First up today, I need to confess about a rather foolish faux pas I made when I was trailing possible reads for 1920 (and if you read the post you may well know what I mean!) For some unknown reason, I got it into my head that Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” was published in 1920, which is of course rubbish – the book came out in 1925! Nevertheless, there it is in the picture I shared of possibles, so silly me!
I’m not sure if I had actually intended a re-read however; but this did make me wonder what Woolf there *was* from 1920, and a little researching revealed a couple of short stories which I decided to revisit. Both are in a collection of “Selected Short Stories” I posted about a while back, but I thought I would look at these in more detail.
The stories are “Solid Objects” and “An Unwritten Novel“; the latter appeared in “Monday or Tuesday”, and both were issues posthumously in the “A Haunted House” collection. Although written in the same year, these stories have very different subject matter and a very different feel, but both are haunting.
“Solid Objects” is more of what you might call a traditional story, telling of two young men, Charles and John, whose lives diverge in unexpected ways after John finds a stone on the beach which he takes home with him. His fascination with objects becomes a consuming passion and overtakes everything else in his life in a quite chilling fashion. In just over six pages, Woolf weaves a narrative that captures a man’s obsession in beautiful prose.
The second piece, “An Unwritten Novel” is a little more unusual as despite being described as fiction, the reader can’t help but regarding this as a glimpse of Woolf’s mind at play. The narrator is travelling by train to the south coast, just as would have Woolf, and on her journey spins stories around a fellow passenger, inventing a whole life for her based on her appearance alone and what she can read from this and the woman’s face. She gives her a name, a family, a whole background, and these flights of fancy are the unwritten novel of the title. These illusions may be shattered, but for a while the character of Minnie Marsh, developed by Woolf’s genius, exists.
It’s an intriguing and again beautifully written work, and as it portrays a novelist at work it’s impossible not to conflate it with Virginia Woolf herself. The story seems to arrest Woolf at the moment of creation, allowing us an insight into how her mind works and how her art is formed, which is utterly fascinating.
Woolf’s writing is always stunning and both of these stories reminded me how much I love her prose, her vivid imagination, the fertility of her imagery and her way of sliding off at tangents but never losing her point. Even though the novels which are regarded as her finest were still ahead of her, Woolf was obviously already exploring different ways to write and tell stories, with wonderful results. I’m so glad our reading club made me focus on these two works and I’m getting the itch to start up some kind of Woolf re-reading project – if only there were more hours in the day! 😀
madamebibilophile
Apr 16, 2020 @ 07:36:34
I’ve never read Woolf’s short stories but I really should as I love her writing. These two sound very different, how interesting that she wrote them in the same year.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 16, 2020 @ 11:05:39
Her stories are wonderful and very varied, but often reflecting her experimentation – almost as if she was using them to try out techniques, maybe. Yes, these are very different – but both brilliant!
Lisa Hill
Apr 16, 2020 @ 09:53:40
*Snap* I was going to read some of Isaac Babel’s stories because I’d got it into my head that they were published in 1920.
No, they weren’t…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 16, 2020 @ 11:04:31
LOL! Glad it’s not just me that gets confused… ;D
Simon T
Apr 16, 2020 @ 10:00:36
Two of her stories I really love! It’s rare that someone is so brilliant at novels AND short stories, but of course our Ginny is.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 16, 2020 @ 11:03:12
She is – I think she was brilliant at everyting! 😀
Tredynas Days
Apr 16, 2020 @ 10:49:44
I’ve yet to read the short stories – have a volume sitting on the shelf. Am at a loss what to read next. All a bit surreal at present
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 16, 2020 @ 11:02:56
They are rather wonderful – but then I tend to think anything Woolf wrote was wonderful. It’s difficult at the moment to decide what to read, isn’t it? I’m going down the route of flinging myself into the first thing which takes my fancy and seeing if it works for me…
heavenali
Apr 16, 2020 @ 12:28:17
I have read some Woolf stories, and I remember An Unwritten Novel very well, but not so sure I have read Solid Objects, though I have The Haunted house stories somewhere so I must have it to look forward to.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 16, 2020 @ 16:21:21
Excellent! You probably read some short stories in your Woolfalong. They really are outstanding – but then I think that about everything she wrote!
Arti
Apr 16, 2020 @ 20:46:05
I’ve checked. All the stories from Flappers and Philosophers were published in 1920 and the collection, the book, was as well. Just posted my review on Ripple Effects. Short stories by Virginia Woolf sound very appealing, I’ll definitely check them out! And so are other Fitzgerald stories. Highly interesting!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 17, 2020 @ 09:41:30
Excellent. I love Fitzgerald and I wish I couldhave got round to reading him this week but alas that was not to be…
Arti
Apr 16, 2020 @ 20:48:33
oops sorry the above was the link to your post here. Here’s my review of Flappers and Philosophers on Ripple Effects. Thanks!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 17, 2020 @ 09:40:52
No probs! 😀
Linda
Apr 17, 2020 @ 06:47:35
This might be the only Woolf I don’t own so I definitely need to hunt it down soon.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 17, 2020 @ 09:39:14
Her short stories are just wonderful – can’t recommend them highly enough!
1streading
Apr 17, 2020 @ 11:20:01
I haven’t reads any of Woolf’s short fiction. I love Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse but I read The Waves a couple of weeks ago and really didn’t get much from it – possibly just read it at the wrong time.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 17, 2020 @ 16:58:46
It’s a really long time since I read The Waves, so I actually can’t say anything about it – but maybe it was just the wrong time as you say. Her short stories are as varied as her novels, as you might expect – and fascinating!
Jane
Apr 17, 2020 @ 15:41:27
You’ve inspired me to go and dig out some of her short stories and indulge myself, I agree with you about her experimenting and that’s one of the things I love about her – that she experiments in plain sight for us to see her mind working (or try too at least)
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 17, 2020 @ 16:56:32
Excellent! Her stories are wonderful, bite-sized pieces of Woolf genius – hope you enjoy them! 😀
Liz Dexter
Apr 18, 2020 @ 15:48:35
These sound fascinating – I don’t think I have any collections of her stories!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 18, 2020 @ 17:03:49
It’s worth tracking them down – there is a collected edition, I think, but you can probably get the individual collections too. She writes so beautifully!