USA TODAY Book Club: A discussion about Virginia
Thursday, April 3, noon ET
Has reading The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway
made you curious about the life and works of Virginia Woolf? The
Hours' star Nicole Kidman just won an Oscar for her intense
portrayal of the English literary genius who committed suicide in
1941. Woolf was a famous feminist; a leader of the artistic circle
of friends and lovers known as Bloomsbury; and an innovative stylist
whose important works include To the Lighthouse and A
Room of Ones Own. Chat with USA TODAY's Jocelyn McClurg
about Virginia Woolf.
the chat? Read the transcript below:
Washington, D.C.: Why did the film "The Hours" present
Virginia Woolf as a youngish woman who was so depressed that she took her
own life. I thought that in reality, mental illness struck the writer at
a later stage in her life.
Jocelyn McClurg: Virginia Woolf struggled with mental illness throughout
her life. In fact, her first nervous breakdown came after the death of her
mother, when Virginia was 13. Woolf is considered to have had four major
episodes of mental illness during her lifetime. She also had breakdowns
in 1912 and 1915, around the time of her marriage and then after she finished
her first novel -- The Voyage Out, which was published in 1915. Many experts
believe that Leonard Woolf kept his wife healthy enough that she was able
to stay alive until she was 59, despite several suicide attempts before
she finally drowned herself in 1941. No one really seems sure exactly what
Woolf's illness was, although depression was a major part of it. Her disdain
for doctors is evident in her novel Mrs. Dalloway and in the bumbling way
they treat Septimus Warren Smith, the World War I veteran who kills himself.
Doctors treated Woolf with such dubious methods as pulling her teeth --
they believed that infected teeth could infect the brain. It's hard to imagine
such barbaric treatment by psychiatrists in the 20th century!
Rhode Island: Years ago when I was in college, I had a friend who
returned from a literature class in a very bad mood. Apparently, the professor
had made a comment about Virginia Woolf's use of "purple prose".
I confess I had no idea of what that means. What is it? And is it characteristic
of Woolf's writing style?
Jocelyn McClurg: "Purple prose" usually refers to a very florid style
of writing -- such as that practiced by romance writers (apologies to any
romance novelists out there). It's a disparaging comment for a professor
to make -- he obviously was no fan of Woolf!
I would never use the term "purple prose" to refer to Woolf. Unlike romance
writers, for example, her books are largely sexless. One of her biographers
has pointed out that there are exactly two kisses in all of Woolf's novels
-- one in "The Voyage Out," the other in "Mrs. Dalloway," when Sally Seton
kisses the young Clarissa Dalloway!
As for Woolf's prose style, I suppose one could call it florid in comparison
to say, someone like Hemingway. Woolf's imagery is poetic, elliptical, dense,
but I think often very beautiful. She isn't the easiest writer in the world
Michael Cunningham ("The Hours") has suggested that a reader should go with
the flow when reading a novel like "Mrs. Dalloway." That you learn how to
read it by reading it. Some of her books are much more difficult than others
-- "Jacob's Room" and "The Waves" are tough. "To the Lighthouse," which
I think is her best book, is more accessible, a good successor to "Mrs.
Dalloway" for readers just discovering Woolf.
Provo, Utah : I want to know what influences dictated Woolf's
lifestyle as a feminist movement literary figure as well as what kind of
intellectual drama or appeal did she deal with to cause such a suicide?
Jocelyn McClurg: Well, you have two questions in one here. The simple
answer to what made her a feminist? Growing up in a patriarchal society
in England (she was born in 1882) and in a patriarchal household. Virginia
Woolf's father was also a writer, an "eminent Victorian." But he sent only
his sons to school and to college. Woolf schooled herself at home in her
father's library. She writes brilliantly about this subject in her famous
feminist tract, "A Room of One's Own."
As for what caused her to commit suicide -- Woolf had struggled with mental
illness, or what she called "madness," all her life. There are many theories
about the causes of her illness -- she was molested as a child by both her
half-brothers, for example. She always had doubts about her writing. She
killed herself in 1941, while England was being bombed by Germany. In her
suicide note she said she felt herself going mad again. I don't think anyone
knows the exact reason she took her own life, but she had struggled with
her demons for many years.
NYC: So what is it about Woolf's writing that makes her a part
of the literary cannon? What sets her style and themes apart from her contemporaries?
Jocelyn McClurg: After her death in 1941, Woolf's works fell out
of favor. They were rediscovered in the 1960s and 1970s during the burgeoning
women's movement. Now, in the year 2003, she's on the bestseller list!
So we have to credit feminist literary critics with Woolf's ascension into
the top ranks of the literary canon. Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours,
believes that even today, Woolf is still somewhat undervalued -- because
she is a woman. But she is often linked with James Joyce as a writer who
really revolutionized the form of the novel in the 1920s.
Woolf was very conscious of trying to push the limits of the novel; in fact
she wasn't even comfortable with the term "novel" to describe what she wrote.
She compared her works to poems, to plays. She fully admitted that plots
were not her forte.
Alexandria, VA: Why were The Hours and Mrs.
Dalloway picked as co-choices for your Book Club?
Jocelyn McClurg: Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel "Mrs. Dalloway" was
the inspiration for Michael Cunningham's 1998 novel "The Hours."
Virginia Woolf herself is one of the characters in "The Hours," and she
is writing "Mrs. Dalloway" during the course of Cunningham's book.
The main character in "Mrs. Dalloway" is a society woman named Clarissa
Dalloway who is giving a party. In "The Hours," Cunningham creates a contemporary
character named Clarissa, a book editor whose nickname is Mrs. Dalloway.
She is an updated version of Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
We chose both novels for the book club because of the links between them.
"The Hours" is an excellent contemporary novel that stands on its own, but
I think (as does Cunningham) that it's enriching (and fun) to read "Mrs.
Dalloway" as well. That way you understand Cunningham's inspiration -- and
how he has taken Woolf's themes and made them his own.
And "Mrs. Dalloway" is a good introduction to Woolf for readers who have
never tackled her before.