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Recollections of Virginia Woolf by Her Contemporaries
Reprint of the W. Morrow work of 1972. This important biography is here printed on acid-free paper, but still lacks an index. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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August 12, 2011
I must admit, I'm a little disappointed. Reading these essays, it becomes immediately apparent that the contributors had much difficulty in attempting to describe a woman who was both a towering genius and a frail human being.
Rather than make any effort to reconcile the two, most of the authors opted to compartmentalize. There's the "wise, strong" Virginia, whose literary achievements are unparalleled. And then there's the "sick" Virginia who drowned herself, the raving madwoman who had somehow hijacked the the great author's body.
This lens was even applied, in retrospect, to her work: She was well, so this must be great literature. She was ill, so it's not valuable and not Virginia, not our Virginia. --But there was only one Virginia. And, these vacillating, apologist accounts do little to illuminate her life or her work.
Nature has no bias...but people certainly have. We cling to our value judgments and sputter like broken robots when confronted with ambiguity. There's no question society benefited from her manic bursts of creativity. We don't want to believe that they came at a price.
Years ago, I had a friend who was similarly gifted. Once medicated, she wrote like everyone else...which resulted in a rather farcical (in hindsight) situation where our online friends actually accused her of being an impostor! --Did the benefits of medication outweigh the cost? For me, they absolutely have. But, for my friend? I honestly can't say. I can't make that determination for someone else. But I digress.
Most infuriating of all was the tendency to blame ("sick") Virginia for her husband's (often insufferable) behavior. What is it that causes our sympathies to flow in that direction? Why is it we so often complain of "weak" women in literature...but never of the unrealistically strong men (or women)? Is the latter not the greater lie?
It's a heavy head that bears the crown of feminist icon. But, Virginia was more than an icon. She was a person. I can only think it's the terror of our own human frailty that causes us to be so critical.
It was interesting to read contributions from West, Sackville-West, and the always kind, always objective Elizabeth Bowen. I was impressed with Angelica Garnett. And, in fact, I probably would have liked the the rest of the essays as well, had I read them individually! But, taken all together, they got to be a little redundant. Nothing irritates me like a collective!
Rather than make any effort to reconcile the two, most of the authors opted to compartmentalize. There's the "wise, strong" Virginia, whose literary achievements are unparalleled. And then there's the "sick" Virginia who drowned herself, the raving madwoman who had somehow hijacked the the great author's body.
This lens was even applied, in retrospect, to her work: She was well, so this must be great literature. She was ill, so it's not valuable and not Virginia, not our Virginia. --But there was only one Virginia. And, these vacillating, apologist accounts do little to illuminate her life or her work.
Nature has no bias...but people certainly have. We cling to our value judgments and sputter like broken robots when confronted with ambiguity. There's no question society benefited from her manic bursts of creativity. We don't want to believe that they came at a price.
Years ago, I had a friend who was similarly gifted. Once medicated, she wrote like everyone else...which resulted in a rather farcical (in hindsight) situation where our online friends actually accused her of being an impostor! --Did the benefits of medication outweigh the cost? For me, they absolutely have. But, for my friend? I honestly can't say. I can't make that determination for someone else. But I digress.
Most infuriating of all was the tendency to blame ("sick") Virginia for her husband's (often insufferable) behavior. What is it that causes our sympathies to flow in that direction? Why is it we so often complain of "weak" women in literature...but never of the unrealistically strong men (or women)? Is the latter not the greater lie?
It's a heavy head that bears the crown of feminist icon. But, Virginia was more than an icon. She was a person. I can only think it's the terror of our own human frailty that causes us to be so critical.
It was interesting to read contributions from West, Sackville-West, and the always kind, always objective Elizabeth Bowen. I was impressed with Angelica Garnett. And, in fact, I probably would have liked the the rest of the essays as well, had I read them individually! But, taken all together, they got to be a little redundant. Nothing irritates me like a collective!
August 8, 2024
After reading all the works, the diaries and the letters, this book is like a delicious little after-dinner petit four. Finally seeing Virginia through the eyes of the people she has been describing, tearing down and communicating with all the while. Most were predictable, although Rebecca West had some vigorous critique which stands out in a book of love and worship, although some connections like TS Eliot and EM Forster do go for the purely literary analysis.
The piece by Louie Mayer was the most touching as her memory of that last day of Virginia's life is the first time I've heard some of the things she observed that day and it makes it all the more poignant that she was there herself and how well she knew Virginia and Leonard and their routines.
A treat for lovers of Virginia Woolf.
The piece by Louie Mayer was the most touching as her memory of that last day of Virginia's life is the first time I've heard some of the things she observed that day and it makes it all the more poignant that she was there herself and how well she knew Virginia and Leonard and their routines.
A treat for lovers of Virginia Woolf.
December 23, 2010
I've been reading this one alongside Hermione Lee's biography of Woolf, and they've made quite the pair. Lee's methodology seems almost to perform a sort of representational fragmentation (inasmuch as she argues that the sort of 'knowing' we tend to assume in understanding a person is always fictive--a person can never be exhaustively represented by another), so reading these recollections--where people do try to capture VW in a half-dozen or fewer pages--offered a very different vision of Woolf.
At the same time, interestingly, many of the essayists in this collection articulate that sense of irreducibility with Woolf; they seem rather uneasy with the attempt to capture her in words. Nevertheless, a number of things cropped up over and again: Woolf was a paragon of gaiety; she has a malicious streak in her humor (though not as cruel a streak as Lytton Strachey, so they say); she had a "bone beauty," a beautiful but strange image that came up on several occasions. There were numerous hilarious anecdotes about Woolf here, such as Plomer's story of Woolf becoming so exasperated with a Charles Morgan novel that she simply threw it out the window, or Barbara Bagenal's remembrance of VW telling her not to put pins in her mouth ["Barbara, only professionals do that, it is very dangerous"], or VW managing to make everyone laugh during the air raid as she and her guest and her two servants are hiding underneath the kitchen table. Certainly there are several here who attempt to paint VW as a kind of nervous genius, a "mermaid," "the Lady of Shalott," the madwoman in an artistic trance. But just as many simply remember their experiences, limited, with fondness, affection, & great joy--in having known her.
There are some unsurprising ones--T.S. Eliot's is, shocker, ridiculously pretentious--and some that will stop you in your tracks. I think Isherwood & Forster both offer astonishing pieces of prose here; Louie Mayer's (the 'Woolves' cook for decades) is wonderfully to the point and heartfelt; Angelica Garnett's is revealingly conflicted. Perhaps the standout essay here, though, is the only one that's almost wholly negative w.r.t. VW--Rebecca West's; the entire thing is a quite brilliantly twisted exercise in making backhanded compliments. Vanessa and Virginia are untidy, they "always looked as if they had been drawn through a hedge backwards"; there is a beautiful Victorian phrase, according to West: a 'well-turned out woman.' Virginia, however, "was not well-turned out." For West, The Waves is pre-Raphaelite kitsch; A Room of One's Own shouldn't be taught in schools; "too much is made" of The Common Reader. West closes on 'affection' but leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It's a quite witty, fiendish, 'well-turned out' essay, even if I find the motivation misguided.
Another interesting thing is hearing VW's peers discuss her work--almost all agree that she's what you would call a 'genius,' but some critique her inability to fully pin down her characters (one of my favorite things of her style, actually), some love A Room, some despise her feminism, most adore The Waves & To the Lighthouse, but there's much disagreement on Orlando. The Common Reader and the diaries are almost universally praised; Three Guineas almost universally despised.
In the end, finally, Woolf's own words come to me, though no one in the book quotes this passage from Mrs. Dalloway: "For there she was."
At the same time, interestingly, many of the essayists in this collection articulate that sense of irreducibility with Woolf; they seem rather uneasy with the attempt to capture her in words. Nevertheless, a number of things cropped up over and again: Woolf was a paragon of gaiety; she has a malicious streak in her humor (though not as cruel a streak as Lytton Strachey, so they say); she had a "bone beauty," a beautiful but strange image that came up on several occasions. There were numerous hilarious anecdotes about Woolf here, such as Plomer's story of Woolf becoming so exasperated with a Charles Morgan novel that she simply threw it out the window, or Barbara Bagenal's remembrance of VW telling her not to put pins in her mouth ["Barbara, only professionals do that, it is very dangerous"], or VW managing to make everyone laugh during the air raid as she and her guest and her two servants are hiding underneath the kitchen table. Certainly there are several here who attempt to paint VW as a kind of nervous genius, a "mermaid," "the Lady of Shalott," the madwoman in an artistic trance. But just as many simply remember their experiences, limited, with fondness, affection, & great joy--in having known her.
There are some unsurprising ones--T.S. Eliot's is, shocker, ridiculously pretentious--and some that will stop you in your tracks. I think Isherwood & Forster both offer astonishing pieces of prose here; Louie Mayer's (the 'Woolves' cook for decades) is wonderfully to the point and heartfelt; Angelica Garnett's is revealingly conflicted. Perhaps the standout essay here, though, is the only one that's almost wholly negative w.r.t. VW--Rebecca West's; the entire thing is a quite brilliantly twisted exercise in making backhanded compliments. Vanessa and Virginia are untidy, they "always looked as if they had been drawn through a hedge backwards"; there is a beautiful Victorian phrase, according to West: a 'well-turned out woman.' Virginia, however, "was not well-turned out." For West, The Waves is pre-Raphaelite kitsch; A Room of One's Own shouldn't be taught in schools; "too much is made" of The Common Reader. West closes on 'affection' but leaves a sour taste in the mouth. It's a quite witty, fiendish, 'well-turned out' essay, even if I find the motivation misguided.
Another interesting thing is hearing VW's peers discuss her work--almost all agree that she's what you would call a 'genius,' but some critique her inability to fully pin down her characters (one of my favorite things of her style, actually), some love A Room, some despise her feminism, most adore The Waves & To the Lighthouse, but there's much disagreement on Orlando. The Common Reader and the diaries are almost universally praised; Three Guineas almost universally despised.
In the end, finally, Woolf's own words come to me, though no one in the book quotes this passage from Mrs. Dalloway: "For there she was."
January 30, 2020
OK now there’s a hole in my heart
“I don’t know how genuine it was when she said she hated being in a room with more than a certain number of people. She must in some way have enjoyed that. Because the parties in her books, I think, are extremely enjoyable.” (elizabeth bowen)
“Virginia, on the contrary, was shy and awkward, often silent or, if in the mood to talk, would leap into fantasy and folly and terrify the innocent and unprepared. This combination of limpid beauty and demon’s tongue proved fatal to those who were too timid to respond and who, ensnared while unconscious, woke like Bottom to find themselves in a fairyland echoing with malicious laughter.” (angelica garnett) // a true aqua sun aries moon queen
“I don’t know how genuine it was when she said she hated being in a room with more than a certain number of people. She must in some way have enjoyed that. Because the parties in her books, I think, are extremely enjoyable.” (elizabeth bowen)
“Virginia, on the contrary, was shy and awkward, often silent or, if in the mood to talk, would leap into fantasy and folly and terrify the innocent and unprepared. This combination of limpid beauty and demon’s tongue proved fatal to those who were too timid to respond and who, ensnared while unconscious, woke like Bottom to find themselves in a fairyland echoing with malicious laughter.” (angelica garnett) // a true aqua sun aries moon queen
April 22, 2017
The more I read about Virginia Woolf the more fascinating I find her life. I only wish I had read some of her novels and essays earlier. This book of short essays or interviews about her from friends, a servant, associates and in the case of Rebecca West enemy and envious of her is enlightening. A common theme was she was a genius, witty, a malevolent humour at times and an incredible imagination.
She made an impact on many people she met both good and bewildering in parts. She was a lady and lived through turbulent times with a competitive streak in a lot of what she did. A great book to get an insight into who Virginia Woolf was and also was not.
She made an impact on many people she met both good and bewildering in parts. She was a lady and lived through turbulent times with a competitive streak in a lot of what she did. A great book to get an insight into who Virginia Woolf was and also was not.
March 29, 2023
Felt like about 50 magazine gossip columns strung together and was very hard to get through. I would recommend it if you’re looking for information for a school research report, but if you’re reading this for leisure or out of love for Woolf do yourself a favour and watch a documentary on Virginia instead. (Alexia if you’re reading this I still love you baby it was a great gift)
March 5, 2025
Would that I ever have friends who remember me so fondly and keenly, and with so much respect.
January 7, 2024
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/recollections-of-virginia-woolf-by-her-contemporaries-edited-by-joan-russell-noble/
First published in 1972, thirty years after her death, this pulls together 27 short sketches of Virginia Woolf by friends, relatives and colleagues, some previously published and some new contributions. It provoked me to think how little we can really know of anyone; each of these people saw a slightly different side of her, often through a mutual involvement with the Hogarth Press, and there is much less about her inner life than you would get, for instance, in Hermione Lee’s biography. We get the same anecdotes told from different perspectives; we get different takes on her behaviour and attitudes; we get a sense of someone who was loved by many but not really understood by anyone. I particularly noticed the varying accounts of her interactions with children and younger women; she was capable of showing immense sympathetic curiosity, but also of brutal rudeness. I suppose most of us are like that.
A couple of these pieces are surprisingly weak – Rebecca West admits that she didn’t really know her very well, and T.S. Eliot writes a short encomium which actually has very little content. But most of them are interesting and rewarding. One of the longest and most interesting is by William Plomer, who I confess I had not heard of but whose books I will now look out for. There’s also a moving contribution by Louie Mayer, the Woolfs’ housekeeper who was probably the last person to speak to her before her death. I think even if you’re not a big fan of Woolf’s writing, it’s a very interesting exercise to get a couple of dozen different personal perspectives on their memories of a particular individual; and if you are a fan of Woolf’s writing, it certainly adds to the appreciation of her work.
First published in 1972, thirty years after her death, this pulls together 27 short sketches of Virginia Woolf by friends, relatives and colleagues, some previously published and some new contributions. It provoked me to think how little we can really know of anyone; each of these people saw a slightly different side of her, often through a mutual involvement with the Hogarth Press, and there is much less about her inner life than you would get, for instance, in Hermione Lee’s biography. We get the same anecdotes told from different perspectives; we get different takes on her behaviour and attitudes; we get a sense of someone who was loved by many but not really understood by anyone. I particularly noticed the varying accounts of her interactions with children and younger women; she was capable of showing immense sympathetic curiosity, but also of brutal rudeness. I suppose most of us are like that.
A couple of these pieces are surprisingly weak – Rebecca West admits that she didn’t really know her very well, and T.S. Eliot writes a short encomium which actually has very little content. But most of them are interesting and rewarding. One of the longest and most interesting is by William Plomer, who I confess I had not heard of but whose books I will now look out for. There’s also a moving contribution by Louie Mayer, the Woolfs’ housekeeper who was probably the last person to speak to her before her death. I think even if you’re not a big fan of Woolf’s writing, it’s a very interesting exercise to get a couple of dozen different personal perspectives on their memories of a particular individual; and if you are a fan of Woolf’s writing, it certainly adds to the appreciation of her work.
November 14, 2022
Idea molto efficace per un ritratto corale e ricco di sfumature di uno dei personaggi più influenti della letteratura inglese. Mi piace come diversi aspetti vengano evidenziati da tutti coloro che l'hanno conosciuta e altri siano totalmente contrastanti e contribuiscano a rendere Virginia così complessa e affascinante. L'affresco dei personaggi che intervengono è vivacemente variegato: domestiche, amici intimi, semplici conoscenti, familiari.. E soprattutto restituisce la scena intellettuale londinese tra gli anni venti e quaranta, affollata di scrittori, editori, stilisti, critici, artisti..
Ognuno racconta Virginia dalla sua prospettiva e secondo la sua esperienza, analizzandone le opere, rievocandone l'amicizia, sottolineandone le qualità, descrivendone i difetti e le fissazioni. Soprattutto, a tutti preme sfatare il cliché di una scrittrice depressa e umbratile, perché la gioia che si ricavava dalla sua compagnia è quanto di più luminoso emerge da questa lettura. Una lettura piuttosto impegnativa e non sempre coinvolgente, ma che consiglio a tutti gli amanti di Virginia
Ognuno racconta Virginia dalla sua prospettiva e secondo la sua esperienza, analizzandone le opere, rievocandone l'amicizia, sottolineandone le qualità, descrivendone i difetti e le fissazioni. Soprattutto, a tutti preme sfatare il cliché di una scrittrice depressa e umbratile, perché la gioia che si ricavava dalla sua compagnia è quanto di più luminoso emerge da questa lettura. Una lettura piuttosto impegnativa e non sempre coinvolgente, ma che consiglio a tutti gli amanti di Virginia
February 22, 2025
In the words of its editor, "This book is not intended to provide an assessment of Virginia Woolf's work. A great deal has already been written about her novels and critical essays. It is concerned essentially with Virginia Woolf herself: about whom little has been said in print. It has been written by people who knew her either intimately as relations and friends, or who met her from time to time over a period of years and were acquaintances. Whatever the relationship, their knowledge of her is of course first hand; it extends over the greater part of her adult life, and is set down in these pages mostly in the form of reminiscences, impressions and anecdotes."
The contributors include T. S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bowe, E. M. Forster, Rebecca West, Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender, and Vita Sackville-West. The cumulative effect of this splendid collection is to display the complexities of one of this century's greatest writers, an alternately witty, jealous, teasing, warm, malicious, generous woman, who finally took her own life in 1941.
The contributors include T. S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bowe, E. M. Forster, Rebecca West, Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender, and Vita Sackville-West. The cumulative effect of this splendid collection is to display the complexities of one of this century's greatest writers, an alternately witty, jealous, teasing, warm, malicious, generous woman, who finally took her own life in 1941.
September 22, 2018
some gems of anecdotes that make virginia come alive for me, but otherwise the impressions on display here are repetitive (one could say consistent - but i’m glad that almost all of her contemporaries concluded that she was, after all, a fluid and ineffable composite).
June 20, 2021
Will be using this book to physically slap anyone who speaks exclusively of Woolf's "madness"
July 23, 2021
When you've read a great number of biographies of Virginia Woolf, most of which are quite long, this book of recollections from her contemporaries makes an enjoyable short read.
October 15, 2016
These recollections from friends and contemporaries of Virginia Woolf leave us with a wonderfully multi-faceted portrait of Virginia Woolf, we see her here as a friend an acquaintance, an employer, sister-in-law and wife. In his introduction Michael Holroyd, reminds us of the salient facts of Virginia Woolf’s life and death in his brief biography. From here we move straight to the testimonies of the people who knew her. Joan Russell Noble has collected together a raft of different voices, who share their memories, impressions and criticisms of a woman who still has the power to fascinate and move us.
There are some big names in this book – another reason it is so readable – Vita Sackville West, T S Eliot, E M Forster, Christopher Isherwood, Rebecca West and David Cecil – to name just a few.
The collection opens with a lovely childhood memory from Ann Stephens, she relates how she heard servants gossiping about Mrs W, the talk made her rather nervous, yet when Virginia appeared, young Ann was totally charmed. So right away we begin to get the idea that the idea people had of Virginia Woolf was not always borne out by their later experiences of actually knowing or at least meeting her.
full review - https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
There are some big names in this book – another reason it is so readable – Vita Sackville West, T S Eliot, E M Forster, Christopher Isherwood, Rebecca West and David Cecil – to name just a few.
The collection opens with a lovely childhood memory from Ann Stephens, she relates how she heard servants gossiping about Mrs W, the talk made her rather nervous, yet when Virginia appeared, young Ann was totally charmed. So right away we begin to get the idea that the idea people had of Virginia Woolf was not always borne out by their later experiences of actually knowing or at least meeting her.
full review - https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
February 16, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It presents generally brief yet insightful protraits of Virginia Woolf by many of those who knew her best. It was interesting to read the number of instances of the various contributors noting the same particular aspects of Mrs. Woolf's appearance, character and personality. As one would expect, opinions and appreciations of her work were a bit more divergent.
The book concludes with a piece by E.M. Forster, who, as he states, "....knew her ever since she started writing". He provides a fitting summation on the book's final page: "Virginia Woolf got through an immense amount of work, she gave acute pleasure in new ways, she pushed the light of the English language a little further against the darkness."
The book concludes with a piece by E.M. Forster, who, as he states, "....knew her ever since she started writing". He provides a fitting summation on the book's final page: "Virginia Woolf got through an immense amount of work, she gave acute pleasure in new ways, she pushed the light of the English language a little further against the darkness."
July 12, 2016
Had this been longer, I would have given it a five star rating without a doubt.
September 9, 2007
an awesome resource for people who love virginia woolf.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews