(Adeline) Virginia Woolf was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.
During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929) with its famous dictum, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
I am always willing to read Woolf as I am always willing to eat yummy vegan cake; I know I'm going to enjoy it in the moment, in the act, not only after some mental mastication. Kew Gardens for example, is so dazzling, such prosepoem painting lozenges of light stained by the times, the war. I have read it four times with undiminished delight
The very funny satirical story 'A Society' whets the appetite marvellously for the searing feminist polemic of A Room of Ones Own and 'Lappin and Lapinova' seems to me a radical literary critique of the cult of masculinity, or at least of the atomising materialist zeitgeist of the era, very much associated with the highly gendered thrust of 'progress'
I valued highly the introduction to this edition and thorough notes, which guided me in understanding the allusions to sex work in 'The Shooting Party' and addressed the problematic piece 'The Duchess and the Jeweller'. It was also interesting to read how Woolf wrote her short fiction, very rapidly, while slogging at her novels (though he does not mention that she claimed in letters to be writing Orlando in the same manner - as a treat for herself, while working on heavier material) The only point I want to disagree with Bradshaw on is the ending of the title story, when I think the snail, with its hidden curve of vanishing infinitestimal chambers, far from being a disappointingly mundane end to the reverie, is highly symbolic in the context of memory and daydream.
I'd read most of these stories once or twice before, but they're just as delightful in revisiting - a wonderful reminder of how deliciously weird Woolf can be. Makes an amble around the park afterwards tremendously fun too as you can make up all sorts of Woolfish stories of your own for everyone you pass!
mid-tier rating because the stories were very hit-or-miss. Some reeked of psychological insularism, but some were very quirky fun reads e.g. Solid Objects, Kew Gardens, A Society.
Overall I agree with Zuzanna and hope Woolf鈥檚 novels outshine this.
Picked off the library shelf, just to prove to myself that I wasn't afraid of Virginia Woolf. In the Oxford World's Classics series, here is a collection of short fictional works, fifteen in all, that cover just one hundred pages. I am afraid. I'm afraid that most of these brief ephemeral, impressionistic pieces in this volume were not to my taste. Perhaps, it took me some time to adjust to the Woolf style, as I did engage with the later stories, e.g. 'The Shooting Party', 'The Duchess and the Jeweller', 'Lappin and Lapinova' and 'The Legacy'. Hopefully these early experimental short stories have not put me off reading her fuller novels.
Collection of short stories, most of them early work of Woolf. Some of them are really "virtuoso". Especially "The Mark on the Wall" was impressive. An excellent introduction to the work of Woolf.
Having been a 鈥榃oolf sceptic鈥� convinced that she was successful only because of her class and coterie I am now a Woolf fan. I had never read any of her short stories but wanted a break from reading her novels so picked this delightful short collection up. Although several of these stories are little more than brief experiments in a new style of writing: impressionistic, non-linear, multiple points of view; the majority are wonderful examples of what one can do with a short story. There are four stand outs for me: The Lady in the Looking Glass, The Shooting Party, The Duchess and the Jeweller and Lappin and Lappinova. These stories have a Gothic, fairy tale quality which I particularly enjoyed and which led me to suppose that Angela Carter had a familiarity with them. Since reading this collection I have returned again and again to them, turning them over in my mind as John does his lumps of glass and stones in another clever and insightful tale called, aptly enough Solid Objects. I also regard Woolf as demonstrating how important titles are. There were at least two stories that I would have struggled to understand if not for their titles. Titles are also very important in poetry and there are several pieces in this collection that I would classify as prose poetry and I do wonder why Woolf never wrote poetry per se.
Cada conto de Virg铆nia 茅 uma sutil porrada. Atrav茅s de suaves luzes em um jardim ou da "transpar锚ncia dissolvente" de uma festa, por exemplo, somos colocados diante da loucura ou das normas sociais. A cada hist贸ria uma vasta gama de quest玫es humanas se revela atrav茅s das situa莽玫es mais banais e ef锚meras. Um simples olhar para um parafuso no ch茫o; um holofote que ilumina a noite; ou, como no conto que nomeia a colet芒nea, uma misteriosa marca na parede - tudo isso comp玫e as molduras nas quais a autora imprime sua singela vis茫o do mundo. E que percep莽茫o do real essa mulher tinha! Quero acreditar que ela realmente dispunha de tal sensibilidade. Quero acreditar que ela de fato era capaz sentir a beleza dos reflexos coloridos de Kew Gardens; de compreender o outro, como J煤lia o faz com Fanny Wilmot; ou de vislumbrar a esperan莽osa simplicidade de Mabel. Quero acreditar que ela tenha sido mais Mrs. Dalloway do que Septimus Warren Smith (personagens de seu outro romance mas que, por sinal, aparecem nos contos: Clarissa de forma evidente e Septimus veladamente). Dessa forma, talvez, seu sofrimento tenha sido mais suport谩vel.
I actually read these writings in a book with a different title. It felt like a more authentic experience - reading the collection of short stories in the sequence in which they were published. This was important to me. Please take a look at my review of here: /review/show....
However, readers should note that this collection publishes three short compositions not included in the aforementioned, reviewed and favoured book. This book also includes: Blue and Green; A Society; and, In The Orchard, an extensive introduction, a chronology of Virginia Woolf, and some explanatory notes. Leonard Woolf's introduction is not included. I am, nevertheless, pleased to have read the three short pieces, of which I most appreciated In The Orchard for its daydream-like, mind-wandering, phantasmagoric qualities.