Moments of Being (original 1976; edition 1985)

Moments of Being is a collection of five autobiographical essays by Virginia Woolf, not intended for publication. Editorial decisions interpreting Woolf’s drafts are clearly marked and it appears that few changes were necessary to make the essays feel finished. The editor’s comments were somewhat dry and literary enough that they required as much effort to read as the essays themselves, but I appreciated knowing the context in which the essays were written. The editor chose to present the essays in chronological order of their contents, not in the order they were written – a decision which made it much easier to understand the essays.

The first essay in particular (first written as well as first by content) felt choppy to me. It was hard to get into and a challenging enough read that I had trouble thinking about reviewing it because it required so much concentration. This unpleasant first experience with Woolf’s writing may have lowered my enjoyment of the entire book, because the rest of the writing was amazing. It felt as though the author herself was more relaxed writing the later essays and it was easier to get into the flow of reading them.

I loved Woolf’s writing style, particularly the way she ignored grammatical conventions in order to convey the way each sentence would be spoken. The exclamation points in the middle of sentences made me happy! so much so I might have to try it myself. Yes, that was fun Run on sentences with bits connected only by semicolons were also a common trick which conveyed clearly the cadence of casual conversation.

In terms of the content, Woolf does a great job selecting certain small details of each scene to convey the emotion of the moment to the reader. The one downside is that this style requires a lot of work from the reader, who must pay attention to the mood the author is trying to evoke. Despite my admiration from what is clearly great writing, the weak first essay and the feeling of exerting effort to slog through the rest prevented my from really enjoying this collection. ( )

This collection pulls together a number of Virginia Woolf's autobiographical writings, written across a thirty-year period and covering many more than that. The centerpiece of the book is definitely "A Sketch of the Past," a 100-page fragment Woolf never completed. Woolf's very self-conscious narrative is highly suited to autobiography; she often leads off a new section explaining what the date is and how long it's been since she last worked on the narrative. In one of my favorite bits, she reflects on how we remember things:

I often wonder-- that thing we have felt with great intensity have an existence independent of our minds; are in fact still in existence? And if so, will it not be possible, in time, that some device will be invented by which we can tap them? I see it-- the past-- as an avenue lying behind; a long ribbon of scenes, emotions.... Instead of remembering here a scene and there a sound, I shall fit a plug into the wall; and listen in to the past. I shall turn up August 1890. I feel that strong emotion must leave its trace; and it is only a question of discovering how we can get ourselves again attached to it, so that we shall be able to live our lives through from the start. (67)

In addition to being a great metaphor and a captivating meditation on the problems of memory, I also suspect it was Helen Raynor's inspiration for "Ghost Machine," an episode of Torchwood. Woolf's literary techniques, used self-consciously to untangle her own past, really work for me here in a way they often don't in her fiction.

The other standout piece (there are five in all), is "22 Hyde Park Gate," which tells Woolf's memories of the home she grew up in. Like the best memoirs, it's funny fairly often (so is "Am I a Snob?", for that matter), but it mixes in some sharp moments of pain. Especially the last page. It's probably my favorite bit of writing by Woolf, such a great reversal.

A collection of Virginia Woolf's autobiographical writings, most of them never published in her lifetime. There are three short and very funny sketches on her family, Bloomsbury and her aristocratic connections(where she confesses her embarrassment at trying on suspenders in shops), but the main bulk are two attempts at narrating her childhood and the death of her mother and her elder half-sister Stella. The earlier one is rather stilted but the later one, 'A Sketch of the Past' is an outstanding and very original autobiography. It shifts between the present and the past with ease, and is full of delicately observed detail and restrained, unmelodramatic analysis of a series of rather traumatic events. ( )

Virginia Woolf is probably my favorite writer of all time, so it was amazing to read these intimate and literary (but still relatively unpolished) memoirs. The writings split their time between Woolf's childhood and family and her adult friendships with the Bloomsbury group. One of the writings on her childhood was written very early in her career (before she had published any novels) and the other late in her life, finished the same year she killed herself. The remaining three pieces were written as part of the Memoir Club, a writing group of Woolf and some of the other Bloomsbury regulars where autobiographical sketches were written and read aloud to the other group members. Rather than arrange the writings by the time period in which they were written, Schulkind arranges them so that the events discussed move forward in chronological order, and includes brief prefaces to each piece that tie the works into the timeline of Woolf's life and make this collection something of a mini-biography.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2009/09/moments-of-being-1985.html ] ( )

Wonderfully moving and insightful memoirs by Virginia Woolf.

The first two essays - one written in 1907, the other in 1939 show how the subject of memory and the past were so vital to her, as the same memory is retold from different ages.

The collection also includes three reminiscences she wrote for The Memoir Club, an informal gathering where the members of the Bloomsbury group would met occasionally to read personal memoirs to the others.