This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
3Nickelini
Is there a group VW read going on? I happen to be reading A Writer's Diary. It's not something I can sit down and read in great swathes, but something I like to pick up and read in bits and pieces. I've read a lot of Woolf though, so I'm up for a chat . . .
4edwinbcn
Yes, Virginia Woolf was selected as the author for the month May. I started the thread, hoping other members would start posting early. I am currently reading Monday or Tuesday, but it often takes me several weeks into the month to post my reviews.
Beryl Bainbridge was selected for the Quarter 2 Author, although we are already in the second month of the second quarter.
Beryl Bainbridge was selected for the Quarter 2 Author, although we are already in the second month of the second quarter.
6edwinbcn
Selected short stories
More so than the novels, Virginia Woolf's short stories are difficult to read. One reason for that, is that in the stories, particularly in this early collection titled Monday or Tuesday she was looking for a new form. Her writings take the form of an experiment. Another reason is that Woolf's view of the world is idiosyncratic. This makes that her writing has a very particular feel to it; Woolf's style is not easy to follow. A moment of inattention, and the reader may be lost, having to retrace steps and reread to catch the thread. Finally, in her work Woolf makes many references to people and events of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century; without knowing what she refers too, even in fiction, the stories are difficult to understand, or it is hard to see the significance. For example, in the story "A society" there is a reference to a publication in 1920 by the Edwardian author Arnold Bennett, who posed that women were intellectually inferior to men. However, the reference in the story is very vague, and it requires an annotated edition (such as the Selected short stories) or quite some research in the library to pick up such allusions.
A short story collection such as Monday or Tuesday might be difficult to start reading Virginia Woolf, but for people who have already read some of the later novels, the collection is very rewarding. The collection is very typically Woolf, including all features of her style and themes. It contains the stories “A Haunted House”, “A Society, the title story “Monday or Tuesday”, “An Unwritten Novel”, “The String Quartet”, “Blue and Green”, “Kew Gardens” and the well-known “The Mark on the Wall”.
In addition to the eight stories, as originally included in Monday or Tuesday, the Penguin Modern Classics edition includes other early and signal stories such as “Solid Objects”, “In the Orchard”, “A Woman’s College from Outside”, “The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection”, The Shooting Party”, “The Duchess and the Jeweller” and “Lappin and Lappinova”. Many of these stories are rather short, do however expound Woolf’s unique style, and form a nice complement to the eight stories of Monday or Tuesday.
Highly recommended, but difficult to read, and therefore I would suggest to read an annotated edition such as in the Penguin Modern Classics series, rather than a free download. An additional advantage is that the Penguin edition reprints the woodcut illustrations by Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell. The Penguin edition however is not just an annotated edition, but seems to be overdoing things a little bit, taking the shape almost of a scholarly edition. While academic readers might find the long introduction and extensive notes by Sandra Kemp very useful, the overall effect on the leisurely reader might be quite contra-productive. The 15 stories in the book take up barely a hundred pages, including illustrations. The introduction is 26 pages long, with no less than six pages of notes following the introduction. These are notes to the introduction. At the back of the book, there are another 18 pages of clarifying notes annotating the stories themselves. So on a total of less than 100 pages of prose, there are 50 pages critical apparatus
Other books I have read by Virginia Woolf:
A room of one's own
Orlando
Jacob's room
Mrs. Dalloway
More so than the novels, Virginia Woolf's short stories are difficult to read. One reason for that, is that in the stories, particularly in this early collection titled Monday or Tuesday she was looking for a new form. Her writings take the form of an experiment. Another reason is that Woolf's view of the world is idiosyncratic. This makes that her writing has a very particular feel to it; Woolf's style is not easy to follow. A moment of inattention, and the reader may be lost, having to retrace steps and reread to catch the thread. Finally, in her work Woolf makes many references to people and events of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century; without knowing what she refers too, even in fiction, the stories are difficult to understand, or it is hard to see the significance. For example, in the story "A society" there is a reference to a publication in 1920 by the Edwardian author Arnold Bennett, who posed that women were intellectually inferior to men. However, the reference in the story is very vague, and it requires an annotated edition (such as the Selected short stories) or quite some research in the library to pick up such allusions.
A short story collection such as Monday or Tuesday might be difficult to start reading Virginia Woolf, but for people who have already read some of the later novels, the collection is very rewarding. The collection is very typically Woolf, including all features of her style and themes. It contains the stories “A Haunted House”, “A Society, the title story “Monday or Tuesday”, “An Unwritten Novel”, “The String Quartet”, “Blue and Green”, “Kew Gardens” and the well-known “The Mark on the Wall”.
In addition to the eight stories, as originally included in Monday or Tuesday, the Penguin Modern Classics edition includes other early and signal stories such as “Solid Objects”, “In the Orchard”, “A Woman’s College from Outside”, “The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection”, The Shooting Party”, “The Duchess and the Jeweller” and “Lappin and Lappinova”. Many of these stories are rather short, do however expound Woolf’s unique style, and form a nice complement to the eight stories of Monday or Tuesday.
Highly recommended, but difficult to read, and therefore I would suggest to read an annotated edition such as in the Penguin Modern Classics series, rather than a free download. An additional advantage is that the Penguin edition reprints the woodcut illustrations by Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell. The Penguin edition however is not just an annotated edition, but seems to be overdoing things a little bit, taking the shape almost of a scholarly edition. While academic readers might find the long introduction and extensive notes by Sandra Kemp very useful, the overall effect on the leisurely reader might be quite contra-productive. The 15 stories in the book take up barely a hundred pages, including illustrations. The introduction is 26 pages long, with no less than six pages of notes following the introduction. These are notes to the introduction. At the back of the book, there are another 18 pages of clarifying notes annotating the stories themselves. So on a total of less than 100 pages of prose, there are 50 pages critical apparatus
Other books I have read by Virginia Woolf:
A room of one's own
Orlando
Jacob's room
Mrs. Dalloway
