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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quality not Quantity, 17 Jul 2003
Carlyle’s House and Other Sketches is drawn from Woolf’s notebook of 1909, which was discovered at the bottom of a draw in Birmingham last year.
It is a slim, beautifully produced volume, of which the writer’s actual words only fill approximately one quarter. The disappointment any prospective reader may feel upon realising this is amply made up for by the quality of the rest of the book. Doris Lessing has written a fresh and insightful foreword and there are comprehensive notes and editorial comment for which David Bradshaw draws upon his encyclopaedic knowledge and sympathetic understanding of Woolf. Their writing is interesting and well balanced, with none of the tendency toward fawning and pedestal worship that is common among many of today’s ‘Woolfians’. The sketches are valued for what they are – word ‘drawings’ such as an artist would make in a sketchbook to look back on for inspiration and information, as Woolf herself described her notebooks.
The seven sketches within the notebook were written during a year which, as David Bradshaw points out, was a difficult one for Woolf and this shows in her writing – the tone is somewhat acerbic and critical. They seem almost deliberately so, as if Woolf is perversely determined to sketch with an emphasised line, particularly in Jews (offensive to the contemporary eye, and probably unpleasant but not unusual in 1909) and Miss Reeves. The sketches serve as a behind the scenes glimpse of Woolf’s working mind – one can tell that she is honing her characterisation and descriptive skills for the future.
The writing is enjoyable, especially for those who know a little of Virginia Woolf’s world, and very typical – her prose sparkles naturally as she digs deep into her subjects in her endeavour to pin down human behaviour. She writes about events and people she meets in her day to day life – a tea party at Cambridge, an evening at Lady Ottoline Morrell’s salon – as well as a visit to the divorce courts and, of course, Carlyle’s House.
One must remember that these sketches weren’t for public consumption in their original state – they were aids to memory and would be drawn upon, but not published as they are. Also, her views mellowed with age and experience. This may lead readers to wonder whether they should have been published at all – would Leonard Woolf have published them, for example, as her literary executor? Probably not, but the publication today is of much more importance, due to the popularity of Woolf and the large number of people who study her, than it would have been in the years between Woolf’s death and Leonard’s.
I believe that this is a very worthwhile publication, but it is especially pertinent to those who have already read and enjoyed her work and would like to learn more about the process of her writing. For those who haven’t read Woolf or know little about her I would suggest Virginia Woolf by Nigel Nicolson, which is an excellent and concise biography and Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse an introduction to her writing.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Carlyle's House, 1 Feb 2004
This part of her journal prevously unpublished, shows an extremely embittered Virginia Woolfe, ready to critise and slow to praise. However for all admirers of her work, these short sketches give a very penetrating insight into a Virginia Woolfe going through a period in life where everything seemed to be against her. Although harshly negative in substance, the strength of character of the author comes through.
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by Virginia Woolf
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