orlando(1928), with some index entries added in an unknown hand. Scanned images of the proofs sent to Harcourt, Brace of Orlando from the Columbia University Library. Mendelson notes that Virginia or Leonard Woolf removed the leaf with the list of illustrations (pp. 13-14) before sending these proofs.
More Woolf scans from Mendelson
Mendelson has provided scans of other Woolf works.
On “Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse: texts and scanned images, Mendelson includes links to searchable scanned PDF images of three early printings of To the Lighthouse, PDF documents containing the texts of those editions, extracted from the scanned images, and more.
