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Virginia Woolf virgina woolf, Expression of Love, LGBTQ+/ Androgyny,…

- - - - Melanie Micir, "The Sense of Unending: Revisiting Virginia Woolf's Orlando"
        In the sense of unending we see Micir explaining the extent to which Orlando was poking fun at the writers and biographers of the time. She explains the background behind this, as Woolf's father was a biographer, and elaborates of the techniques used.
        
        Dismisses the authenticity of a biography by writing a novel and labeling it so
        
        plays with intimacy and publicity, showing biographers of the time that this is something that makes an individual human but should also be respected (incorporates blank sections in the book open to the readers interpretation)
      - Melanie Micir, "The Sense of Unending: Revisiting Virginia Woolf's Orlando" Micir labels Orlando as "a genetic hybrid" because of the combination of social criticism, satire and fantasy in the form of a novel that "should be read as a biographical act."
        -"Genre and sexuality are here inexorably entwined: in rejecting the form of a standard biography, Woolf rejects the standard form of a legible life. Instead, she offers an alternative model of a human lifetime that is bound by the limits of imagination and desire rather than by somatic facts" (Micir,129).
      - Louise Westling, "Virginia Woolf and the Flesh of the World" (excerpt)
        "The Window" the long opening section of the novel carefully establishes the transcendent Platonic heritage of Western culture through the figure of Mr. Ramsay, a quintessential Victorian patriarch and philosopher who is a satiric portrait of Woolf s own father, Sir Leslie Stephen" (Westling, 860).
        Westling even goes as far as to say that Woolf is criticizing western concepts of space and reality. Instead of taking humans out of the equation, she responds by valuing the relationship between nature and human consciousness.
  - - - "In Search of our Mother's Gardens".
        Walker explains the way that people leave a legacy in whatever way they can. In her case, her mother used her beautiful flower gardens which she planted in whatever neighborhood they had to live in at the time. Also how this made her think about the incomplete legacies or the ones that did not make it through time because they were not created in a way or in a time that would help preserve them ex) the quilt in the Smithsonian (Walker, 407).
        
        "Then you may begin to comprehend the lives of our "crazy," "Sainted" mothers and grandmothers. The agony of the lives of women who might have been Poets, Novelists, Essayists, and Short-Story Writers (over a period of centuries), who diedvwith their real gifts stifled within them."
      - Melanie Micir, "The Sense of Unending: Revisiting Virginia Woolf's Orlando"
        Micir explains the connection between the character Orlando and Woolf's lover Vita. Argues that writing this biography was a way to extend her legacy and to tribute her, but also to acknowledge that like Orlando, her story was not over yet at the time of the publication and that she has the ability to continue this story through time.
        "I suggest that Woolf ’s pedagogical process extends beyond the text itself: in giving the biography back to Sackville-West on the day that it ends, historical time is folded into living time, and Woolf indicates that such intimate biographical practices can—and perhaps should—make a difference in the unfinished life and legacy of their subjects" (Micir, 129).
      - Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
        Mr. Ramsey has an obsession with leaving a mark, he fears that he will be mediocre in the world when it comes to his philosophy. He depends on Mrs. Ramsey to ease this fear, but still tends to project this fear upon the other people of the Isle including his own children.
      - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
        So much legacy is lost because of the hundreds of years in which women were not allowed to write and then the lack of publication and attention to their works when they were finally allowed to do so. Similar to the concept of untapped genius we see how few women authors are the ones forming the entire legacy of women in literature, and she points out that their ability to do so was indeed a privilege. “. For all the dinners are cooked; the plates and cups washed; the children sent to school and gone out into the world. Nothing remains of it all. All has vanished. No biography or history has a word to say about it. And the novels, without meaning to, inevitably lie” (Woolf, 75).
      - Stephen Daldry, dir., The Hours
        Richard is receiving an award for his poetry and Clarissa and Virginia are both writing a novel. Both are to an extent concerned about the marks they leave and the art they produce.
    - - In "In Search of our Mothers Gardens" Walker points out the culprit of the hundreds of years of art and legacy loss, and this is the social structure that allowed for slavery and continued to oppress women and people of color even after the end of it.
      - Alex Zwerdling, “Mrs. Dalloway’s Social System”
        Zwerdling responds to the question of whether Woolf's critique of the social system in Mrs. Dalloway is effective. He breaks down different ways that she approaches this criticism.
        -makes observations instead of direct commentary
        -contrasts the changing times of post war England with the stagnant upper class society
        -show the degree of compartmentalization used to hide the fact that there is an issue with unemployment and immigration threatening their position as well.
      - Louise Westling, "Virginia Woolf and the Flesh of the World" (excerpt)
        Westling explains the prevalent aspect of community used by Woolf in the novel To the Lighthouse. The community has a patriarch and a matriarch, Mr. Ramsey and Mrs. Ramsey, and their interactions with the rest of their community on the Isle are essential for Woolf to show how these can coexist with the intrinsic aspects of nature.
      - Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
        In Mrs. Dalloway Woolf focuses on the upper class with Clarissa Dalloway as the main character, although she does show side characters that are feeling the effects of the war such as Septimus, a war veteran. She wants to demonstrate the limitations of the upper class when it comes to conforming to society and also the irony of their political discussions as the choices being made have little impact on their own well being.
      - Virginia Woolf, Orlando
        Orlando is part of the upper class which in part allows her to have so much freedom when she does transition into a woman, but Orlando does experience different treatment due to this change, pointing out the sexism in society. She struggles to get her estate because of inheritance laws and it takes her marrying a man to be able to own it.
      - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
        Towards the end of the essay Woolf is proposing a utopian society in which gender is irrelevant to the production of art. Although it seems to be counterintuitive for a woman so set on increasing the number of female writers to want to erase gender, her argument is that erasing the idea of gender will lead to more people to just write and at the end that is the purpose.
- - - - Inheritance Laws
        
        Melanie Micir, "The Sense of Unending: Revisiting Virginia Woolf's Orlando"
        Explains how Orlando's inability to inherit is similar to the struggles faced by Vita when wanting to inherit the Knole house.
        
        Virginia Woolf, Orlando
        This is a big womens rights issue that Woolf wants to address because her lover Vita, who the character Orlando is based off of, was going through the same situation. In the book she ultimately allows Orlando to keep the estate by marrying Shelmerdine, but this is not what happened in real life with Vita as her uncle ends up inheriting her home.
      - Making Money
        
        Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
        Woolf really emphasizes the impact of women being able to make their own money. She is clear about the freedom that comes with income and how in order to have the time and freedom to write, one must have the money to continue.
        
        Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas
        Woolf advocated for women's rights in income and education, claiming that with the right tools they will be the ones to help prevent war. Also the value of money “In place of the admirations and antipathies which were often unconsciously dictated by the need of money she can declare her genuine likes and dislikes” (Woolf
      - Societal Expectations
        
        Alex Zwerdling, “Mrs. Dalloway’s Social System" Explains how Clarissa Dalloway has to hide herself in order to fit into the rigid constraints of upper class society in England.
        
        Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”
        Walker makes sure to mention the added obstacles of being a woman of color. Not only did none have to face the prejudice from race but also deal with the expectations of women.
        
        Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
        Societal expectations: Clarissa Dalloway is forced to confine herself to the societal expectations of the time. She marries Richard who although she may not feel as passionate about in comparison to peter walsh, is more dependable as he is involved in politics and proud of his position in the upper class. Walsh expresses jealousy “there's nothing in the world so bad for some women as marriage, he thought; and politics; and having a Conservative husband, like the admirable Richard” (Woolf, 47).
        
        Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse:
        Mrs. Ramsey serves as an example of the perfect matriarch in the time dealing with her husband's shortcomings while being a caring mother for her eight children and also being respected by even the most misogynistic characters in the isle.
- - - - "In Search of Our Mothers Gardens"Walker is clear just how heartbreaking it could be to have the desire to create art and to use that outlet. She uses examples of the abuse black women faced through slavery, and contrasted this with the desire to paint or make sculptures (Walker, 402).
      - Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
        Lily’s character demonstrates the impact of art and the end in which her art seems to bring back Mrs. Ramsey, a character which was very much missed after her death. “and of their anguish left, as antidote, a relief that was balm in itself, and also, but more mysteriously, a sense of some one there, of Mrs. Ramsay, relieved for a moment of the weight that the world had put on her, staying lightly by her side and then (for this was Mrs. Ramsay in all her beauty) raising to her forehead a wreath of white flowers with which she went”
      - Virginia Woolf, Orlando
        Orlando is a poet at heart and sees great value in art as he pays Nicholas Greene, a poet of the time, to even sponsors him to continue writing poems. “Had I a pension of three hundred pounds a year paid quarterly, I would live for Glawr alone. I would lie in bed every morning reading Cicero. I would imitate his style so that you couldn't tell the difference between us. That's what I call fine writing,' said Greene; 'that's what I call Glawr. But it's necessary to have a pension to do it” (Woolf).
      - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
        In a way Virginia Woolf states that while she loves women, she also loves art and she believes the best art- specifically literature and writing- could be created with this androgynous existance. ”My motives, let me admit, are partly selfish. Like most uneducated Englishwomen, I like reading—I like reading books in the bulk.…Therefore I would ask you to write all kinds of books, hesitating at no subject however trivial or however vast.”
      - Sally Potter, dir., Orlando
        In the film we can visually see the disappointment in Orlando when Greene makes fun of her poetry. She places such a large value on his opinion and admires his work, even sponsoring. Regardless of the humiliation she continues to provide money to him because she genuinely values the art produced.
  - - - Imperialism
        
        Alex Zwerdling, “Mrs. Dalloway’s Social System”
        Zwerdling explains the context of Mrs. Dalloway and how the British empire was crumbling. He especially talks about India which was at the time under British control.
      - Alex Zwerdling, “Mrs. Dalloway’s Social System”
        Zwerdling credits the war for the change in society in Mrs. Dalloway and the real world and continuously points out the inability of the upper class to adapt to these changes.
        -“The sense of living in the past, of being unable to take in or respond to the transformations of the present, makes the governing class in Mrs.Dalloway seem hopelessly out of step with its time.” (Zwerdling, 72)
      - Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
        We see the effects of war towards the end in the section “Time Passes' ' where it is revealed that Mrs. Ramseys son, Andrew, was killed in the war.
      - Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas
        The entire essay is answering the question on the way to prevent war. This essay was written around the time of the Spanish Revolution in which pictures exposed the atrocities of war and therefore throughout the essay, although there are various other topics such as women's rights, she continues to return to that central theme and question.