Woolf in the World: A Pen and a Press of Her Own
Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets
Virginia
Woolf, who was extremely sensitive to public criticism of her work, characterizes
the reviewer in her satiric essay as “a louse... a distracted tag
on the tail of the political kite.” When Reviewing was published
in November 1939, Leonard Woolf added a practical note to soften his wife’s
strident message. While Virginia feels reviewing should be abolished,
Leonard notes that if an author wants “to sell his books to the
reading public and the circulating libraries, he will still need the reviewer.”
In the final version of her essay, Woolf longs for the obscurity of the
dark workshop in which authors are respected and not ridiculed like some
hybrid “between the peacock and the ape.”
Virginia Woolf. Reviewing. London: Hogarth Press, 1939. Presented by Frances Hooper ’14.
Virginia Woolf. Reviewing: corrected typescript, [1939].
Presented by Ann Safford Mandel ’53.
The
Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets included five numbers, beginning with an essay
by the novelist E. M. Forster. In What I Believe, Forster says: “Tolerance,
good temper and sympathy—they are what matter really, and if the
human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long.”
E. M. Forster. What I Believe. London: Hogarth Press, 1939.
Presented by Elizabeth P. Richardson ’43.
Advertisement for Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets, 1939.
Presented by Elizabeth P. Richardson ’43.
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photograph (modern print), 1 June 1925.
Presented by Elizabeth P. Richardson ’43.
Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College
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