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Call for papers: Woolf in the machine age

Monday 23 February 2015 by Paula Maggio

The Virginia Woolf Miscellany invites submissions of papers for the Fall 2015 issue that address the role of everyday machines in the life and/or works of Virginia Woolf.

From typewriters and telephones to gramophones and the wireless; from motor-cars and combat aeroplanes to trains and department store elevators; from cameras and film projectors to ranges and hot-water tanks, the commonplace technologies of the modern machine age leave their trace on Bloomsbury.

To what extent are these and other machines represented, hidden, implied, avoided, embraced, or questioned by Woolf and her circle and characters?  What is the place of labour and mass production, or the role of the handmade or bespoke object, in the context of such technologies and the desires with which they are implicated?  What are the ramifications for the individual’s everyday navigation of modernity, domesticity, and/or community? Alternatively, what is the influence of everyday technologies on our own interactions with Woolf and her writings?

Please submit papers of no more than 2,500 words to Ann Martin at ann.martin@usask.ca by 31 March 2015. Martin is assistant professor of English at the University of Saskatchewan

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The humanity of Virginia Woolf — and our own

Thursday 19 February 2015 by Paula Maggio

We who love Virginia Woolf know that she was multi-dimensional. We know that she was more than a serious writer who had bouts of madness. We know she could joke and laugh and enjoy life. We also know she could be gossipy and mean and petty. Basically, we recognize the fact that she was human. And perhaps that is why we love her so very much.

Emma Woolf, Virginia and Leonard’s great-nice and the daughter of publisher Cecil Woolf, has written a piece for Newsweek that describes Virginia’s many nuances. In “The Joyful, Gossipy and Absurd Private Life of Virginia Woolf,” Emma writes of Virginia’s Letting-Go-books-300x300experiences authoring The Voyage Out (1915), her subsequent breakdown, and the speculation surrounding her sexual life — or lack of one — with husband Leonard. She touches on her feminism, her pacifism and her anti-nationalism. She mentions Virginia’s diary entries that describe everyday life experiences — celebrating her birthday, buying a new dress and her trip to see a printing press.

Emma’s Feb. 13 essay covers a lot of ground, more than I can summarize here, and it does so with the sensitivity one should expect from a family member. So I recommend reading it for yourself.

Then consider picking up Emma’s new book, Letting Go: How to Heal Your Hurt, Love Your Body and Transform Your Life. The book’s title and description speak of the important lessons it contains about letting go of our perfectionism and embracing our own humanity, much as we embrace Virginia’s.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this quote from Virginia that Emma includes in her Newsweek essay. It seems to sum up — and embrace — what so many women want today. And what we all deserve.

I want everything – love, children, adventure, intimacy, work.

 

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Doings of the Bloomsbury friends

Wednesday 18 February 2015 by Paula Maggio

Blogger Kathleen Dixon Donnelly, who writes about famous literary friends on the Such Friends Blog, has recently outdone herself by posting several items about the Bloomsbury Group. The posts cover:

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Happy Valentine’s Day from the Woolfs & Shakespeare’s Sister

Saturday 14 February 2015 by Paula Maggio

This charming graphic comes to us from Shakespeare’s Sister Company, the New York theater company that presents productions, classes, webinars and more.

Among its offerings is “How To Write A Compelling Ten-Minute Stageplay,” an online and live four-week class that is part of the Woolf Series, now in its second season.

Shakespeare’s Sister, led by Kris Lundberg, will also launch a new website later this month.

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Two views: London in 1926 and 2013

Wednesday 11 February 2015 by Paula Maggio

Beginning in 1924, cinematographer Claude Friese-Greene borrowed a flash convertible and traveled across the UK with his new color film camera, filming the sights.

He ended his 840-mile road trip in London, the subject of Virginia Woolf’s six essays included in The London Scene, originally published in Good Housekeeping magazine beginning in December 1931 and published as a collection in 1981.

In the capitol city, Claude Friese-Greene filmed some stunning images using a unique experimental color process developed with his father. His plan was to produce a series of 26 ten-minute British travelogues, to be shown before the feature film at cinemas. After just a few screenings at trade fairs, though, Friese-Greene abandoned the project.

After his death in 1943, his footage for The Open Road, shot between 1924 and 1926, was donated to the National Film and Television Archive. It was later revived and restored by the BFI. The BBC then used it to produce a three-part documentary with the BFI titled The Lost World of Friese-Greene. News of Friese-Greene’s beautiful footage went viral early last year.

Now videographer Simon Smith has attempted to capture all of Friese-Green’s London shots by standing in his footsteps and using modern equipment. His personal study reveals how little London has changed. Special thanks to @sideshow_val for sending Blogging Woolf the tip about the 2013 version of the London footage.

And here is a 19-second clip of Friese-Greene’s footage filmed in Woolf’s beloved St. Ives, Cornwall.

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