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Rare photo of Woolf’s mother up for auction Sunday

Wednesday 27 May 2009 by Paula Maggio

Up for auction in West Sussex this Sunday is a rare 19th-century photograph of Virginia Woolf’s mother, Julia Stephen, the former Julia Jackson.

It was taken by her aunt, the celebrated photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Bids are expected to fall between £1000-£1500.

Read the full story and view the photo on the BBC Web site.

Posted in Julia Margaret Cameron, Julia Stephen, photography | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Bloomsbury Heritage monographs debut at Woolf & the City

Tuesday 26 May 2009 by Paula Maggio

Reading the Skies in Virginia Woolf

Two Bloomsbury Heritage monographs, including one of my own, will debut at Woolf and the City, the 19th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf — and a third is in progress.

Cecil Woolf Publishers of London is the publisher.

The monographs making their first appearance at the June 4 to 7 conference at Fordham University — and afterward — are:

  • Reading the Skies in Virginia Woolf: Woolf on Weather in Her Essays, Her Diaries and Three of Her Novels by Paula Maggio, number 54 in the Bloomsbury Heritage series.
  • Virginia Woolf: A Musical Life by Emilie Crapoulet, number 50 in the series.
  • How Should One Read a Marriage? Private Writings, Public Readings, and Leonard and Virginia Woolf by Drew Patrick Shannon will be published later this year.

Virginia Woolf: A Musical Life

Reading the Skies saw its first incarnation as a paper written for a graduate class taught by geology professors Dr. Alison J. Smith and Dr. Donald F. Palmer in the Master of Liberal Studies program at Kent State University. The class, which focused on the impact of climate change from the time of the Little Ice Age to the present,  required that we write a weather-related paper.

I was an English major, not a science major, as an undergraduate, so I immediately searched for a literary connection. I did not have far to look.

How Should One Read a Marriage?

One of our texts was Briane Fagan‘s The Little Ice Age: Prelude to Global Warming 1300-1850. In it, he describes the frost fairs held on the River Thames during the years of the Little Ice Age. In a flash, I thought of Woolf’s descriptions of Orlando and Sasha skating feverishly across the Thames in her 1928 novel Orlando.

From there, I was on the hunt for anything written about Woolf and weather. Amazingly enough, I found nothing. Thus began my own study and analysis.

In Reading the Skies, I explore Woolf’s characteristically English fascination with the vagaries of the nation’s weather and its effect on culture. I also discuss weather’s influence on Woolf and her writing, including her theories about the role weather could and should play in fiction. Finally, I discuss how she carried out her theories in three of her novels, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and Orlando.

I invite you to pick up a copy of Reading the Skies and Virginia Woolf: A Musical Life at the Woolf conference at Fordham for the special conference price of $9. They — along with other monographs in the Bloomsbury Heritage Series — will be available at Cecil Woolf’s book display near the registration table in the Lowenstein Plaza Lobby. Here is the full conference schedule. 

Then stay tuned to Blogging Woolf for news about the publication of How Should One Read a Marriage? We will announce its availability here.

Posted in 19th Annual Internatinal Conference on Virginia Woolf, books, Cecil Woolf Publishers, Leonard Woolf | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Mrs. Dalloway inspires Nika Zupanc mini hot plate design

Saturday 23 May 2009 by Paula Maggio

Who would have thought that Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway would inspire the design of a mini hot plate?

But that is just what the novel did for Nika Zupanc. It allowed the young Slovenian product designer to imagine a kitchen hot plate that does not look like one. Her mini hot plate looks like a woman’s powder compact instead. And in honor of the novel that inspired it, the hot plate is named “Mrs. Dalloway.”

The “Mrs. Dalloway” mini hot plate was part of the I Will Buy Flowers Myself exhibit on display at Salon del Mobile Milan 2009 in April. It was inspired by the stories of some of the most famous female literary heroines, according to Zupanc.

Other items in the surreal collection, which was introduced by a giant polka-dotted doll house, include a Lolita lamp, a Scarlet table and tray, the Unfaithful Feather Duster and the Silent Brotherhood of Slightly Arrogant Cradles.

See them all here. Read more about Nika Zupanc.

Posted in commodification, Mrs. Dalloway | Tagged , , | 2 Comments »

Blithe Spirit provides info on Hogarth Press exhibit

Friday 22 May 2009 by Paula Maggio

Blithe Spirit and I have something in common. I share her self-described “abiding (nay, obsessive) interest in Virginia Woolf.”

Blithe is the creator of the blog Julia Hedge’s Laces, and this week she e-mailed Blogging Woolf to share her post about a recent visit to the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta.

While there, Blithe was awed by their exhibit of Hogarth Press books. She praises the exhibit itself, which is titled “Woolf’s Head Publishing: The Highlights and New Lights of the Hogarth Press” and is available until May 28. But she also praises the exhibit’s catalogue and recommends contacting the exhibit site to enquire about purchasing one.

You can read her interesting and detailed post, “An Exhibit of Woolf’s Own,” here.

Posted in books, Hogarth Press | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

Woolf on a plate

Wednesday 20 May 2009 by Paula Maggio

Am I the only one who did not know that Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party includes a Virginia Woolf plate? Take the poll below and let me know.

The Woolf plate and its setting, one of 39 included in Chicago’s ground-breaking iconic feminist work of art, is ripe with symbolism.

It features a three-dimensional plate formed to look like a blooming flower with seeds in the center. According to Chicago, the plate itself symbolizes Woolf’s belief in unrestricted expression and the fecundity of her creative genius.

Beneath the plate, a thin chiffon fabric runner symbolizes Woolf’s fragile mental state, while underneath that, a stitched and painted light beam glows, symbolizing To the Lighthouse.

For more details about the symbolism of Woolf’s plate, go here. You can also find her friend Ethel Smyth’s plate here.

And if you are like me and have never seen Chicago’s masterpiece in person, you can view it online here as a long-term installation in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in the Brooklyn Museum.

Take Our Poll

Posted in art, art exhibits, Woolf online | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments »

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