My final book for 1937 is one which I was really looking forward to revisiting; it’s by a favourite author, but it’s one of her titles I suspect I’ve only read once, and that was longer ago than I’d care to acknowledge… I am, of course, talking about the truly wonderful Virginia Woolf and her book “The Years”.
As I’ve no doubt rambled on about in the past, I first discovered her work in my early twenties and read everything I could get hold of (including the diaries and letters). She’s one of my favourite authors, and I’ve re-read some titles more than once (“Mrs Dalloway”, “To the Lighthouse”. “Flush” and “Orlando” spring to mind). However, there are others that I’ve only read the one time (as far as I can remember) and “The Years” is one of those. So I was going into it cold, in effect, with no real memory of the book or what it was about or what to expect. And I made a point of avoiding introductions or reading about it so I could have a pure experience; and in many ways it was like reading the book for the first time again, and I was equally blown away by it!
“The Years” tells the story of the extended Pargiter family over a period of time ranging for 1880 to what is designated as ‘The Present Day’ (so presumably in the 1930s), and as the book opens we’re introduced to the Colonel Abel Pargiter side; central to the story will be eldest daughter Eleanor, who’s somewhat in charge of household matters at the moment, as her mother Rose is ill in bed, dying. She has sisters, Milly, Rose and Delia; and brothers Martin, Morris and Edward. We meet each of these characters in the first section, finding out a little about them. Eleanor does good works; teenager Delia feels trapped by her mother’s illness and longs for her death; Martin is already a practicing barrister; Edward is studying at Oxford, and is in love with his cousin Kitty, who will also feature throughout the book. Ten year old Rose sneaks out to the toy shop but is frightened on the way home by a man exposing himself. Already, the patterns laid down for male and female in this Victorian world are clear.
The uproar, the confusion, the space of the Strand came upon her with a shock of relief. She felt herself expand. It was still daylight here; a rush, a stir, a turmoil of variegated life came racing towards her. It was as if something had broken loose—in her, in the world. She seemed, after her concentration, to be dissipated, tossed about. She wandered along the Strand, looking with pleasure at the racing street; at the shops full of bright chains and leather cases; at the white-faced churches; at the irregular jagged roofs laced across and across with wires. Above was the dazzle of a watery but gleaming sky. The wind blew in her face. She breathed in a gulp of fresh wet air. And that man, she thought, thinking of the dark little Court and its cut-out faces, has to sit there all day, every day. She saw Sanders Curry again, lying back in his great chair, with his face falling in folds of iron. Every day, all day, she thought, arguing points of law. How could Morris stand it? But he had always wanted to go to the Bar.
However, instead of using a simple, linear narrative, Woolf jumps ahead in each of her sections, focusing on a particular year and following her characters through the changes of their lives. We meet the cousins, children of Sir Digby Pargiter and his wife Eugenie; these are Magdalena (Maggie) and Sara (Sally), and the trajectories of their lives will be somewhat different to those of their relatives. Other characters feature, friends and servants and contacts, but always we return to the two families and the changes in their lives as society changes around them. World War 1 will affect some; others will travel abroad; marriages will take place which might not be the expected ones; and meanwhile the crowded dance of modern life, which Woolf always captured so brilliantly, continues. The book ends with an extended set piece in the then present day, a party attended by the surviving Pargiters where they’re contrasted with the younger generation and contemplate the modern world.
My life, she said to herself. That was odd, it was the second time that evening that somebody had talked about her life. And I haven’t got one, she thought. Oughtn’t a life to be something you could handle and produce?—a life of seventy odd years. But I’ve only the present moment, she thought. Here she was alive, now, listening to the fox-trot.
That’s a fairly simplistic summary of what is a deep, rich and quite wonderful book; and my experience of re-reading it has made me wish I went back to Woolf’s work more frequently. “The Years” is quite brilliantly constructed, and the clever way she moves forward in time for each section works wonderfully. Each is introduced by what I would call one of her panoramic sequences, where she notes the season of the year and casts her narrative eye over London and the countryside, summing up and describing the weather, what people are doing and how she sees the world. These are quite brilliant, and there are sequences like this in “Mrs Dalloway”, which frankly were what first convinced me of her genius.
She sat still for a moment; then undressed and paused with her hand on the blind. The train had got into its stride now; it was rushing at full speed through the country. A few distant lights twinkled here and there. Black clumps of trees stood in the grey summer fields; the fields were full of summer grasses. The light from the engine lit up a quiet group of cows; and a hedge of hawthorn. They were in open country now.
Woolf’s writing is just stunning in this book, as always, and I make no apology for including several quotes; I could have filled several posts with her words. She captures the interior and often fragmented thought processes of her characters, encompasses major events (death of the King, war, the Irish Problem), and takes the reader on a journey through the changing times over a period of 50 or so years. It’s a remarkable achievement, and quite unforgettable.
Yet, once again, I I found Woolf remarkably easy to read. Her prose is so beautiful it just hypnotises you, and I do wonder why she has a reputation for being difficult (or perhaps I’m just attuned to her writing?) Woolf’s intention was, I believe, to reflect the differing options for men and women, and how this changed over the years; certainly, in the early sections of the book, the female characters have a very narrow, proscribed set of life choices; and it’s only in the later parts that their opportunities widen, though marriage still seems to be considered the main choice. But Eleanor is restricted to good works; Kitty marries for money, as far as I can tell, despite loving someone else, and being attracted to a different way of life; and Maggie and Sally end up in unpromising lodgings with limited incomes. As well as being a beautiful read, there’s also much food for thought in “The Years”.
As I suspected, I remembered nothing of “The Years”, so it really was like reading it for the first time, and as always with Woolf I ended the book stunned. It was her penultimate novel and the last published in her lifetime, and I chose to pick up a Wordsworth Classics edition ((here collected with her last novel, “Between the Acts”); my original copy is too fragile and crumbly to risk reading. Interestingly, there were notes and annotations in this which aren’t of course in my 1980s original copy! I found that they were mostly unnecessary for me, but I guess a younger reader might find them helpful.
So reading “The Years” has been one of the highlights of what has been a really marvellous reading week for the #1937Club. I always reckon Virginia Woolf as one of my favourite authors, and this book has reminded me how much I love her writing. I’m definitely going to have to go back to some of the other titles I’ve not revisited in decades, but in the meantime I’m so happy to have ended our club week with some a wonderful book!
*****
As a coda, I wanted to give a little more background to “The Years” and comment on another book I’ve read alongside it. You see, my understanding is that Woolf’s original plan was not simply to write a novel, but to try something more audacious, along the lines of what she called a ‘novel-essay’. Embarking on this in 1932, she created a series of draft essays which were to be interspersed with extracts from a novel “The Pargiters”; these would be used to illustrate her points about what life was like for men and women, and how their experiences and opportunities differed so widely. This plan never came to fruition and instead she went on to write “The Years”.
However, her original intention has been recreated as far as possible by Mitchell A. Leaska and was published under the title of “The Pargiters: The Novel-Essay Portion of The Years”. I was so embroiled in Woolf that I picked this up straight after finishing “The Years” and I do think this is the best time to read it. “Pargiters” makes fascinating reading, as the focus is on the events of 1880 (opening) section of the final novel, and the essays expand on what was trying to say in her book. The chapter extracts are extraordinary as they have variant events, explore options which were abandoned in the final book and generally add much to any reading of “The Years”. Of course, the latter is such a brilliant book that it stands proudly on its own; but as a Woolf obsessive/completist, reading “The Pargiters” was an essential experience.
So I have ended our #1937Club week just as convinced as I ever was about the genius of Virginia Woolf. This post is probably much too long already, but it only scratches the surface of her work, and I could go on and on about her – but I’ll stop here. I’m just happy to have spent some wonderful hours lost on the prose of one of my favourite authors; a wonderful way to end our reading week!
Marina Sofia
Apr 21, 2024 @ 07:22:09
What a coincidence – I’ll also be posting a review of The Years later today, although it feels like a superficial poor relation compared to this one. Like you, I’d only read it once previously and didn’t rate it as highly as her other works, but this time I found it mesmerising!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 21, 2024 @ 11:46:04
That’s kind, but I’m sure your thoughts will be equally interesting. I think I was the same as you – I definitely didn’t read so deeply back in the day, and I found so much more in the book this time – plus her writing is always so stunning!
Claire 'Word by Word'
Apr 21, 2024 @ 07:59:02
A wonderful description of re-encountering Woolf, how fabulous to love it so much as if reafing it anew, a sign too of evolving as a reader.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 21, 2024 @ 11:44:08
Thank you, and exactly that – I was in my early 20s when I first read her and of course so much time (and reading!) has gone under the bridge that my responses are very very different. But it’s lovely to read the books as if for the first time!!
griffandsarahthomas
Apr 21, 2024 @ 09:40:13
I’m so pleased you managed to get to The Years to finish off the 1937 review. I think you have masterfully managed to capture the essence of what makes it a truly wonderful book. I baulked at the thought of writing about it after I finished it because I really felt I could not possibly do it justice. Like you, I thought the opening descriptive passages with the panoramic scenes of nature and the different locations were amazing. There was so much to reflect on too with the various themes and issues raised in the individual’s different perspectives and ways of dealing with living through their times – definitely a book to repay rereading.
I did not know about The Pargiters book; I’ve just ordered a copy from the library (hooray!).
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 21, 2024 @ 11:43:21
Thank you – that’s so kind of you to say so. I always feel totally inadequate writing about Woolf, but that thing she does with the panoramic scenes is brilliant, and she does it in other works too. I’ve come to realise that though I hoovered up so many books in my early years, I wasn’t really doing them justice and they really do deserve revisits.
And good news about The Pargiters – you do have an excellent library!
madamebibilophile
Apr 21, 2024 @ 10:36:36
Wonderful review Kaggsy! I’ve also posted on The Years today. I’ve not read the novel-essay and it sounds fascinating to read alongside.
I’m very fond of those old Granada editions even though they are a bit fragile these days! They were the editions my mother had so the first I read 🙂
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 21, 2024 @ 11:40:52
Thanks Madame B – I’ll look forward to your thoughts. I loved The Years and it stands just fine on its own, but The Pargiters is an interesting book to read with it. I loved both.
As for the Granada editions, all of my original Woolfs are in these, but I’m very scared to mess them up. They’re lovely though!
Jane
Apr 21, 2024 @ 10:43:10
I read through the novels in chronological order (with the diaries) a few years ago and when I finished The Waves I wished I had known more about the characters, The Years was the book that I thought came closest to what I wanted – the inner lives of the characters but with more ‘everyday’ setting, I don’t quite know how to describe it, except to say that I found it a very satisfying read!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 21, 2024 @ 11:35:36
That’s a lovely way to read Woolf. I read the novels in order too, after discovering Mrs. Dalloway, but the diaries weren’t available at that time. I must go back to The Waves but admit to being a little nervous. The Waves turned out to be a wonderful read, and it was lovely in a way to remember nothing about it!!
Margot Kinberg
Apr 21, 2024 @ 12:06:14
I think that’s the thing about writing like this. It’s superficially simple, but underneath, you find layers of so very much more. That, in my opinion, is where the richness really comes from.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 21, 2024 @ 12:16:52
I agree, Margot – Woolf can have this reputation for being difficult but I think her prose is beautiful and easy to read. And yes, there’s so much underneath the surface!
Janette
Apr 21, 2024 @ 17:43:04
I’ve only ever read Mrs Dalloway but this review and the quotes have definitely made me interested in reading more by Virginia Woolf.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 22, 2024 @ 11:07:58
I definitely recommend doing so! Mrs. D was my first Woolf and it knocked me out, but I love all of her other books too. I wish I had time to do a chronological re-read!!
1streading
Apr 21, 2024 @ 19:51:57
I’ve seen a few reviews of The Years and it has definitely had the effect of making me want to read it again!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 22, 2024 @ 11:06:28
I recommend doing so, Grant – such a great book and I read it with different eyes this time round.
#1937Club: your reviews! – Stuck in a Book
Apr 21, 2024 @ 19:59:28
Calmgrove
Apr 21, 2024 @ 20:32:27
What a splendid finale to #1937Club, Karen – so many brilliant reviews of brilliant books, and so fitting that you (and now Marina Sofia) have reviewed a classic book covering a long period of time. And you’ve made me even more determined to get to this book! Great quotes and background info, thanks. 🙂
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 22, 2024 @ 11:05:46
Reading this one was definitely a highlight of the week, Chris, and I do recommend it – so beautifully written, as always, and so sweeping in its scope yet somehow in a quiet way.
Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham – The 1937 Club | Pining for the West
Apr 21, 2024 @ 21:09:50
heavenali
Apr 23, 2024 @ 17:32:00
I’ve just read 2 other reviews of this. Such a great choice for the 1937 club. This was the last Woolf novel I read a couple of years ago and I enjoyed it more than I expected. The writing is beautiful of course but I really enjoyed the sense of time passing and the stories of a family over years.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 24, 2024 @ 20:59:04
It’s so good isn’t it? I love the way she handles changes in time and the writing is of course stunning. I’m so glad this came up for 1937.
Tony
Apr 24, 2024 @ 11:50:56
I’ve had a copy of this on the shelves forever, one of the few Woolf novels I haven’t read – definitely something that needs to be remedied sooner rather than late…
kaggsysbookishramblings
Apr 24, 2024 @ 20:54:48
Definitely – I loved it! Her prose is just like no-one else!!
Marcie McCauley
May 13, 2024 @ 16:58:00
In my thirties I enjoyed a lovely immersion in Woolf’s letters, bio’s, novels and it was quite an experience. I thought I’d finished reading her books but it seems had missed The Years and Between the Acts (which I plan to finish this year, but I couldn’t find my copy of The Years when the week rolled ’round and I still want to finish them in order). For those who are interested in the novel-essay, it’s also available via Open Library, in two different editions (to read online, in a digital facsimile) and I hope I remember that when I finally get to The Years. Thanks for that!
kaggsysbookishramblings
May 13, 2024 @ 20:21:38
I did the same in my 20s and was thoroughly obsessed with her. Happily, her work has stood up to the revisits I’ve made over the decades! I enjoyed The Years hugely, and Between the Acts too when I re-read it. And thanks for the info re the novel-essay, that’s good to know!