Mrs. Woolf and the Servants
An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury
Light, Alison
Hardcover
$19.50 + $1.99 USPS S/H
$0.98 of your order (5%) will be donated to the school of your choice.
BOOK SYNOPSIS
A revealing and personal new perspective on the Bloomsbury set and the servants who shared their lives.When Virginia Woolf wrote A Room of Ones Own in 1929, she established her reputation as a feminist, a woman who could imagine a more open and liberal reality, and an advocate for the female voice. Indeed the Bloomsbury set has often been identified with liberal, open-minded views; Woolfs circle of artists and writers were considered Bohemians ahead of their time. But they were also of their time. Like thousands of other British households, Virginia Woolfs relied on live-in domestics for the most intimate of daily tasks. That room of her own she so valued was cleaned, heated, and supplied with meals by a series of cooks and maids throughout her childhood and adult life. In Mrs. Woolf and the Servants, Alison Light gives depth and dignity to the long-overlooked servants who worked for the Bloomsbury intellectuals. The result is twofold. For one, Light adds revealing nuances to our picture of Virginia Woolf, both as a woman and as writer. She also captures a fascinating period of British history, primarily between the wars, when modern oil stoves were creeping into kitchens to replace coal, and young women were starting to dream of working in hat shops rather than mansions. Despite the liberal outlook of the Bloomsbury set, and their conscious efforts to leave their Victorian past behind, their homes were nevertheless divided into the worlds of "us" and "them." Alison Light writes with insight and charm about this fraught side of Bloomsbury, and hers is a refreshingly balanced portrait of Virginia Woolf, flaws and all.
AUTHOR BIO
Alison Light is the author of Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism between the Wars and edited Virginia Woolf's Flush for Penguin Classics. She is currently a Professor at the Raphael Samuel History Centre at the University of East London, and teaches English at Newcastle University. She is a contributor to the London Review of Books. Her grandmother worked as a domestic servant.
BOOK REVIEWS
[Lights] analyses of both the Bloomsbury notables and the servant class of their time are deft and engrossing. Publishers Weekly The complex, interwoven stories of Woolf and Sophie, Nellie, Lottie, Louie, and many other distinct personalities remain at the heart of this meticulously researched and elegant exploration. Booklist
Submit a book reviewFOR RELATED BOOKS
History Books :: General Books
Biography & Autobiography Books :: General Books
Biography & Autobiography Books :: Literary Books
Literary Criticism Books :: European Books :: English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Books
MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 1596915609
ISBN(13-digit): 9781596915602
Dewey Decimal: 823.912
Library of Congress: 2008008086
Book Publisher: St Martins Pr
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 376
If you like this book, you may also enjoy:
 | |
 | |
 | |
| The Peculiar Institution | |
Jesus As Mother | |
What Is History? | |
| Stampp, Kenneth Milton | |
Bynum, Caroline | |
Carr, Edward Hallett | |
