The Complete Shorter Fiction [Hardcover]

Virginia Woolf (Author), Susan Dick (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 1985

Woolf continually used stories and sketches to experiment with narrative models and themes for her novels. This collection of nearly fifty pieces brings together the contents of two published volumes, A Haunted House and Mrs. Dalloway’s Party; a number of uncollected stories; and several previously unpublished pieces. Edited and with an Introduction by Susan Dick.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Never before collected in a single volume, Woolf's 46 short stories demonstrate her fondness for experimenting with narrative forms and voices. Arranged chronologically, the pieces range from tales with traditional plot lines to denser interior monologues, and enable the reader to appreciate Woolf's development as a writer of fiction. In her fine introduction, Dick, a professor at Canada's Queen's University, notes that Woolf used her short fiction as a "testing ground" for her novels, and this becomes evident. (Clarissa Dalloway appears in a number of the stories, either running errands or entertaining at home.) Woolf's many guisesincluding the feminist, the social commentator, the biting witsurface in turn here, and the composite portrait that emerges is extremely satisfying. Woolf scholars and collectors of her work will welcome the inclusion of a number of previously unpublished stories. First serial to Harper's and The American Poetry Review. Foreign rights: Hogarth Press. January 10
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Woolf's short stories originally appeared in various magazines and anthologies, often sloppily or intrusively edited. The 45 texts collected here were carefully prepared by Susan Dick after comparison of all surviving manuscript and printed versions; 17 have never before been published, assuring this volume an important place in the Woolf canon. The earliest pieces date from 1906 and the last were in progress when Woolf drowned herself in 1941. Taken together, they show the evolution of Woolf's experimental methods and the origin of some of the major themes in her novels. Dick's meticulous but unobtrusive editing gives us for the first time a reliable text for some of Woolf's best writing. Michael Edmonds, State Historical Soc. of Wisconsin, Madison
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: The Hogarth Press Ltd; First (British) Edition edition (September 19, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0701206438
• ISBN-13: 978-0701206437
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,936,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882-1941) was one of the major literary figures of the twentieth century. An admired literary critic, she authored many essays, letters, journals, and short stories in addition to her groundbreaking novels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful first steps to understanding Woolf, June 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf: Second Edition (Paperback)

Woolf is not typically known as a writer of short stories -- "sketches" as she called them. However, the short fiction that she wrote provides a wonderful introduction to her narrative style. The early "Mark on the Wall," "Kew Gardens," and "An Unwritten Novel" give to the reader a sense of how Woolf's technique works within a smaller package than the usual assigned Woolf reading. Her feminist (apologies to VW since she considered the word dead once women were able to earn a living) leanings come through in "A Society" and "Moments of Being: 'Slater's Pins have no Points'." Woolf's early sketches are where she formed her interior monologue style, within which one thing leads to another as the work progresses. These short fiction works should be required reading for anyone delving into Woolf. Possibly those who read these sketches before they dive into the novels would understand a bit better of what Woolf's fiction is made. Excellent.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lady in the Looking Glass, May 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf: Second Edition (Paperback)

My favorite story in this collection is "The Lady in the Lookinglass." This story contains a powerful image: the yearning to completely comprehend another person. Such longing, as the narrator distinguishes, is not desire for "dinners and visits and polite conversations," nor "things she talked about at dinner," but something deeper, "her profounder state of being that one wanted to catch and turn to words."

On one hand, Isabella represents a synecdoche. If the narrator understands her deeply enough, he could "know everything there was to be known about Isabella," but also life, and perhaps all persons as well.

On the other hand, perhaps Isabella objectifies the inability of one person to scale walls of privacy and anonymity another erects to protect herself from intimacy.

Our sympathy straddles that wall, perhaps lying first with Isabella who veils herself, then with the narrator who longs to know her. We aren't shown why Isabella has become the trembling convolvulus. But no one's face should reflect "masklike indifference." The phrase is not congruous -- the need to mask is anything but indifferent. And can't we concede tragedy to anyone who, after 50-60 years, remains a person for whom another can claim, "The comparison showed how very little, after all these years, one knew about her; for it is impossible that any woman of flesh and blood of fifty-five or sixty should be really a wreath or a tendril"? This is a heartbreaking image.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as Enjoyable as her Novels, April 25, 2004

By 

Megan A. Burns "meganaburns" (new orleans, louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf: Second Edition (Paperback)

This book is great if you have read all of her novels or have yet to pick up one. It can introduce you to Woolf's style or if you already know what a wonderful writer she is, it will continue to entertain you. These short stories also let you see how she developed some of her novels as well as her style throughout her life. She was unbelievably dedicated to her writing, and this book makes her efforts clear.