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Posts Tagged ‘Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain’

Stuart N. Clarke honored for his Woolf work

Posted in awards, Virginia Woolf, tagged , on Saturday 27 August 2022| 2 Comments »

Thanks to the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain for this news about co-founder and member Stuart N. Clarke.

Co-founder of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, Stuart N. Clarke has been made an Honorary Fellow by the Centre for Modernist Cultures at the University of Birmingham `in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the study of Virginia Woolf.’

Work on Woolf

His work on Woolf is considerable. Well before the founding of the VWSGB, Stuart self-published Orlando: The Holograph Draft (1993). He assisted B. J. Kirkpatrick to compile the fourth edition of A Bibliography of Virginia Woolf (1997), an arduous and multifaceted task.

In 1999, he started the Virginia Woolf Bulletin for the VWSGB and was its chief editor for the first 70 issues, supplying much of the content, including full-length papers featuring original research and many of the fascinating ‘Notes and Queries’ articles.

Also for the organization, Stuart produced an edition of Virginia Woolf and S. S. Koteliansky’s Translations from the Russian, which had not been reprinted since the Hogarth Press originals of 1922 and 1923.

Apart from his work for the Society, Stuart has edited and annotated volumes five and six of Woolf’s Essays (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).

Clarke’s assiduous tracing of references has been especially significant in establishing the extent and complex character of Woolf’s political engagement. – Center for Modernist Studies, University of Birmingham

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Sept. 11 unveiling of Talland House plaque recognizing Virginia Woolf

Posted in Susan Sellers, tagged , , , on Sunday 31 July 2022| 1 Comment »

On Sept. 11, one of England’s famous plaques noting the literary historical significance of a particular location will be unveiled at Talland House, Virginia Woolf’s summertime home in St. Ives from 1882-1894.

Blogging Woolf was part of a pilgrimage to Talland House in 2004. This photo depicts the front right corner of the home.

Unlike London’s Blue Plaques, this one will have a black background and white letters, the colors of the Cornish flag.

Although Woolf sets her 1927 novel To the Lighthouse in the Hebrides, St. Ives is its true location and inspiration. Godrevy Lighthouse, three miles out across the bay, was part of her view each summer and inspired the titular pilgrimage made by the novel’s family, the Ramsays.

How it came to be

Woolfians from around the globe raised nearly £4,000 to help fund the plaque, which was championed by Maggie Humm, author and vice-chair of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain. She says the property, Talland House, is a “crucial part of the Woolf story.”

Humm, author of the novel Talland House,was a major force behind the effort. She advocated for the move by providing St. Ives Town Council with useful and persuasive information about the summers Woolf spent at Talland House until the age of 12.

The society proposed the idea for a plaque 20 years ago but stepped up its efforts during the past four years. The St. Ives Town Council approved the idea in March.

We first reported about this effort in October of 2021.

Community response

The proposal for the plaque elicited more than a dozen comments from supporters, local and otherwise.

Here is one from the woman who has restored the Talland House gardens to the glory of Woolf’s time:

The research I have undertaken to inform me about which heritage plants to use in the garden has revealed, beyond my initial imaginings, just how important Talland House and St Ives were to Woolf and to what was to become a groundbreaking new form of literature and key component of Modernism. In her memoirs she describes a philosophy of life that was formed in the garden at Talland house, that she carried with her throughout her life and that fed into her work, informed it even. The house, and gardens, significance cannot be underestimated! – Polly Carter

And here is another from a St. Ives resident and a former resident of Talland House:

As an ex-resident of the house I met many people who had travelled to St. Ives purely for the Virginia Woolf connection; often I would see them in the road looking up to the house and would go and talk to them. Seeing how much the house and surrounding area meant to these people, a plaque honouring Virginia and marking the place that inspired her so much would be perfect. I spoke to previous owners of the building who said Virginia Woolf fans have been coming for years. Chris Roberts

Note: Talland House sits above Porthminster beach. This blog’s header photo depicts a 2004 view of the beach from just below Talland House.

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No need to live in UK to benefit from British Woolf Society

Posted in books, events, Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, tagged , , , , , , on Saturday 19 March 2022| 1 Comment »

I don’t have many positive things to say about the pandemic, but I am glad of one thing. It increased the number of online programs offered by the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain. And they make membership in the society even more worthwhile, no matter which side of the pond you are on.

The Bloomsbury Ballerina

The most recent online program was “Lydia Lopokova and Bloomsbury,” a March 16 conversation between author Susan Sellers and Virginia Woolf scholar Maggie Humm about the fascinating Russian dancer Lydia Lopokova and her complicated relationship with Bloomsbury.

Sellers, who wrote the novel Vanessa and Her Sister (2014) has a new novel coming out. Titled Firebird: A Bloomsbury Love Story, it tells the surprising story of two of Bloomsbury’s most unlikely lovers – John Maynard Keynes, the distinguished economist, and the extrovert Russian dancer Lydia Lopokova. Weaving biography and fiction, Firebird explores the tangle of Bloomsbury’s bohemian relationships as lifestyles are challenged and allegiances shift following Lydia’s explosive arrival.

Humm’s many publications on Bloomsbury include her acclaimed novel Talland House (2020), inspired by Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

I missed the March 16 conversation, but because I am a member of the society, I can access it online as a YouTube video, via a link sent to members only.

Join up

Membership to the society for UK residents is £20, or £10 for full-time students. There are also memberships for those of us outside the UK. It is well worth it. Membership includes the following:

  • FREE Virginia Woolf Bulletin three times a year, containing articles, reviews and previously unpublished material by Woolf herself (normally £5 each)
  • Discount on Birthday Lecture: annual talk by a Woolf scholar or author, held on the Saturday nearest to 25 January
  • FREE Regular email updates, with information and news of upcoming Woolf events
  • Discount on member events: e.g. day conferences; study weekends, talks, visits; guided walks in an area connected with Woolf
  • FREE online talks and events: live and recorded events accessed by web link (members only)

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Talland House plaque to commemorate Virginia Woolf

Posted in place, Talland House, tagged , , , , , on Tuesday 15 February 2022| 2 Comments »

View of the front right corner of Talland House (2004)

Never underestimate the power of a Virginia Woolf scholar who has a Virginia Woolf society behind her.

Thanks to the efforts of Maggie Humm, a member of the executive council of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, a plaque commemorating the time Virginia Woolf spent in St. Ives, Cornwall, will be installed at Talland House.

Humm, author of the novel Talland House,was a major force behind the effort. She advocated for the move by providing St. Ives Town Council with useful and persuasive information about the summers Woolf spent at Talland House until the age of 12.

We first reported news about this effort last October. But now, we have more details and photos to share, as tweeted by @MaggieHumm1.

Timeline of the effort and fundraising

According to a story in the Jan. 28, 2022, issue of The St Ives Times & Echo, the British society first submitted a proposal for such a plaque in October of 2020. However, the Town Council did not support it due to lack of funding.

Cornwall Council and local MP Derek Thomas supported later requests from the VWSGB, which resulted in the St. Ives Town Council reversing its stand. Last month, the Council learned that the owner of Talland House also supported the move and the Council approved it by an unanimous vote.

The plaque, which will be black, will be hand-fired in Cornwall. It will be installed on the right-hand side of the east elevation on the second story of the house.

Funding details have yet to be established, but St. Ives Town Council, in partnership with the VWSGB, has launched a fundraising effort on Spacehive.

Part of a heritage trail?

Woolf’s plaque may be part of a larger effort in St. Ives, one that would use the plaques to recognize other notable people that are part of the town’s heritage.

If the heritage tied up in this remarkable property had been fully understood at an early time it may well have become the town’s main ‘heritage asset’. – “Virginia Woolf to finally be celebrated on a plaque at Talland House,” The St Ives Times & Echo, Jan. 28, 2022.

Front page of the Jan. 28, 2022, issue of the St Ives Times & Echo

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Celebrating the centenary of Virginia Woolf’s Monday or Tuesday

Posted in short stories, tagged , , , , on Thursday 8 April 2021| Leave a Comment »

Is it today? Or was it yesterday? The date of the centenary anniversary of the publication of Virginia Woolf’s short story collection Monday or Tuesday is under debate, the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain admits.

Roundtable participants at the 27th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf in 2017 sit below a screen showing a digitized ledger sheet from the Hogarth Press.

The society celebrated the centenary with an email message to members and a post on its Facebook page that included mention of the date disparity, background about the book, and a list of the stories in the 1921 volume, the only collection of Woolf’s short fiction published in her lifetime.

Short stories in Monday or Tuesday

  • A Haunted House
  • A Society
  • Monday or Tuesday
  • An Unwritten Novel
  • The String Quartet
  • Blue & Green
  • Kew Gardens
  • The Mark on the Wall

About the book

Leonard and Virginia handset the type for Monday or Tuesday, which was the first of Woolf’s hardback books published by the Hogarth Press.

Vanessa Bell created the cover art, as well as the four woodcuts that appear inside the Hogarth Press edition.

Art and content aside, in Beginning Again, Leonard described it as “one of the worst printed books ever published, certainly the worst ever published by The Hogarth Press” (239).

Modernist Archives Publishing Project

The digital collection of the Modernist Archives Publishing Project, which officially debuted at the 27th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf: Virginia Woolf and the World of Books, includes Leonard’s order book. In his meticulous fashion, it details the names of people who bought copies of the original volume.

Photos courtesy of the Modernist Archives Publishing Project

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