[lit-ideas] The Ouse and Virginia
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 09:11:04 EDT
In a message dated 9/27/2004 11:08:55 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Virginia Stephen, as a more enlightened era might spell her name, lived in a
cottage near where the University of Sussex now can be found. You'll find
it by taking the Piddinhoe road to the north and west out of Newhaven, and
passing through Southease. You'll then see the National Trust sign which
leads you to the home. If you reach Rodmell, you've gone too far. I'd
guess the body drifted between two and four miles.
-----
Thanks. Yes, I corresponded once with the custodian at the now National
Trust property. Nice little cottage. Of course, all that features in the recent
Nicole Kidman feature, _The Hours_. Unfortunately, the novel and the script are
not to (my) hand, and cannot consult, but Cunningham seems to make good use
of the authentic Woolf material. The reference in the book _The English
Channel_ is rather brief:
"The Cuckmere River then breaks out of a rather private
valley that was much appreciated by smugglers,
Virginia Woolf, and other crowd-shunners. The entrance
to Cuckmere Haven is sheltered by Seaford Head, ..."
(N. Calder, The English Channel, p. 241).
Of course, technically, Woolf was not really a crowd-shunner. More of a
sociopath. She would have rather stayed in London, and one of the most dramatic
scenes in _The Hours_ is when she leaves the cottage and heads to the local
train station to head for London. She is intercepted by Mr. Woolf. I wouldn't
say Mr. Woolf was the crowd-shunner either. Apparently, it was for a _medical_
reason that the Woolfs were advised to move to this area.
Apparently, Woolf (Virginia) put some heavy stones in the pockets
of the dress she was wearing, so it would be interesting to check how many
miles the body drifted. I understand it (or she) had gone missed for a couple
days before Mr. Woolf (and Vanessa Bell) were reported of the macabre finding.
Some documents from some online sources, below.
Cheers,
JL
----
In his autobiography, The Journey, _Leonard Woolf_
(http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUwoolf.htm) described the suicide of
Virginia Woolf (1969):
On Friday, March 28, 1941, I was in the garden and I thought she was in the
house. But when at one o'clock I went in to lunch, she was not there. When I
could not find her anywhere in the house or garden, I felt sure that she had
gone down to the river. I ran across the fields down to the river and almost
immediately found her walking-stick lying upon the bank. I searched for some
time and then went back to the house and informed the police. It was three
weeks before her body was found when some children saw it floating in the
river.
Virginia Woolf, letter to _Leonard Woolf_
(http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUwoolf.htm) (28th March, 1941). I feel
certain that I am going mad
again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I
shan't
recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am
doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible
happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think
two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can't
fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you
could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I
can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you.
You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that
- everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you.
Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on
spoiling your life any longer.
_Francis Partridge_ (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WpartridgeF.htm) ,
diary entry concerning the death of Virginia Woolf (8th April, 1941) Sat out
on the verandah, trying to write to Clive (Bell) in answer to his letter
about Virginia's death. He says: "For some days, of course, we hoped against
hope that she had wandered crazily away and might be discovered a barn or a
village shop. But by now all hope is abandoned. It became evident some weeks
ago
that she was in for another of those long agonizing breakdowns of which she
has had several already. The prospect - two years insanity, then to wake up to
the sort of world which two years of war will have made, was such that I
can't feel sure that she was unwise. Leonard, as you may suppose, is very calm
and sensible. Vanessa is, apparently at least, less affected than Duncan,
Ouentin and I had looked for and feared. I dreaded some such physical collapse
as
before her after Julian was killed. For the rest of us the loss is
appalling, but like all unhappiness that comes of missing , I suspect we shall
realize
it only bit by bit."
_Henry (Chips) Channon_
(http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRchannonH.htm) , diary entry (5th April,
1941). Virginia Woolf is dead, a grey,
highly-strung woman of dignity and charm; but she was unstable and often had
periods of
madness. She led the Bloomsbury movement, did much indirectly to make
England so Left - yet she always remained a lady, and was never violent. She
could
not stand human contacts, and people fatigued her.
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