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The London Scene: Six Essays on London Life
'The London Scene' is a collection of essays written by one of London's most acclaimed writers. Virginia Woolf was born and lived much of her life in the city, using it as the backdrop for many of her works.
The essays cover London Docks, Oxford Street Tide, Great Men's Houses, Abbeys and Cathedrals, "This is the House of Commons", and Portrait of a Londoner. The essays were first published in the 'Good Housekeeping' magazine, beginning in the spring of 1931 and then bi-monthly through to December 1932.
There is also a chapter on 'The History of The London Scene', which when first published in America was entitled 'The London Scene: Five Essays.' 'The Portrait of a Londoner' was the essay not included and, indeed, this edition has that essay included in the collection for the first time.
The essays cover London Docks, Oxford Street Tide, Great Men's Houses, Abbeys and Cathedrals, "This is the House of Commons", and Portrait of a Londoner. The essays were first published in the 'Good Housekeeping' magazine, beginning in the spring of 1931 and then bi-monthly through to December 1932.
There is also a chapter on 'The History of The London Scene', which when first published in America was entitled 'The London Scene: Five Essays.' 'The Portrait of a Londoner' was the essay not included and, indeed, this edition has that essay included in the collection for the first time.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2004
71 people are currently reading
2483 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Woolf
1,829 books28.7k followers(Adeline) Virginia Woolf was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.
During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929) with its famous dictum, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929) with its famous dictum, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 212 reviews
September 11, 2018
Seis relatos sencillitos pero geniales.
Perfecto si eres un amante de Londres o para empezar con la autora... me encantaron las seis historias, me descubrieron una Virginia Woolf que no conocía. Mis preferidos 'Los muelles de Londres' y 'Casas de grandes hombres'
Perfecto si eres un amante de Londres o para empezar con la autora... me encantaron las seis historias, me descubrieron una Virginia Woolf que no conocía. Mis preferidos 'Los muelles de Londres' y 'Casas de grandes hombres'
March 5, 2024
In "The London Scene," London is central to this collection of short texts written by Virginia Woolf. These are articles published in the monthly English magazine "Good Housekeeping" in 1931 and 1932. They did not appear until 1975 in the United States, 1982 in England, and 1983 in France.
I was captivated by the writing of Virginia Woolf, who is not a journalist, and constructed her articles in such a way as to describe "the charm of modern London dynamically." Because we are wide-eyed in front of the docks, the streets like Oxford Street, the houses, and the places of power like the cathedrals or the House of Commons. The tone can be sharp and the description a little dark, but Virginia Woolf also shows us the city's soul with the people who lived there in the 1930s and the customs like those of Mrs. Crowe, who entertains in her living room for tea. So British!
I was captivated by the writing of Virginia Woolf, who is not a journalist, and constructed her articles in such a way as to describe "the charm of modern London dynamically." Because we are wide-eyed in front of the docks, the streets like Oxford Street, the houses, and the places of power like the cathedrals or the House of Commons. The tone can be sharp and the description a little dark, but Virginia Woolf also shows us the city's soul with the people who lived there in the 1930s and the customs like those of Mrs. Crowe, who entertains in her living room for tea. So British!
February 12, 2020
Ovo je bila više nego prijatna popodnevna šetnja po Londonu tridestih godina u cipelama Virdžinije Vulf, što su najbolje i najudobnije cipele koje mogu da se obuju za šetnju Londonom. Tura je krenula sa Temze, sa velikih kolonijalnih brodova, potom se hodalo Ulicom Oksford, gde se učestvovalo u taštom vašaru robnih kuća i prodavnica (Naravno, setimo se da pomodari, poput Klarise Dalovej, nikada ne bi kupili cveće u Ulici Oksford, pomodari pazare u ulici Bond), zatim su se posećivale znamenitosti Londona poput Zgrade parlamenta i Vestiministera, a tura se završila na čaju u malograđanskom domu kod gospođe Krou – ulaznica za čajni divan kod gospođe Vrane košta jedan trač.
Eseji u ovoj knjizi su lepršavi i laki, duhoviti i oštroumni, donekle kozerski, što je negde i očekivano s obzirom da su prvobitno pisani za ženski časopis „Good Housekeeping”. Oni su i poetski, puni detalja i nabijeni oduševljenjem prema gradskom životu i sposobonošću da se vidi lepota na najneočekivanijim mestima urbanog pejzaža. Kako Balzak ističe, flâneur je onaj koji ima „gastronomsko oko”, a oko V. Vulf nije samo gladno, ono je i lucidno (tako će da tvrdi da se kuće razlikuju shodno tome koje godišnje doba u njima vlada tokom cele godine). Um šetača u ovim esejima postaje tabak koji – primajući otisak ulica, dokova, katedrala, kuća – razvija beskrajnu traku sa prizorima, kretanjima, krstarenjem i njihovim brzim smenjivanjem. I upravo smenjivanje je ključno za razumevanje Londona, jer za V. Vulf, London nije neki stabilan i trajan prostor; naprotiv, London uvek nestaje, a na njegovo mesto dolazi neki novi grad. Mi možemo da ga posmatramo gladnim očima, ali nam određeni delovi slagalice uvek izmiču, a srušena zgrada, promenjena navika ili pojedinačna smrt malog čoveka, ma koliko promena izgledala beznačajna, učiniće da: „London – mada još uvek postoji– nikada više neće biti grad koji nekad beše“.
Jedina mana je ta što je putovanje kratko. Završi se za jedno sedenje
P. S. Knjiga u knjižari Portalibris košta svega 150 dinara.
Eseji u ovoj knjizi su lepršavi i laki, duhoviti i oštroumni, donekle kozerski, što je negde i očekivano s obzirom da su prvobitno pisani za ženski časopis „Good Housekeeping”. Oni su i poetski, puni detalja i nabijeni oduševljenjem prema gradskom životu i sposobonošću da se vidi lepota na najneočekivanijim mestima urbanog pejzaža. Kako Balzak ističe, flâneur je onaj koji ima „gastronomsko oko”, a oko V. Vulf nije samo gladno, ono je i lucidno (tako će da tvrdi da se kuće razlikuju shodno tome koje godišnje doba u njima vlada tokom cele godine). Um šetača u ovim esejima postaje tabak koji – primajući otisak ulica, dokova, katedrala, kuća – razvija beskrajnu traku sa prizorima, kretanjima, krstarenjem i njihovim brzim smenjivanjem. I upravo smenjivanje je ključno za razumevanje Londona, jer za V. Vulf, London nije neki stabilan i trajan prostor; naprotiv, London uvek nestaje, a na njegovo mesto dolazi neki novi grad. Mi možemo da ga posmatramo gladnim očima, ali nam određeni delovi slagalice uvek izmiču, a srušena zgrada, promenjena navika ili pojedinačna smrt malog čoveka, ma koliko promena izgledala beznačajna, učiniće da: „London – mada još uvek postoji– nikada više neće biti grad koji nekad beše“.
Jedina mana je ta što je putovanje kratko. Završi se za jedno sedenje
P. S. Knjiga u knjižari Portalibris košta svega 150 dinara.
April 23, 2019
Virginia me ha sumergido en su Londres de 1931. Esta ciudad aún no la he visitado, pero gracias a la autora es como si hubiera estado allí paseando por los atestados y bullicioaos muelles, como si hubiera subido hacia lo alto de Parliament Hill o hubiera entrado en Saint Paul.
Una lectura muy romendada a los que quieran visitar la ciudad o ya lo han hecho.
Una lectura muy romendada a los que quieran visitar la ciudad o ya lo han hecho.
February 28, 2021
This is short book of interesting essays about London and its peoples lives in the 1930s.
Beyond the obviously wonderful way of writing of Woolf it shows her deep understanding of the city. In a slightly contrarian way it throws light of human behaviours across all strata of society at the time.
‘“Take the Carlyles, for instance. One hour spent in 5 Cheyne Row will tell us more about them and their lives than we can learn from all the biographies.”
“But then, we reflect, as we cross the worn threshold, Carlyle with hot water laid on would not have been Carlyle; and Mrs Carlyle without bugs to kill would have been a different woman from the one we know.”
‘“Something of the splendour of St Paul’s lies simply in its vast size, in its colourless serenity.”
‘“And as she had made these observations for the past fifty years or so, she had acquired an amazing store of information about the lives of other people.”
Great perspectives of this historic city from a variety of angles.
A great change from MD.
Beyond the obviously wonderful way of writing of Woolf it shows her deep understanding of the city. In a slightly contrarian way it throws light of human behaviours across all strata of society at the time.
‘“Take the Carlyles, for instance. One hour spent in 5 Cheyne Row will tell us more about them and their lives than we can learn from all the biographies.”
“But then, we reflect, as we cross the worn threshold, Carlyle with hot water laid on would not have been Carlyle; and Mrs Carlyle without bugs to kill would have been a different woman from the one we know.”
‘“Something of the splendour of St Paul’s lies simply in its vast size, in its colourless serenity.”
‘“And as she had made these observations for the past fifty years or so, she had acquired an amazing store of information about the lives of other people.”
Great perspectives of this historic city from a variety of angles.
A great change from MD.
July 3, 2013
Well each essay was a wonderful gem of prose poetry and caused me to think so many new thoughts, but I would expect nothing else. I recommend that if you're thinking about reading this, purchase the hard copy of the book; it's absolutely beautiful! They spent some time on it, you can tell, and here's why: These are 6 essays from a series on London that Woolf wrote for Good Housekeeping magazine in 1931-1932. The sixth essay had been missing for decades and was discovered in 2004 at the University of Sussex. Can you imagine how excited Ecco was to publish this?
August 20, 2017
Relectura febrero 2016
Estos son seis poéticos ensayos sobre distintos aspectos de Londres, y con un estilo muy particular. Cuando lo leí pensé "esto es todo lo que necesité para entender por qué es difícil que Virginia Woolf le sea indiferente a alguien". Es, nada más ni nada menos, una pequeña muestra de la capacidad narrativa y observadora de la autora, dando como resultado una lectura muy amena y aguda. Transmite la sensación de estar viéndolo todo con sus ojos y de estar experimentando Londres (lo maravilloso y lo efímero de Londres, porque deja en claro que las ciudades como estas tienen vencimiento) en sus detalles mínimos, esos que seguramente la mirada del turista pasan por alto.
El ensayo que más me gustó es el que se llama "Casas de grandes hombres". Debo ser bastante chusma.
El encanto del Londres moderno consiste en que no ha sido construido para durar, ha sido construido para pasar.
Estos son seis poéticos ensayos sobre distintos aspectos de Londres, y con un estilo muy particular. Cuando lo leí pensé "esto es todo lo que necesité para entender por qué es difícil que Virginia Woolf le sea indiferente a alguien". Es, nada más ni nada menos, una pequeña muestra de la capacidad narrativa y observadora de la autora, dando como resultado una lectura muy amena y aguda. Transmite la sensación de estar viéndolo todo con sus ojos y de estar experimentando Londres (lo maravilloso y lo efímero de Londres, porque deja en claro que las ciudades como estas tienen vencimiento) en sus detalles mínimos, esos que seguramente la mirada del turista pasan por alto.
El ensayo que más me gustó es el que se llama "Casas de grandes hombres". Debo ser bastante chusma.
January 6, 2019
Se você quiser aprender a fazer passagens descritivas de espaços e suas interações humanas, leia este livro, Woolf faz um tremendo exercício de estilo descritivo por Londres, são cinco pequenos ensaios por locais históricos e mais um conto ficcional. Um deleite.
August 28, 2024
A escrita da Virginia até sobre ruas e sujeira e pisos e casas é incrível. Tudo que ela faz é poético. O ensaio que mais gostei foi definitivamente o último—que é mais uma obra de ficção, diferente dos outros do compilado.
October 5, 2025
Virginia Woolf embarked on this project in the Spring of 1931 and the six essays that she subsequently wrote were published in the 'Good Housekeeping' magazine between December 1931 and the end of 1932. The essays are entitled, 'The Docks of London', 'Oxford Street Tide', 'Great Men's Houses', 'Abbeys and Cathedrals', '"This is the House of Commons"', and 'Portrait of a Londoner'.
She researched each topic extensively, for instance, according to her diaries, she visited the docks accompanied by her husband Leonard Woolf, her friend Vita Sackville-West, whose husband Harold Nicolson had organised the trip, and the Persian Ambassador when they travelled in a Port of London Authority launch. And for the essay on great men's houses she made a number of visits to Thomas and Jane Carlyle's Chelsea home while the House of Commons was her port of call with Leonard once more, to listen to a debate and she attended St Clement Danes Church in the Strand to attend a memorial service for Arnold Bennett. She used detail from her last mentioned visit in her 'Abbeys and Cathedrals' essay.
I had not read much by Virginia Woolf prior to this book but I was impressed with the superb descriptive writing in each of the essays, particularly the first one about the docks. The docks were tremendously busy in those days and she writes of the ships, 'a thousand of these big ships every week of the year come to anchor in the docks of London'. And she describes them as making 'their way through a crowd of tramp steamers, and colliers and barges heaped with coal and bringing bricks from Harwich or cement from Colchester' as 'they come from the storms and calms of the sea, its silence and loneliness to their allotted anchorage'.
She goes on to describe 'lorries [that] jostle each other in the little street that leads from the dock' and finally the departing ships, 'flying the Blue Peter', as they 'move slowly out of the dock' with 'bows turned towards India or Australia once more'.
The essay on Oxford Street concentrates on how it has changed over the years with the larger stores taking over from street markets, which has led to the street becoming 'refined and transformed'. She qualifies this statement with 'The huge barrels of damp tobacco have been rolled into innumerable neat cigarettes laid in silver paper. The corpulent bales of wool have been spun into thin vests and soft stockings. The grease of sheep's thick wool has become scented cream for delicate skins.'
She also sees changes in the buyers and the sellers with 'Tripping , mincing in black coats, in satin dresses, the human form has adapted itself no less than the animal product. Instead of hauling and heaving, it deftly opens drawers, rolls out silk on counters, measures and snips with yard sticks and scissors.' And there is plenty more such descriptive material as she further analyses Oxford Street and its people.
As for the houses of great men, Thomas and Jane Carlyle's Cheyne Walk residence is reviewed in great detail, with its lack of running water, poor heating and its generally austere conditions. And Keats' more welcoming home in Hampstead is also studied in a quite different vein. Virginia makes an interesting comment about Hampstead as she writes, 'It is not a place where one makes money, or goes when one has money to spend.' I had to smile because Hampstead was one of my book-hunting grounds in days of yore and I used to go there to spend money and to make money on what I bought! How ironic is that?
In 'Abbeys and Cathedrals' Virginia concentrates on St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in particular but mentions that the surrounding areas of churches and cathedrals in the city had undergone radical change from the days of surrounding fields and when the areas had more of a country-living style rather than the hustle and bustle of 1930s London; the only quiet places then were in her opinion the graves of those buried there!
The House of Commons she says reminds her of 'a flock of birds settling on a stretch of ploughed land' and her reasoning is amusing, 'They never alight for more than a few minutes; some are always flying off, others are always settling again. And from the flock rises the gabbling, the cawing, the croaking of a flock of birds, disputing merrily and with an occasional vivacity over some seed, worm, or buried grain'!
'Nobody can be said to know London who does not know one true Cockney' is the statement she begins her 'Londoner' essay and this left me thinking that I knew London pretty well. Perhaps it was not surprising because my wife Linda was indeed a true Cockney (but without the strident accent) as she was born within the sound of Bow Bells. Funnily enough when we were out and about (buying books I should add) Linda used to say to me (a Blackpool lad), 'You know London better than I do.'
In this last essay she uses a Mrs Crowe as her example of a Cockney household and it paints a most descriptive, and probably true picture of such a life. Charles Dickens could just as easily have written this in his 'Sketches by Boz' and certainly Virginia's essay would have fitted in well and graced the book.
The book ends with a brief history of how the essays came to be put together into book form and this provides a most fascinating end to a tremendously well written and interesting read.
She researched each topic extensively, for instance, according to her diaries, she visited the docks accompanied by her husband Leonard Woolf, her friend Vita Sackville-West, whose husband Harold Nicolson had organised the trip, and the Persian Ambassador when they travelled in a Port of London Authority launch. And for the essay on great men's houses she made a number of visits to Thomas and Jane Carlyle's Chelsea home while the House of Commons was her port of call with Leonard once more, to listen to a debate and she attended St Clement Danes Church in the Strand to attend a memorial service for Arnold Bennett. She used detail from her last mentioned visit in her 'Abbeys and Cathedrals' essay.
I had not read much by Virginia Woolf prior to this book but I was impressed with the superb descriptive writing in each of the essays, particularly the first one about the docks. The docks were tremendously busy in those days and she writes of the ships, 'a thousand of these big ships every week of the year come to anchor in the docks of London'. And she describes them as making 'their way through a crowd of tramp steamers, and colliers and barges heaped with coal and bringing bricks from Harwich or cement from Colchester' as 'they come from the storms and calms of the sea, its silence and loneliness to their allotted anchorage'.
She goes on to describe 'lorries [that] jostle each other in the little street that leads from the dock' and finally the departing ships, 'flying the Blue Peter', as they 'move slowly out of the dock' with 'bows turned towards India or Australia once more'.
The essay on Oxford Street concentrates on how it has changed over the years with the larger stores taking over from street markets, which has led to the street becoming 'refined and transformed'. She qualifies this statement with 'The huge barrels of damp tobacco have been rolled into innumerable neat cigarettes laid in silver paper. The corpulent bales of wool have been spun into thin vests and soft stockings. The grease of sheep's thick wool has become scented cream for delicate skins.'
She also sees changes in the buyers and the sellers with 'Tripping , mincing in black coats, in satin dresses, the human form has adapted itself no less than the animal product. Instead of hauling and heaving, it deftly opens drawers, rolls out silk on counters, measures and snips with yard sticks and scissors.' And there is plenty more such descriptive material as she further analyses Oxford Street and its people.
As for the houses of great men, Thomas and Jane Carlyle's Cheyne Walk residence is reviewed in great detail, with its lack of running water, poor heating and its generally austere conditions. And Keats' more welcoming home in Hampstead is also studied in a quite different vein. Virginia makes an interesting comment about Hampstead as she writes, 'It is not a place where one makes money, or goes when one has money to spend.' I had to smile because Hampstead was one of my book-hunting grounds in days of yore and I used to go there to spend money and to make money on what I bought! How ironic is that?
In 'Abbeys and Cathedrals' Virginia concentrates on St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in particular but mentions that the surrounding areas of churches and cathedrals in the city had undergone radical change from the days of surrounding fields and when the areas had more of a country-living style rather than the hustle and bustle of 1930s London; the only quiet places then were in her opinion the graves of those buried there!
The House of Commons she says reminds her of 'a flock of birds settling on a stretch of ploughed land' and her reasoning is amusing, 'They never alight for more than a few minutes; some are always flying off, others are always settling again. And from the flock rises the gabbling, the cawing, the croaking of a flock of birds, disputing merrily and with an occasional vivacity over some seed, worm, or buried grain'!
'Nobody can be said to know London who does not know one true Cockney' is the statement she begins her 'Londoner' essay and this left me thinking that I knew London pretty well. Perhaps it was not surprising because my wife Linda was indeed a true Cockney (but without the strident accent) as she was born within the sound of Bow Bells. Funnily enough when we were out and about (buying books I should add) Linda used to say to me (a Blackpool lad), 'You know London better than I do.'
In this last essay she uses a Mrs Crowe as her example of a Cockney household and it paints a most descriptive, and probably true picture of such a life. Charles Dickens could just as easily have written this in his 'Sketches by Boz' and certainly Virginia's essay would have fitted in well and graced the book.
The book ends with a brief history of how the essays came to be put together into book form and this provides a most fascinating end to a tremendously well written and interesting read.
November 10, 2020
Το χαριτωμένο αυτό βιβλιαράκι συγκεντρώνει έξι άρθρα που δημοσίευσε το 1931-2 η Virginia Woolf σε ένα αδιάφορο περιοδικό για καθωσπρέπει κυρίες. Στις κλισέ επιλογές από στιγμιότυπα του Λονδίνου (εξαίρεση το συναρπαστικό πρώτο κείμενο που περιγράφει τα London docks) η Woolf αναλαμβάνει χρέη ξεναγού προς τέρψιν των μεσοαστών αναγνωστών της. Ως δια μαγείας, η τουριστική κοινοτοπία της Oxford Street, του Αγίου Παύλου ή του Κοινοβουλίου φευγαλέα εξαφανίζεται καθώς το αισθαντικό βλέμμα της Woolf χρωματίζει με ιμπρεσιονιστική παλέτα την μητρόπολη του μεσοπολέμου. Το αστείρευτο ταλέντο της ασφυκτιά στις χλωμές σελίδες του Good Housekeeping Magazine, αλλά ωραία θα ήταν εάν η όμορφη Virginia τολμούσε καμιά βόλτα σε πιο "σκοτεινά" σοκάκια!
January 11, 2017
Opening lines: ''Whither, O splendid ship' the poet asked as he lay on the shore and watched the great sailing ship pass away on the horizon.'
October 22, 2022
who's not impressed with Virginia Woolf here?
February 19, 2021
I can’t get enough of Woolf’s London. Her love for the city turns it into a living being with endless flaws and endless pleasures.
August 25, 2025
dostałaby zawału jakby miała takie o warszawie w 2025 napisać
June 27, 2021
Virginia Woolf, sehrli qələmi, gözəl London və insanları. bütün bunlar birləşəndə ortaya oxuması çox zövqlü bir əsər çıxır. Məktublarda axtarıb tapa bilmədim, amma yadımda qaldığı qədəriylə Vita Sackville-West Virginia Woolf-a yazdığı bir məktubunda demişdi ki, sənin London haqqında yazdıqlarını oxudum, artıq bu il Londona gəlməyimə ehtiyac qalmadı. Həqiqətən də haqlıdır, Virginia Woolf 70 səhifəlik qısa esselər toplusuyla insana London səyahəti yaşada bilir. Hər nə qədər şair olmasa da, məncə nəsrlə şeir kimi yaza bilən nadir insanlardandır o.
May 15, 2020
Kakva prijatna šetnja Londonom! I ovde je došlo do izražaja ono po čemu je, između ostalog, Virdžinija prepoznatljiva: oko za detalj i sposobnost da naizgled banalne stvari svakodnevice pretoči u univerzalnu povest o ljudskom iskustvu.
May 29, 2021
Una edición preciosa con un montón de información sobre Virginia y su día a día, además de montones de curiosidades sobre la ciudad que, tanto a ella como a mí, nos tiene robado el corazón.
March 28, 2023
this was a lovely little slice of life work. definitely recommend if you find Woolf intimidating but want something wholesome
November 14, 2015
Feia molt de temps que no llegia un llibre en català perquè em vaig cansar d’ ensopegar amb traduccions que abusaven d’ arcaismes i cultismes entorpint la lectura i convertint-la més en un suplici que no pas en un plaer. No obstant, amb la Virginia Woolf he fet una excepció i és que la Virginia ho mereix tot i més.
Londres recull sis articles publicats a la revista Good Housekeeping entre 1931 i 1932 que retraten la ciutat. Es tracta d’ una autèntica delícia que es llegeix en una tarda.
Una selecció personal de fragments:
-sobre la intranscendència del comerç a “La marea d’ Oxford Street”: “cert, diu el gran mercader, jo no penso educar les masses perquè assoleixin un grau més alt de sensibilitat estètica. (…) No, fins que algun botiguer espavilat no se li acudeixi d’obrir cel·les per a pensadors solitaris, cel·les entapissades de vellut verd, amb cuques de llum artificials i un estol de papallones autèntiques per induir el pensament i la reflexió, és debades intentar arribar a alguna conclusió a Oxford Street.”
-sobre la bellesa i l’ amor a “Cases de grans homes”: “en la llunyania, hi ha turons als boscos dels quals els ocells canten, i un ermini o una llebre s’ aturen un instant, en silenci absolut, amb una pota alçada per escoltar amb atenció el frec de les fulles. Per contemplar Londres des de dalt, venien aquí Keats, i Coleridge, i Shakespeare, potser. I aquí, en aquest mateix instant, el noi de sempre seu en un banc de ferro estrenyent entre els braços la noia de sempre.”
-sobre el descans assolit amb la mort a “Abadies i catedrals”: “perquè aquí els morts dormen en pau, sense demostrar res, sense testificar res, sense reclamar res, si no és que gaudim de la pau que els seus ossos ens proporcionen. Gens a contracor han renunciat a la humana voluntat de tenir noms diferenciats o virtuts peculiars. Però no tenen motius per doldre’s. Quan el jardiner planta els bulbs o sembra l’ herba, tornen a florir i cobreixen el terra d’ herba verda i flexible. Aquí fan safareig mares i mainaderes; les criatures juguen, i el vell captaire, després de menjar-se el dinar d’ una bossa de paper, escampa les molles per als pardals. Aquests cementiris són els santuaris més pacífics de Londres, i els seus morts, els més reposats.”
Londres recull sis articles publicats a la revista Good Housekeeping entre 1931 i 1932 que retraten la ciutat. Es tracta d’ una autèntica delícia que es llegeix en una tarda.
Una selecció personal de fragments:
-sobre la intranscendència del comerç a “La marea d’ Oxford Street”: “cert, diu el gran mercader, jo no penso educar les masses perquè assoleixin un grau més alt de sensibilitat estètica. (…) No, fins que algun botiguer espavilat no se li acudeixi d’obrir cel·les per a pensadors solitaris, cel·les entapissades de vellut verd, amb cuques de llum artificials i un estol de papallones autèntiques per induir el pensament i la reflexió, és debades intentar arribar a alguna conclusió a Oxford Street.”
-sobre la bellesa i l’ amor a “Cases de grans homes”: “en la llunyania, hi ha turons als boscos dels quals els ocells canten, i un ermini o una llebre s’ aturen un instant, en silenci absolut, amb una pota alçada per escoltar amb atenció el frec de les fulles. Per contemplar Londres des de dalt, venien aquí Keats, i Coleridge, i Shakespeare, potser. I aquí, en aquest mateix instant, el noi de sempre seu en un banc de ferro estrenyent entre els braços la noia de sempre.”
-sobre el descans assolit amb la mort a “Abadies i catedrals”: “perquè aquí els morts dormen en pau, sense demostrar res, sense testificar res, sense reclamar res, si no és que gaudim de la pau que els seus ossos ens proporcionen. Gens a contracor han renunciat a la humana voluntat de tenir noms diferenciats o virtuts peculiars. Però no tenen motius per doldre’s. Quan el jardiner planta els bulbs o sembra l’ herba, tornen a florir i cobreixen el terra d’ herba verda i flexible. Aquí fan safareig mares i mainaderes; les criatures juguen, i el vell captaire, després de menjar-se el dinar d’ una bossa de paper, escampa les molles per als pardals. Aquests cementiris són els santuaris més pacífics de Londres, i els seus morts, els més reposats.”
March 19, 2019
I only found out this book existed when a friend lent it to me and I was delighted to get to read a more unusual title from Woolf. These essays were written in 1931, just after Woolf finished The Waves and took on shorter pieces for magazines, basically to make a few bob in case The Waves bombed. They were published the following year in Good Housekeeping and are written in a more conversational style than was her norm at this point, and it's fun to see her writing more relaxed when exploring the city she loved walking so much.
March 25, 2023
"[...] London crowded and ribbed and compact, with its dominant domes, its guardian cathedrals; its chimneys and spires; its cranes and gasometers; and the perpetual smoke which no spring or autumn ever blows away. London has lain there time out of mind scarring that stretch of earth deeper and deeper, making it more uneasy, lumped and tumultuous, branding it for ever with an indelible scar. There it lies in layers, in strata, bristling and billowing with rolls of smoke always caught on its pinnacles."
February 1, 2017
"Dipping and rising, moving and settling, the Commons remind one of a flock of birds settling on a stretch of plowed land. They never alight for more than a few minutes; some are always flying off, others are always settling again. And from the flock rises the gabbling, the cawing, the croaking of a flock of birds, disputing merrily and with occasional vivacity over some seed, worm, or buried grain."
March 28, 2014
Bought this book while I was in London from Daunt Books where the book is published.
I started reading it after came back to New York. And even though the book was written in a different age, it still reminded me my time spent in London.
I especially like "Great Men's House" and "Abbeys and Cathedrals".
I started reading it after came back to New York. And even though the book was written in a different age, it still reminded me my time spent in London.
I especially like "Great Men's House" and "Abbeys and Cathedrals".
May 3, 2018
Dopo un po' Londra manca sempre, e perdercisi insieme a Virginia Woolf non ha prezzo.
Bloomsbury solo come lo racconta lei.
Bloomsbury solo come lo racconta lei.
March 31, 2021
Bello retrato. Qué grande Woolf. Qué manera de inmiscuirnos en lo aparentemente sencillo
July 7, 2021
não funcionou comigo, mas eu vou procurar ler outras coisas da Virgínia Woolf, para um primeiro contato não foi muito bom :/
June 6, 2023
Un retrato del Londres del siglo pasado. Crítica y punto de vista de la autora de su ciudad.
August 27, 2023
you ever read something and feel smarter and more distinguished afterwards?
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