The third session of the “A Room of One’s Own in Europe” seminar will be held Thursday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m. (CET), noon (EST) on Zoom, in English.
Presenters include:
Elisa Bolchi (Associate professor in English, University of Ferrara) and
Serena Ballista (writer and feminist activist)
They will track the reception of A Room of One’s Own, Woolf’s 1929 essay, in Italy.
How to join the seminar
Log into Zoom and use this link.
ID meeting: 927 8578 7802
Password: 874161
About the Room project
The project offers to take up Virginia Woolf’s landmark essay A Room of One’s Own and explore its full potential. Nearly a century after its publication, what echo chambers has A Room of One’s Own opened up?
More information on this year’s seminar and the research program can be found online.
Stuart was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Virginia Woolf, often stepping up to answer esoteric questions posed to the VW Listserv.
“His vigorous recall of facts and quotations not only astounded those around him but became a reliable resource for the Society and its members,” according to the email from the society’s executive committee that announced his passing. “The Society would not have been what it has grown to become without the seemingly endless, encyclopaedic knowledge that Stuart had of Virginia Woolf’s life and work.”
The Centre for Modernist Cultures at the University of Birmingham made him an Honorary Fellow in 2022 “in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the study of Virginia Woolf.”
His work as a distinguished textual editor includes Volumes 5 and 6 of The Essays of Virginia Woolf (Hogarth Press, 2009 and 2011), A Room of One’s Own with David Bradshaw (Shakespeare Head Press, 2015), and Jacob’s Room for The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf (Cambridge University Press, 2020). Among his earlier publications are Orlando: The Original Holograph Draft (1993), and Translations from the Russian (2006), a volume devoted to the collaborative translations undertaken by Virginia Woolf and S.S. Koteliansky.
To honor Stuart’s dedication, the VWSGB will produce a supplement with the next issue of the Bulletin, containing pieces written by his fellow Woolfians in appreciation of his huge contribution to Woolf studies over the years.
Tributes should reach the society at bulletinvwsgb@gmail.com by March 1. You can also post your memories about Stuart in the Comments section below.
Are you a member of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain? If so, join an online reading of “Bloomsbury in Love.” If not, consider joining so you can participate in this free member-only online event in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
Who: The Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain What: “Bloomsbury in Love,” an evening of readings by members from works by Virginia Woolf and her friends. When: Wednesday 19 February 2025, 5:30 p.m. GMT or 12:30 p.m. EST How: Via Zoom. If you are a society member you should have received the Zoom login details via email. If not, you can join here.
Want to read your favorite passage?
The society is looking for people who would like to read out a favorite passage on the topic of love (in its many forms) from a Bloomsbury novel, diary, letter, essay, or other piece of writing. All you need to do is introduce the piece, with a brief word about its context, and then read it out to other members. Readings should be four or five minutes long, including your introduction.
If you would like to do a reading, please email: onlinevwsgb@gmail.com by Wednesday 12 February, with details of what you would like to read. If it is a diary entry or letter, please include the date; if a section from a longer piece of writing, please include the first and last lines.
If you have ever wanted to review details of the changes Virginia Woolf made in the various editions of Mrs. Dalloway, they are now available for free online, thanks to the efforts of Edward Mendelson of New York’s Columbia University.
On his webpage, “Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway: Texts and Scanned Images,” Mendelson provides links to searchable scanned PDF images of four early printings of Mrs. Dalloway and to PDF documents containing the texts of those editions.
The four early printings include:
Two editions of Woolf’s novel that were published on the same day, May 14, 1925 — the British edition by the Woolfs’ Hogarth Press, with a dust jacket designed by Vanessa Bell and the American edition by Harcourt, Brace & Company, with the same Vanessa Bell just jacket;
the second impression of the British edition, published by the Hogarth Press in September 1925;
the third impression of the British edition (the “Uniform Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf”), published by the Hogarth Press in September 1929 and reprinted without change in 1933; and
the Introduction to the Modern Library reprint of the American edition, dated June 1928.
Mendelson scanned the four textually-significant editions of Mrs. Dalloway listed above and posted the scans, together with texts extracted from the scans, on his site. Also on the site is a PDF that compares the texts of the first American and first British editions. Mendelson claims it is “easy to see the differences within the text, rather than by consulting a table of variants.”
The page also includes notes on Virginia Woolf’s revisions in the later Hogarth printings, and some notes on the texts of current editions.
Mendelson notes that “the scans are of less than ideal quality” because he is a first-time book scanner using lower quality scanning equipment and the battered and damaged copies of the early editions that he found affordable.
It is Virginia Woolf’s 143rd birthday. But I am not the only one thinking of her today. Here are a few photos and posts being shared by others online in honor of her Jan. 25, 1882, birthday.
Annual Birthday Lecture
The Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain hosts an annual lecture in honor of Woolf’s birthday. This year’s, held today, featured Eleanor McNees speaking on “Double Vision: Woolf’s Reading of Hardy and Meredith Through Leslie Stephen’s Eyes.”
Eleanor McNees is pictured cutting Virginia’s birthday cake, decorated with a photo of a young Virginia with her father, Leslie Stephen, at the Annual Birthday Lecture sponsored by the International Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain. McNees’s topic was “Double Vision: Woolf’s Reading of Hardy and Meredith Through Leslie Stephen’s Eyes.”
Artist pamphlet on Virginia Woolf in the city
Artist Louisa Albani’s new beautifully illustrated pamphlet, “Virginia Woolf in the City: Oxford Street Tide,” became available today, in honor of Woolf’s birthday.
More Facebook posts noting Woolf’s birthday
French magazine cover features Woolf
This magazine cover photo was posted on Facebook today in honor of Woolf’s birthday. It is not clear when the issue was published, but the cover story features Woolf.
