Nicely said, Virginia.

Lately I've been finding myself a bit interested in Virginia Woolf. She keeps popping up in (seemingly) unrelated things I'm reading (last week it was a book for high schoolers on British economist John Maynard Keynes that I was indexing), so recently I got a book of her Collected Essays (vol. 2) from the library. And that's where I found this:

"But still we have our responsibilities as readers and even our importance. The standards we raise and the judgments we pass steal into the air and become part of the atmosphere which writers breathe as they work. An influence is created which tells upon them even if it never finds its way into print. And that influence, if it were well instructed, vigorous and individual and sincere, might be of great value now when criticism is necessarily in abeyance..."

She goes on to explain how readers, even more than reviewers, have a kind of responsibility to keep reading and to form thoughts about reading. But I wish more reviewers of all sorts would take her words to heart and review books in a way that is "vigorous and individual and sincere." Actually, that's not a bad mantra for trying to live one's life, I would think.

But she was barely done with that gem before she launched into this one: "I have sometimes dreamt, at least, that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards--their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble--the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, 'Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.'"

Both quotes are from an essay titled "How Should One Read a Book." Both make me want to read more Virginia Woolf. Both give reading its proper due. "They have loved reading." Says it all, really, doesn't it?

Comments

[Venta]

OMG. I could never get into her fiction, but I am definitely grabbing these essays. What a treasure both personally (i.e., heaven) and professionally (encouraging the buggers to read). Thanks again, CR,for finding these things. I know it's at the expense of the dandelions.

[Citizen Reader]

Venta,
I've never been able to read her fiction either. And not all of these essays will be for you either (they weren't for me). But when they're good...OH! And they're completely delicious to dip into at random. Her writing's both of her age--it makes you feel slightly stately and definitely living life at a different pace as you read it--but it's strangely modern too. Good stuff.

Let the dandelions live! I have a more important charge--to love reading.

[Jessica]

The only thing better in this world than reading Virginia Woolf is listening to Barbara Rosenblat reading her.

[Citizen Reader]

Jessica,
Hm, I can honestly say listening to Virginia's writing never crossed my mind. What titles does your favorite narrator narrate?

[robert brown]

If readers don't appreciate good books, then who will?

Sadly it seems ever more likely as we "progress" no one will.

I also have avoided Woolf.

Yet.

I was just perusing Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake" a few days ago, and decided I'd been a fool not to read it. Is it readily accessible? No. Is it a light, airy read? No. Are there idiosyncratic, unique joys in reading it anyway? Yes, yes, yes. G Stein's prose is no lazy Sunday cupcake, but I've found pleasures there, despite the vitriol of her detractors. Maybe I will add V Woolf to my short list of "read it anyways."

Maybe I've just been a fool all these years.

[Citizen Reader]

Robert,
Well, I KNOW I've been a fool lo these many years. On many questions of literature, and on even more non-literature issues.

I vaguely remember reading Stein's Alice B. Toklas and being completely confused, but also somewhat amused. It was a neat combination. Didn't leave me with much retention for the book, but sometimes you just have to read things for the moment too.

Good luck with Joyce, though. I have never and will never be able to appreciate Joyce. Sad but true. Just looking at his books makes me tired.

[Jessica]

I know she did "Orlando" and if we're lucky, she may have done others.

I'm virtually unable to drive without an audio book. It's the only way I can deal with the tailgaters and texters on our lovely California freeways. TG for Barbara Rosenblat and her posh, soothing tones.

[Lesbrarian]

I just love her diaries - they are so wonderful and comforting