Virginia Woolf Society Turkey is hosting yet another free online Woolf seminar, and this one features a talk by Emily Kopley on “Orlando as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.”
What: In this Woolf Seminar, Kopley will explore the correlation between the main character of Woolf’s 1928 novel Orlando and the life and writings of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. The event will also commemorate Woolf’s birthday by reciting brief passages from her novels. Who: Kopley is the author of Virginia Woolf and Poetry (2021).
When: Friday, Jan. 26, 7-9 p.m. Turkey time and 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. EST. Cost: Free Registration:Online
Virginia Woolf Society Turkey is holding another online seminar, and this one covers Virginia Woolf and fashion.
What: A free online talk: “‘She had a flair for beautiful, if individual dresses’: Virginia Woolf’s Style Itineraries,” as part of the Woolf Seminars series of the Virginia Woolf Society Turkey.
When: Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. (Turkey time) or noon-2:30 p.m. EST. Check times for your location.
Who: Antoine Perret, a PhD candidate in English literature at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, will be the speaker.
This talk will explore the intriguing paradoxes surrounding Virginia Woolf’s sartorial style. Deemed highly unfashionable by her contemporaries, she now stands as a style icon, inspiring designers and gracing the pages of fashion magazines. Woolf’s personal relationship with clothes was in itself contradictory, always oscillating between love and hate.
Perret arguesthat Woolf’s shabby looks and ostensible disinterest in dress can be seen as a posture that not only helped crafting her bohemian public persona, but also took part in her subsequent celebration on the fashion scene. Drawing from her fiction, he will eventually explore how Woolf’s distinctive style and fascination with dress also influenced her literary use of clothes.
About the speaker
Antoine Perret is a PhD candidate in English literature at Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris. Supervised by Professor Catherine Lanone and Dr. Floriane Reviron-Pi?gay, he is currently writing a doctoral thesis on fashion, style, and modernism, focusing particularly on the works of E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, and Jean Rhys. Arguing for a material approach to literary modernism, his research addresses the role of clothing within the diegesis, while also exploring the concept of fashion taken as a social phenomenon, in particular its influence on the literary community and on aesthetic practices, so as to interrogate the modalities of modernism and its reception.
All Woolfians, whether in Turkey or not, are welcome to join the inaugural event of the newly formed Virginia Woolf Society Turkey for an online talk and the sharing of ideas for talks, blog posts, and/or projects on Virginia Woolf and her connection to Turkey.
When: Tuesday, July 4, at 5 p.m. BST Who: Dr Lee Okan from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA What: “Time’s Fluidity: Analyzing Virginia Woolf’s Orlando through Henri Bergson’s Philosophy of Duration” How: Register FREE on Eventbrite.
This free online talk will explore the use of time and its intertwining with gender and identity, particularly in relation to Henri Bergson’s theories of time and duration. Join in to see how Woolf defies traditional conceptions of time.
For further information, please contact: virginiawoolfturkiye@ gmail.com and follow the group on Twitter: @VWoolfTurkiye
Poster for the Virginia Woolf in Turkey symposium, “Giving Voice to Woolf,” held Jan. 28, 2023, in Turkey. The symposium included an exhibition, a podcast series, and a performance — all focused on “A Room of One’s Own.” It was held in n collaboration with the British Council Turkey and the Museum Evliyagil.
The organization promotes the study of Woolf and her work, along with the Bloomsbury Group, modernism, and the afterlife of Woolf in Turkey.
According to organizers, “It aims to create further links between Turkish specialists and their counterparts abroad. The Initiative welcomes scholars, writers, translators, artists, performers, publishers, students, and people who share a strong interest in Woolf’s works.”
The non-profit is dedicated to advance Virginia Woolf studies in Turkey from a comparative and critical perspective in several ways:
by convening symposiums, conferences, and lecture series; (See the photo at right for details about the first, held today.)
by publishing Woolf related studies; and
by organizing various informal gatherings and workshops.
Topics to explore
The Initiative will provide a platform for an intellectually rich, open, and collaborative working atmosphere for the Woolfians to explore the following:
Virginia Woolf’s works (fictional and non-fictional)
Virginia Woolf’s biography
Virginia Woolf as a reader, critic, and publisher
Virginia Woolf and feminism
Virginia Woolf as a philosopher
Critical perspectives on Virginia Woolf
Afterlife of Virginia Woolf in Turkey
Translations of Virginia Woolf’s works into Turkish
The Bloomsbury Group and art
Virginia Woolf and her contemporaries
Tracing Virginia Woolf in Turkish Literature
Virginia Woolf in the context of the early twentieth century Britain
The initiative welcomes new members and guests. To join the mailing list and/or get more information, email: info@virginiawoolfturkiye.org or Mine Özyurt Kılıç: mine@virginiawoolfturkiye.org or Demet Karabulut Dede: demetkrblt@virginiawoolfturkiye.org
