Virginia Woolf: A Critical Memoir [Paperback]

Winifred Holtby (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826494439 | ISBN-13: 978-0826494436 | Publication Date: March 15, 2007

Holtby gives us Woolf the critic, the essayist and the experimental novelist in a critical memoir which is of particular interest as the work of one intelligent, though very different, novelist commenting on another. Holtby's careful reading of Woolf's work is set in the context of the debate between modernist and traditional writing in the 1920s and 1930s. Although Holtby greatly admires Woolf's art, she considers its limitations as an elite form that ignores the material conditions of everyday life and the consequent social responsibility expected of the novel. Choosing to write about Woolf as 'the author whose art seemed most of all removed from anything I could ever attempt, and whose experience was most alien to my own,' Holtby has written a candid appreciation of the complex, groundbreaking work of a contemporary writer at the height of her career.

Winifred Holtby was a novelist, journalist and social reformer, who campaigned for the causes of peace and sexual and racial equality. Her most famous work is the novel South Riding, published posthumously in 1936. She died in 1935.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Holtby provides an interesting and contemporaneous view of Woolf...But the primary reason to celebrate the reappearance of A Critical Memoir is that it allows those unfamiliar with it to introduce themselves to an author who ought to be more readily in print.'

~ Duncan Hamilton, Yorkshire Post

(Duncan Hamilton Yorkshire Post )

'Holtby' style is sharp, masterful and concise...She demonstrates a supreme grasp of the difference between modernist and traditionalist writing in the 1920s and 1930s....In fact, Holtby's short, artful critique of Woolf and her work, written with the benefit of having met the author, seems to get closer to revealing the "true Virginia" than many later attempts....Holtby's book has on the whole, stood the test of time...her excellent readings of Woolf's texts hold their ground among more recent studies and there is no better justification for a new edition of her book than [her] insightful conclusion on Woolf both as a writer and woman.'

~ Vanessa Curtis, The Independent on Sunday

(Vanessa Curtis Independent, The )

"Holtby's writes in a very clear, astute and uncluttered way"

(Stephen Barkway in Virginia Woolf Bulletin )

'Holtby provides an interesting and contemporaneous view of Woolf...But the primary reason to celebrate the reappearance of A Critical Memoir is that it allows those unfamiliar with it to introduce themselves to an author who ought to be more readily in print.'

~ Duncan Hamilton, Yorkshire Post

(, Yorkshire Post )

'Holtby' style is sharp, masterful and concise...She demonstrates a supreme grasp of the difference between modernist and traditionalist writing in the 1920s and 1930s....In fact, Holtby's short, artful critique of Woolf and her work, written with the benefit of having met the author, seems to get closer to revealing the "true Virginia" than many later attempts....Holtby's book has on the whole, stood the test of time...her excellent readings of Woolf's texts hold their ground among more recent studies and there is no better justification for a new edition of her book than [her] insightful conclusion on Woolf both as a writer and woman.'

~ Vanessa Curtis, The Independent on Sunday

(, Independent, The )

"Holtby's writes in a very clear, astute and uncluttered way"

(, )

About the Author

Winifred Holtby (1898-1935) was a novelist, journalist and social reformer, who campaigned for the causes of peace and feminism, and for the improvement of the working conditions of black workers in South Africa. She was a great friend of Vera Brittain who wrote a tribute to her in Testament of Friendship. Holtby's most famous, and lasting, work is her novel, South Riding, published posthumously in 1936.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826494439
• ISBN-13: 978-0826494436
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,521,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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