Book- the complete shorter fiction of Virginia Woolf (period 2)

Book- the complete shorter fiction of Virginia Woolf
Author: Virginia Woolf (and edited by Susan Dick)
Score: 9/10 (this period)
Year:  1989 (my second edition) ; 1985 (first edition). Stories from 1906-1941. 

Publisher : Harvest ISBN : 0-15-621250-1
346 pages (this period : 145-211)

Language : English 

(note :my copy has a similar cover but with Virginia's name in green font). 



Second period short fictions are dated 1922-1925 as follows : 

• A woman's college from outside, is very short, only 3 pages (and 4 lines) long ; however, it's very rich in social commentary to be read in the context of the period. Indeed, Angela Williams,  the protagonist of this story is a college student, confused as to the real results of the education her parents paid for, because she fears what the real outcome to changing classes would do for her, and realizes it wouldn't be enough to avoid financial dependency on a husband.

She faces inner conflict and confusion regarding the notions of chastity and sexuality (represented by the colors used in this story, as well as her observations of her roommates discussions), and experiences emotional unrest as she's unable to feel the same way as her roommates. 

There is a lot more than meets the eyes in this tiny short story, and one has to bow to Virgnia Woolf's talent at telling so much in so little space. 

• In the orchard is even shorter, only 2 & half pages. is a clever little story, with the repetitive cycle of Miranda's sleeping and waking moments in the orchard, dividing it into 3 portions, each dealing with different motifs and which connect into identical events : the sounds that Miranda hears, her inner thoughts about herself and her connection to the external world around her, and lastly a description of the orchard around her, building a relationship between the air above and the earth bellow.

 I like the repetitive form and the fact that Virginia chose to end it after 3 segments ; it makes me think of many science-fiction episodes where there is a cyclic repetition between an event apparently caused by a specific factor, which, once avoided, breaks the loop and the characters can go on with their normal, linear life. Here, on the contrary, one can imagine either an endless cycle where Miranda would fall back asleep after each time she exclaims she'd be late for tea, unless she actually got up and went for it, breaking the loop... 

• Not even 2 pages long, Nurse Lugton's curtain tells us that as she falls asleep and nods off, the animals on the curtain seem to move and drink at the water source drawn on the curtain. It feels like an exercice in style, more than a story. 
• The widow and the parrot : a true story is almost 8 pages long, and is a rather cute story about the parrot James, who, 50 years ago, helped, so it seems, Mrs Gage retrieve the fortune bequeathed by her estranged brother after his death. There are a couple references on the importance of her kindness to animals, specifically the parrot but also her dog Shag. The sub-title "a true story" and the content, however, feel like a rather fantastic exaggeration, at best, of any true facts. 
• in The new dress, we meet Mrs Dalloway again, through, Mabel Waring, one of her guest as she muses her suffering of self-image in such a posh society, and compares herself to a fly on the soup. Nicely written, with some social commentary but not the most captivating to me. 
• I felt let down by Happiness as it ends abruptly, but it was a rather interesting conversation mixed with inner thoughts as often in Woolf's writings, showing us the differences in what characters think and say. Stuart Elton and Mrs Sutton's exchange reminds of those social roles people were expected to fulfil through specific acts and how shocking it was in such milieu for women to be alone, unmarried, and go to place alone, much like their discussion about Mrs Sutton's going to Key gardens alone.  
• Another comment on expectations in social classes in the remarks made by Jack Renshaw to Mrs Vallance that he doesn't like to watch cricket matches, and how she starts to this of her ancestors, namely her parents, and what they would have said and done about the topic. She tries to redirect the topic of conversation, and gets somewhat lost in her own thoughts and feelings, it seems. 

That party at Clarissa Dalloway's isn't over with more short stories as follows: 

• in The introduction, Mrs Dalloway snatches Lily Everit and introduced her to Bob Brinsley, against her own wishes that Mrs Dalloway wouldn't even come near her. This story explores that awkward moment in a party where someone has to find topics of conversation when introduced to people they don't really like... 
• Whilst in Together and apart, two other characters, Mr Serle and Miss Anning, are introduced to one another by Mrs Dalloway, but here, we see the difficult moment of ending an unpleasant or unwanted conversation, rendered possible only by the intervention of another character!
• The man who loved his kind seems set just prior to the party, as a certain Prickett Ellis runs into Richard Dalloway (Clarissa's husband, if you haven't read the novel) ; at the very least, this story is set before a party, to which Richard invites Prickett, and which the latter accepts out of politeness, only to regret it immediately afterwords. I can see here more repetition of those social awkward moments Virginia loves writing about ; a topic which seems very present in the 1920's, with societal changes that the aristocracy and higher classes were struggling with, evidently. I love that early portion of the story where they meet "...to have met that queer chap, who hasn't changed one bit since he had been at school - just  the same knobbly, chubby little boy then, with prejudices sticking out all over him..." and I also love the natural flow of the story, between their meeting, invitation, the moments that follow, and already Pricketts at the party, without detailing the path or coming into the party.

Here's my review of Mrs Dalloway (the novel, and the short story) 

A simple melody seems to be unrelated to the Dalloway's party, but we do meet 3 characters from the previous short stories, who meet, and discuss a picture. It's a simple enough story to follow, I think. 

• A summing up, which closes this second period in Virginia's writing, however, brings us back to the Dalloways, as it takes place in their garden, whilst their party's going on. Bertram Pritchard & Sasha Latham converse in this garden and whilst she looses her attention on her surroundings and the other people there, the conversation ends abruptly when Bertram arrives to a conclusion, showing us one more aspect of human interaction when people don't really appreciate one another. 

To be continued in the third and last period of short stories.