Volume 26, Number 21 & 22 · January 24, 1980
The Sad Years
By Phyllis Grosskurth
The Letters of Virginia Woolf Volume V: 1932-1935
edited by Nigel Nicolson, edited by Joanne Trautmann
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 476 pp., $14.95
The Wise Virgins: A Story of Words, Opinions and a few Emotions
by Leonard Woolf
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 247 pp., $9.95
Virginia Woolf could be icily curt about the phenomenon of 'Bloomsbury' emerging during her lifetime. On March 19, 1932, she told an American academic, Harmon H. Goldstone, that 'the name 'Bloomsbury Group' is merely a journalistic phrase which has no meaning that I am aware of.' To the same academic's persistent queries, she replied on August 16, 1932: 'The Bloomsbury Period. I do not want to impose my own views, but I feel that Bloomsbury is a word that stands for very little. The Bloomsbury group is largely a creation of the journalists. To dwell upon Bloomsbury as an influence is liable to lead to judgments that, as far as I know have no basis in fact.' Harmon H. Goldstone must have been very obtuse indeed if he could not detect the tone of the final dismissive comment: 'I am sorry not to be more helpful; but as I think I have already said, I am sure you will write better if you are fettered as little as possible by the views of the author.'
Review, 3064 words
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