Jude Alford: A Week with Woolf’s Women

Participant Jude Alford writes about her experiences of Woolf’s Women online summer course in July 2023

When I saw this year’s Woolf’s Women online course I booked my spot straight away. 

I am from Melbourne, Australia, down the bottom of the world really.  It is a 24-hour flight to attend the summer course in person, which I have done in the past and thoroughly enjoyed. I met the most engaging people who have become lifelong friends. I do hope to attend another Cambridge Summer course and spend time with other participants from all over the world, but coming from Australia each year is not possible, and during the Covid years it was impossible to travel to the UK.

One young member of my family queried why I would want to go to school when I didn’t have to? I replied that I have always wanted to continue to learn and, as a Woolf devotee, I was very fortunate to be able to attend this enriching Cambridge online course via Zoom. A further advantage was that I had no lost baggage between the bedroom and the kitchen table!  How wonderful to be able to share with like-minded people from around the globe from one’s own home.

When you think of a Cambridge course it can be a little daunting but with Dr Trudi Tate, Director of Literature Cambridge, at the helm, there are no concerns. Trudi is approachable and helpful, providing constant correspondence via emails.

There were four of us in the supervision group led by Dr Clare Walker Gore. The other participants were from New Zealand, Hawaii, and Surrey in England. Clare was a great leader, making us all feel very comfortable and she encouraged great discussions.

All lectures were recorded to allow participants to watch at a suitable time, if the live lectures didn’t suit one’s time zone. The recordings are available for two weeks after the end of the course to revisit at leisure. My supervision time was 6.00 pm and the lecture an hour later. It meant I could enjoy a cup of tea at my kitchen table in the company of outstanding and eminent lecturers and scholars.

We studied Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando (1928), A Room of One’s Own (1929), and Between the Acts (1941). Each lecture brought a completely different set of ideas to our study of the women in Woolf’s novels. We explored the ways in which the angel in the house was woven throughout in opposition to modern women; Woolf’s thoughts on the androgynous mind as resonant and porous; naturally creative, incandescent and undivided (A Room of One’s Own, 74). Other strong themes included the effect of the First World War, time passing and the fluidity of time, illness, and the value of the arts.

As well as the lectures, we had additional talks and readings that  introduced us to the women in Woolf’s life. It was not until she wrote To the Lighthouse that Woolf could come to terms with the loss of her mother which occurred when Woolf was thirteen years of age.

Three other major women in Woolf’s life included Katherine Mansfield, Vita Sackville West and Ethel Smyth, who all influenced her writing and became, in some instances, part of her novels.

Orlando is based on, and a gift to, her friend and lover, Vita Sackville West. 

Katherine Mansfield was a friend and also a competitor who Woolf both praised and criticised, and whose opinion Woolf valued. When Mansfield died at the age of 34, Woolf felt the loss very deeply.

Claire Davidson suggested that Ethel Smyth, Woolf’s older friend, had influenced Woolf’s writing of Between the Acts; for example, encouraging her to add dialogue which wasn’t a common practice in other novels.

Other speakers included Ann Kennedy Smith, who discussed Joan Pernel Strachey, Principal of Newnham College 1923-41, while Alison Hennegan gave us an online tour of Girton College, the first women’s college in Cambridge, established in 1869.

I am so grateful and honoured to have had the opportunity to enjoy this Summer online course, Virginia Woolf never ceases to amaze, and the various lecturers, supervisors and scholars have illuminated my appreciation of Woolf, the women in her novels and the women friends in her life.

Virginia Woolf was far ahead of her time, and I wonder how she would view the world today. In some ways we have moved ahead but in others we could do with her back.

I am looking forward to next year’s online courses; so accommodating for those of us who are far away.    

Jude Alford

Melbourne, Australia