Woolf's War Diary
Virginia Woolf Season 2024-25: Woolf and Politics
Lecture 4. Virginia Woolf’s War Diary
Virginia Woolf's wartime diaries offer an often startling, vivid, and thought-provoking insight into life in Britain during the First and Second World Wars. Mentions of blackouts and bombings, rations and rationales, pacifism and patriotism abound. Of particular interest, however, are Woolf's meditations throughout the wars on the politics of nationalism and national identity.
What does it mean to identify as British during wartime? What happens to individual identity under the pressure of a collectivising war effort? Is it possible to resist all patriotic propaganda? Is it possible to be both a pacifist and proud of one's national heritage? Did Woolf always or indeed ever believe that as a woman she had no country?
This lecture will explore Woolf's own exploration of these issues in her wartime diaries, focusing particularly on entries written during the First World War and in the aftermath of the Armistice. These years coincided with Woolf's gradual development of more experimental prose forms, and close examination of her entries during this time reveals the many ways in which Woolf's experience of war influenced the innovations to the novel for which she is now famed.
The text for this lecture is Virginia Woolf’s Diary, vol. 1, recently republished by Granta. If you can’t get hold of this text, we will provide a handout with the relevant extracts.
Live online lecture and seminar with Ellie Mitchell, University of St Andrews
Saturday 7 December 2024
£32.00 full price
£27.00 students and CAMcard holders
£27.00 members of the VWSGB
Virginia Woolf Season 2024-25: Woolf and Politics
Lecture 4. Virginia Woolf’s War Diary
Virginia Woolf's wartime diaries offer an often startling, vivid, and thought-provoking insight into life in Britain during the First and Second World Wars. Mentions of blackouts and bombings, rations and rationales, pacifism and patriotism abound. Of particular interest, however, are Woolf's meditations throughout the wars on the politics of nationalism and national identity.
What does it mean to identify as British during wartime? What happens to individual identity under the pressure of a collectivising war effort? Is it possible to resist all patriotic propaganda? Is it possible to be both a pacifist and proud of one's national heritage? Did Woolf always or indeed ever believe that as a woman she had no country?
This lecture will explore Woolf's own exploration of these issues in her wartime diaries, focusing particularly on entries written during the First World War and in the aftermath of the Armistice. These years coincided with Woolf's gradual development of more experimental prose forms, and close examination of her entries during this time reveals the many ways in which Woolf's experience of war influenced the innovations to the novel for which she is now famed.
The text for this lecture is Virginia Woolf’s Diary, vol. 1, recently republished by Granta. If you can’t get hold of this text, we will provide a handout with the relevant extracts.
Live online lecture and seminar with Ellie Mitchell, University of St Andrews
Saturday 7 December 2024
£32.00 full price
£27.00 students and CAMcard holders
£27.00 members of the VWSGB
Virginia Woolf Season 2024-25: Woolf and Politics
Lecture 4. Virginia Woolf’s War Diary
Virginia Woolf's wartime diaries offer an often startling, vivid, and thought-provoking insight into life in Britain during the First and Second World Wars. Mentions of blackouts and bombings, rations and rationales, pacifism and patriotism abound. Of particular interest, however, are Woolf's meditations throughout the wars on the politics of nationalism and national identity.
What does it mean to identify as British during wartime? What happens to individual identity under the pressure of a collectivising war effort? Is it possible to resist all patriotic propaganda? Is it possible to be both a pacifist and proud of one's national heritage? Did Woolf always or indeed ever believe that as a woman she had no country?
This lecture will explore Woolf's own exploration of these issues in her wartime diaries, focusing particularly on entries written during the First World War and in the aftermath of the Armistice. These years coincided with Woolf's gradual development of more experimental prose forms, and close examination of her entries during this time reveals the many ways in which Woolf's experience of war influenced the innovations to the novel for which she is now famed.
The text for this lecture is Virginia Woolf’s Diary, vol. 1, recently republished by Granta. If you can’t get hold of this text, we will provide a handout with the relevant extracts.
Live online lecture and seminar with Ellie Mitchell, University of St Andrews
Saturday 7 December 2024
£32.00 full price
£27.00 students and CAMcard holders
£27.00 members of the VWSGB