Virginia Woolf: Feminism and the Reader [Hardcover]

This study argues that Virginia Woolf taught herself to be a feminist artist and public intellectual through her revisionary reading. Fernald gives a clear view of Woolf's tremendous body of knowledge and her contrast references to past literary periodsIntroduction O Sister Swallow: Sapphic Fragments as English Literature The Memory Palace of Virginia Woolf A Feminist Public Sphere? Woolf's Revisions of the Eighteenth Century Aristocratic Liberalism and Armchair Socialism, or what Woolf learned from Byron Conclusion

'Reading against the grain, as she argues Woolf herself did, Fernald brilliantly illustrates the centrality of Woolf's passionately ironic dialogues with Sappho, Hakluyt, Addison, and Byron to her legacy as feminist artist and theorist. By asking questions others haven't thought to ask, by finding parallels that both surprise and illuminate, Fernald, like Woolf, revises literary history, substantially enriching our understanding of the writer and her world.' - Brenda R. Silver, Dartmouth College

'Fernald's elegant and smart book is wide ranging, taking up Woolf's autobiographical writings as well many of her major novels and essays. Fernald also brings a solid grounding in the history of English literature to her study of Woolf, which allows her to highlight Woolf's constant connection and response to her forbearers.I don't know of another book that offers precisely this strong combination.The Woolf who emerges is learned and engaged, almost scholarly in her attention to literary history, but lively and profound in her revision of the past. - Jessica Berman, The University of Maryland

'Anne Fernald's four case studies illuminate Virginia Woolf as an adventurous and independent reader, channeling and replenishing her creative wellsprings at the fountains of ancient Greece, the Elizabethan voyages, the English eighteenth century, and Lord Byron. A delightful portrait of the artist reading and a welcome contributlS,