Another author that I seem to have completely overlooked so far in my reading is Virginia Woolf. She's one of those people that I've always heard of and thought that I ought to get round to reading, but never managed it. I think I even have one of her books somewhere up in the piles in the attic, but it's just never reached the top of the pile.
It was only when I started reading Susan Sellers' Vanessa and Virginia that I realised just how little I knew about her. Having been at University just around the corner I was familiar with the fact that she lived in Bloomsbury and was part of a larger group of artistic types that hung around there together, but that really was the limit of my knowledge. As a result I found Vanessa and Virginia quite difficult to get into. The book launches you in quite quickly and I found myself floundering a little as I tried to get my head around exactly who was who and even to understand that it was Vanessa telling us the story. At first I somehow had it in my head that they were swapping narrative with each short section. No wonder I was confused!
About 50 pages in though suddenly the Bloomsbury fog seemed to lift and there was no stopping me from that point on. The characters seemed to come alive at the point for me and I found it so much easier to get to grips with the emotions that Vanessa was describing and how everything fit together.
I had heard before of the liberal life that many of that generation lived, especially when it came to marriage and sex, yet to see everything written down and the difficult emotions that Vanessa had to content with as part of this life was somewhat shocking for me. Any woman who can share a house with her lover (who has fathered one of her children, but is not her husband who pretends to be the father of all three) and her lover's male lover is someone that I certainly couldn't be. The pain the Vanessa felt in this situation was really quite raw, yet she was also so in love that she saw this as being better than being on her own. It's a whole world away from married life as I know it!
One thing this book did do was make me hungry to find out more about Vanessa, her sister and the rest of the Bloomsbury set. The internet is wonderful in this way, but I definitely feel that I have much more reading to do. Not only Woolf's novels, but also more on the woman herself and those she sent time with. Luckily the wonderful dovegreyreader seems to have already provided me with a reading list to start this education with. Quite how quickly I can get through them all though will be a different matter!
Time now though to head over to Other Stories to see what everyone else made of it and to work out what major themes I managed to miss this time!
Rattling On says
This is a subject that could keep you busy for years. This book http://www.amazon.com/Virginia-Woolf-Hermione-Lee/dp/0375701362 is excellent, I read it several years ago, and borrowed it from the library. Trouble is… you then move onto her husband, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant…as I say, years of fun!!
Mrs C says
I feared that this would happen. I get the impression that my whole life could now be turned over to all things Woolf related! 🙂
Kirsty (Other Stories) says
It’s easily done. I had a year or so where I read lots and lots of Woolf stuff, then had to give myself a break! I think this novel has kicked me off again!