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Вдовицата и папагалът
Почукването се повторило три пъти. Госпожа Гейдж скокнала от леглото колкото могла по-бързо и се приближила до прозореца. Там, за нейна най-голяма изненада, кацнал на перваза, стоял един огромен папагал. Дъждът бил спрял, нощта била ясна и лунна.
Отначало тя много се изплашила, но скоро разпознала сивия папагал Джеймс и страшно се зарадвала, че е успял да се спаси от огъня.
Вирджиния Улф (1882-1941) е родена под името Аделайн Вирджиния Стивън. Тя е важен представител на модернизма в литературата. Най-известните й творби са романите „Мисис Далауей”, „Към фара” и „Орландо”.
Пише детската история „Вдовицата и папагалът” за семейния вестник, който издава 12-годишният й племенник Куентин.
Отначало тя много се изплашила, но скоро разпознала сивия папагал Джеймс и страшно се зарадвала, че е успял да се спаси от огъня.
Вирджиния Улф (1882-1941) е родена под името Аделайн Вирджиния Стивън. Тя е важен представител на модернизма в литературата. Най-известните й творби са романите „Мисис Далауей”, „Към фара” и „Орландо”.
Пише детската история „Вдовицата и папагалът” за семейния вестник, който издава 12-годишният й племенник Куентин.
40 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
9 people are currently reading
755 people want to read
About the author
Virginia Woolf
1,828 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 151 reviews
March 4, 2025
Virginia Woolf will never be forgotten as a complex writer who, using the stream-of-consciousness technique, leaves those curious to read her work with a particular fear. But, from my own experience, I can say that it is very valid to face the challenge of reading Virginia Woolf because when the stream of consciousness is understood, the reader will know the author's artistic potency. It is genuinely uniquely beautiful. Thus, due to the lack of children and young readers, Virginia Woolf also produced short stories and novels using narrative techniques more familiarly, with actions more linked to the external life than the interior, through linear stories.
January 2, 2025
Seneye şöyle yumuşak, sakin bir başlangıç yapayım dedim ve ne vakittir Woolf okumamış olmanın da bana verdiği yetkiye dayanarak kendisinin yazdığı tek çocuk kitabı olan Yaşlı Kadın ve Papağan'ı okudum. Abisinin ölümü üzerine kendisine kalan miras payını almak üzere abisinin yaşadığı kasabaya giden iyi yürekli yaşlı Bayan Gage'in kısa macerasını anlatıyor öykü. Ağabeyinden geriye kalanlar arasındaki gri papağan, kadının hayatını baştan aşağıya değiştiriyor.
İnsanın kalbini ısıtan, mutluluğun pekala hayvanlara karşı göstereceğimiz şefkatte saklı olabileceğini anlatan çok tatlı bir öykü bu, şüphesiz Nalan Alaca'nın şahane çizimlerinin de bunda etkisi büyük. Diğer baskılardaki çizimleri eleştirenler olmuş gördüğüm kadarıyla, buradaki çizimlerse müthiş tatlı ve öyküyü şahane tamamlıyorlar.
Woolf'la haşır neşir olanların dikkatinden kaçmayacak birkaç detay da var, biri çok güzel, bir diğeri çok hüzünlü, onları da ekleyeyim. Yaşlı Bayan Gage gece vakti bu yabancı kasabada bir başına kalıyor. Kasabanın o tarafında tek bir ev olduğunu, bu evde de Leonard Woolf adında bir adamın yaşadığını yazıyor Woolf - Leonard onun çok sevgili eşi, nazik, sevgi dolu yol arkadaşı. Leonard'ı bu minik öyküye katmasını çok sevdim.
Bir diğer detay ise ırmak elbette; yaşlı kadının gece vakti geçmek zorunda kaldığı Ouse Irmağı. Bu ırmak, Woolf'un bu öyküyü yazdıktan 18 sene sonra ceplerine taşlar doldurarak kendini sularına bırakıp öleceği ırmağın ta kendisi. Öyküyü yazdığı yıllarda aklında bu fikir var mıydı, ırmağa bakarken, ona dair düşünürken, üzerine yazarken aklından neler geçiyordu bilmiyoruz ama aynı ırmağı böyle bir öyküde görmek içimi burktu, kalbimi kırdı biraz.
İşte böyle. Her şeye rağmen 1 Ocak sabahıma bu nazik öykünle iyi ki konuk oldun sevgili Woolf. Kim bilir belki bu sene artık külliyatını da bitiririm, neden olmasın?
İnsanın kalbini ısıtan, mutluluğun pekala hayvanlara karşı göstereceğimiz şefkatte saklı olabileceğini anlatan çok tatlı bir öykü bu, şüphesiz Nalan Alaca'nın şahane çizimlerinin de bunda etkisi büyük. Diğer baskılardaki çizimleri eleştirenler olmuş gördüğüm kadarıyla, buradaki çizimlerse müthiş tatlı ve öyküyü şahane tamamlıyorlar.
Woolf'la haşır neşir olanların dikkatinden kaçmayacak birkaç detay da var, biri çok güzel, bir diğeri çok hüzünlü, onları da ekleyeyim. Yaşlı Bayan Gage gece vakti bu yabancı kasabada bir başına kalıyor. Kasabanın o tarafında tek bir ev olduğunu, bu evde de Leonard Woolf adında bir adamın yaşadığını yazıyor Woolf - Leonard onun çok sevgili eşi, nazik, sevgi dolu yol arkadaşı. Leonard'ı bu minik öyküye katmasını çok sevdim.
Bir diğer detay ise ırmak elbette; yaşlı kadının gece vakti geçmek zorunda kaldığı Ouse Irmağı. Bu ırmak, Woolf'un bu öyküyü yazdıktan 18 sene sonra ceplerine taşlar doldurarak kendini sularına bırakıp öleceği ırmağın ta kendisi. Öyküyü yazdığı yıllarda aklında bu fikir var mıydı, ırmağa bakarken, ona dair düşünürken, üzerine yazarken aklından neler geçiyordu bilmiyoruz ama aynı ırmağı böyle bir öyküde görmek içimi burktu, kalbimi kırdı biraz.
İşte böyle. Her şeye rağmen 1 Ocak sabahıma bu nazik öykünle iyi ki konuk oldun sevgili Woolf. Kim bilir belki bu sene artık külliyatını da bitiririm, neden olmasın?
August 11, 2023
Let me say from the start that I’m afraid I am not a great admirer of Virginia Woolf’s writing. I know that she is considered to be one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors, and that she more or less pioneered “stream of consciousness” writing. That’s what I don’t like. I don’t like Emily Bronte’s narrative prose for the same reason; to me “Wuthering Heights” seems proto-stream of consciousness, and I feel there’s only a limited number of times an author can get away with writing “Oh—oh—oh!”
Be that as it may, it irks me not to enjoy these authors. Before I had ever heard of “stream of consciousness” writing, at Art College I read a book called “Art” by Clive Bell. Nobody else had read it, but I thought it was brilliant, took copious notes, and raved about it to my tutor. In an age when abstract or at least non-representational art was all the rage, Clive Bell developed a theory of aesthetics called “significant form”, explaining it as “lines and colours combined in a particular way, certain forms, and relations of forms, that stir our aesthetic emotions”.
So what can this have to do with my difficulty with Virginia Woolf? Perhaps only that they were both members of the Bloomsbury group; a group of ten English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century. They had all lived, worked or studied together near Bloomsbury, London, and were united by an abiding belief in the importance of the arts. Virginia Woolf’s sister, the artist Vanessa Bell was married to Clive Bell.
All the Bloomsbury group’s works and outlook were to influence literature, aesthetics, criticism, and economics deeply, as well as develop modern attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality. However, they were very cliquey, and all undeniably upper-middle class, moving in exclusive and privileged circles. What a blow. Perhaps this is why their fiction, divorced from any wider social observations leaves me cold, even though their aesthetics and art works speak to me. But this is all way, way off the point. It just serves to indicate why having found “To the Lighthouse” interminable, and given up on “The Waves” (although I did enjoy “Orlando”) I still feel a pull from an author I dislike.
The Widow and the Parrot is hardly one of Virginia Woolf’s best-known works. In fact how many people would even be aware that Virginia Woolf wrote a short story for children? This edition from 1988, is more than 60 years after the story had been written, but it was the first time it had been seen in print in public. The reason for this is even more curious than you might think ...
The brothers Quentin and Julian Bell, destined later to themselves become associated with the Bloomsbury set as Art historian and poet respectively, were aware that they had a relative who was a famous writer. They found their aunt Virginia fun, and had hoped for something as “funny, frivolous and subversive” as her conversation, even though neither of them had thought much of “Kew Gardens”. So in the early 1920s they asked her to contribute something to their family newspaper, expecting a humorous story. What they got: The Widow and the Parrot disappointed them so much, that the young editors nearly turned it down. It was even worse than “Kew Gardens”! Aunt Virginia had sent them a rather boring Victorian style tale, set in the 1870s in the English village of Rodnell, where Aunt Virginia lived. She had included features of the local countryside, including Asheham House “lately the seat of Mr. Leonard Woolf” (her husband) so the story said.
What the 12 year old Quentin missed until he was older, was that it was all written tongue in cheek. The only thing that stood out to the boys was that it had a strong, oldfashioned and Victorian moral message, and seemed to have all the worst faults of those type of “morally improving” stories. Quentin Bell explains this in his Afterword. How embarrassing. But they had commissioned it, and decided together that it “would be unkind to reject it”, so in it went.
As far as more general circulation went however, the manuscript was buried for sixty years, until Quentin Bell once more discovered the sly humour and charm that had eluded him as a boy. Here then is the story in brief:
We begin fifty years earlier, the story says, with an elderly widow Mrs. Gage, who lives with her dog Shag in a cottage in Spilsby, Yorkshire. (“Shag” incidentally, was the name of the family dog when Virginia Woolf was a child.) Mrs. Gage is lame in one leg and doesn’t have much money. One day the postman delivers a letter informing Mrs. Gage that her wealthy brother, Mr. Joseph Brand has died, leaving all his property and a fortune of £3000 to her. Mrs. Gage makes sure Shag will be looked after, and travels down to Rodmell near Lewes in Sussex, to see the grand house that she has inherited. It is a long journey, but people help her along the way.
Inside the house, a village woman named Mrs. Ford introduces Mrs. Gage to James, the pet parrot who had belonged to Mrs. Gage’s brother. The grey parrot is neglected and uses very bad language, as he had belonged to a seaman. Mrs. Gage is shocked to see how decrepit the house is, but she is kind to the parrot, giving it some sugar, and explaining that she will look after it. The next day, Mrs. Gage goes into the town of Lewes to see Mr. Stagg, in the office of the firm of solicitors named Stagg and Beetle, to claim the £3,000 her brother had left her in his will.
However, Mr. Stagg has bad news for her. He says that they have been unable to locate the money mentioned in the will, and tells her what she knows already. The house is in such poor condition that she will probably receive very little money by selling it; in fact barely enough to cover the solicitor’s fees. As Mrs. Gage walks back to the house, struggling because of her lame leg, she reflects on how miserly her brother had always been, remembering how he would hide his pocket money in a tree when they were children, and how he would torture little creatures.
It takes Mrs. Gage so long to walk back, that night begins to fall, and she worries about crossing the ford over the river, which she had been warned about. She falls over in the mud, but struggles to her feet to carry on. Just as she is beginning to despair about crossing the river, the ford is lit up by the bright flames of a fire in the distance. Her brother’s house is on fire!
Mrs. Gage worriedly asks the watching crowd what has happened to the parrot, but the clergyman assures her that the parrot will not have suffered, but must have “mercifully suffocated on his perch”. She is then taken to Mrs. Ford’s cottage to sleep, but all night she can’t stop thinking about her brother’s parrot, and whether he has perished in the blaze.
The next morning, Mrs. Gage is woken by a tapping at the window. The grey parrot has survived the fire! She follows it to the charred remains of the house, and the parrot taps insistently on the kitchen floor. Intrigued, Mrs Gage notices some unevenness about the flooring, and investigates by the light of the full moon.
Virginia Woolf tells us that visitors to Rodmell may still see the ruins of the house, and it is said that on a moonlit night you may hear the tapping of a parrot’s beak on the brick floor, or see an old woman wearing a white apron.
The Widow and the Parrot is unusual for Virginia Woolf, who usually writes in a very impressionistic style. It is a clear, plot-driven story with with a clear moral message. Mrs. Gage is no superhero, going into the flames to try to rescue the parrot when the house is on fire; she is after all a lame, elderly woman. However, she treats the parrot kindly, with respect and consideration, speaking to him intuitively as though he were a human being.
We see this reflected in the parrot’s actions. The parrot rewards her kindness by ensuring she gets the money she needs, and what may not strike us initially, that she survives to be able to claim it. It was the parrot, the story implies, who had saved Mrs. Gage her from drowning, by starting the fire .
The grey parrot is, in turn, rewarded by her companionship as she takes him back with her to Yorkshire to live with her and her dog.
Of course we cannot be sure about this, as the reasons for the parrot’s actions are ambiguous. Perhaps its actions were a simple matter of luck, and the fire was started by accident. Virginia Woolf leaves us to decide for ourselves. But the message is strong; Mrs. Gage treats James the parrot with kindness and respect, and all her good fortune follows from that.
The story has many full and some half-page illustrations by Julian Bell. They are delicate, gouache paintings with occasional fine outlines. The artist uses a restricted palette, favouring mauve and grey shades. Much attention is paid to lighting effects, and perspective so that the proportions of foreground objects (or the parrot, for instance) are exaggerated. They are attractive illustrations, but they puzzled me, because the artistic technique is not of the early 20th century. It is a far more contemporary style. The reason is simple; they are not by the same Julian Bell who was the sub-editor and older brother of Quentin, but by his nephew. The illustrator here is Julian Bell, the son of Quentin and Anne Olivier Bell (art scholar and editor of Virginia Woolf’s diaries), grandson of Vanessa Bell (the artist) and grandnephew of Virginia Woolf.
Well, I’m glad we’ve got that sorted out. There’s another book I want to read by Virginia Woolf on a similar theme. Written in 1933, “Flush” is a full length fictional biography she wrote of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s pet cocker spaniel, Flush. It is said to be very funny, and clearly another example of her interest in the close relationship between humans and their pets. Perhaps this much earlier little story gave her the spark of an idea.
There’s evidently another side to Virginia Woolf.
Be that as it may, it irks me not to enjoy these authors. Before I had ever heard of “stream of consciousness” writing, at Art College I read a book called “Art” by Clive Bell. Nobody else had read it, but I thought it was brilliant, took copious notes, and raved about it to my tutor. In an age when abstract or at least non-representational art was all the rage, Clive Bell developed a theory of aesthetics called “significant form”, explaining it as “lines and colours combined in a particular way, certain forms, and relations of forms, that stir our aesthetic emotions”.
So what can this have to do with my difficulty with Virginia Woolf? Perhaps only that they were both members of the Bloomsbury group; a group of ten English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century. They had all lived, worked or studied together near Bloomsbury, London, and were united by an abiding belief in the importance of the arts. Virginia Woolf’s sister, the artist Vanessa Bell was married to Clive Bell.
All the Bloomsbury group’s works and outlook were to influence literature, aesthetics, criticism, and economics deeply, as well as develop modern attitudes towards feminism, pacifism, and sexuality. However, they were very cliquey, and all undeniably upper-middle class, moving in exclusive and privileged circles. What a blow. Perhaps this is why their fiction, divorced from any wider social observations leaves me cold, even though their aesthetics and art works speak to me. But this is all way, way off the point. It just serves to indicate why having found “To the Lighthouse” interminable, and given up on “The Waves” (although I did enjoy “Orlando”) I still feel a pull from an author I dislike.
The Widow and the Parrot is hardly one of Virginia Woolf’s best-known works. In fact how many people would even be aware that Virginia Woolf wrote a short story for children? This edition from 1988, is more than 60 years after the story had been written, but it was the first time it had been seen in print in public. The reason for this is even more curious than you might think ...
The brothers Quentin and Julian Bell, destined later to themselves become associated with the Bloomsbury set as Art historian and poet respectively, were aware that they had a relative who was a famous writer. They found their aunt Virginia fun, and had hoped for something as “funny, frivolous and subversive” as her conversation, even though neither of them had thought much of “Kew Gardens”. So in the early 1920s they asked her to contribute something to their family newspaper, expecting a humorous story. What they got: The Widow and the Parrot disappointed them so much, that the young editors nearly turned it down. It was even worse than “Kew Gardens”! Aunt Virginia had sent them a rather boring Victorian style tale, set in the 1870s in the English village of Rodnell, where Aunt Virginia lived. She had included features of the local countryside, including Asheham House “lately the seat of Mr. Leonard Woolf” (her husband) so the story said.
What the 12 year old Quentin missed until he was older, was that it was all written tongue in cheek. The only thing that stood out to the boys was that it had a strong, oldfashioned and Victorian moral message, and seemed to have all the worst faults of those type of “morally improving” stories. Quentin Bell explains this in his Afterword. How embarrassing. But they had commissioned it, and decided together that it “would be unkind to reject it”, so in it went.
As far as more general circulation went however, the manuscript was buried for sixty years, until Quentin Bell once more discovered the sly humour and charm that had eluded him as a boy. Here then is the story in brief:
We begin fifty years earlier, the story says, with an elderly widow Mrs. Gage, who lives with her dog Shag in a cottage in Spilsby, Yorkshire. (“Shag” incidentally, was the name of the family dog when Virginia Woolf was a child.) Mrs. Gage is lame in one leg and doesn’t have much money. One day the postman delivers a letter informing Mrs. Gage that her wealthy brother, Mr. Joseph Brand has died, leaving all his property and a fortune of £3000 to her. Mrs. Gage makes sure Shag will be looked after, and travels down to Rodmell near Lewes in Sussex, to see the grand house that she has inherited. It is a long journey, but people help her along the way.
Inside the house, a village woman named Mrs. Ford introduces Mrs. Gage to James, the pet parrot who had belonged to Mrs. Gage’s brother. The grey parrot is neglected and uses very bad language, as he had belonged to a seaman. Mrs. Gage is shocked to see how decrepit the house is, but she is kind to the parrot, giving it some sugar, and explaining that she will look after it. The next day, Mrs. Gage goes into the town of Lewes to see Mr. Stagg, in the office of the firm of solicitors named Stagg and Beetle, to claim the £3,000 her brother had left her in his will.
However, Mr. Stagg has bad news for her. He says that they have been unable to locate the money mentioned in the will, and tells her what she knows already. The house is in such poor condition that she will probably receive very little money by selling it; in fact barely enough to cover the solicitor’s fees. As Mrs. Gage walks back to the house, struggling because of her lame leg, she reflects on how miserly her brother had always been, remembering how he would hide his pocket money in a tree when they were children, and how he would torture little creatures.
It takes Mrs. Gage so long to walk back, that night begins to fall, and she worries about crossing the ford over the river, which she had been warned about. She falls over in the mud, but struggles to her feet to carry on. Just as she is beginning to despair about crossing the river, the ford is lit up by the bright flames of a fire in the distance. Her brother’s house is on fire!
Mrs. Gage worriedly asks the watching crowd what has happened to the parrot, but the clergyman assures her that the parrot will not have suffered, but must have “mercifully suffocated on his perch”. She is then taken to Mrs. Ford’s cottage to sleep, but all night she can’t stop thinking about her brother’s parrot, and whether he has perished in the blaze.
The next morning, Mrs. Gage is woken by a tapping at the window. The grey parrot has survived the fire! She follows it to the charred remains of the house, and the parrot taps insistently on the kitchen floor. Intrigued, Mrs Gage notices some unevenness about the flooring, and investigates by the light of the full moon.
Virginia Woolf tells us that visitors to Rodmell may still see the ruins of the house, and it is said that on a moonlit night you may hear the tapping of a parrot’s beak on the brick floor, or see an old woman wearing a white apron.
The Widow and the Parrot is unusual for Virginia Woolf, who usually writes in a very impressionistic style. It is a clear, plot-driven story with with a clear moral message. Mrs. Gage is no superhero, going into the flames to try to rescue the parrot when the house is on fire; she is after all a lame, elderly woman. However, she treats the parrot kindly, with respect and consideration, speaking to him intuitively as though he were a human being.
We see this reflected in the parrot’s actions. The parrot rewards her kindness by ensuring she gets the money she needs, and what may not strike us initially, that she survives to be able to claim it. It was the parrot, the story implies, who had saved Mrs. Gage her from drowning, by starting the fire .
The grey parrot is, in turn, rewarded by her companionship as she takes him back with her to Yorkshire to live with her and her dog.
Of course we cannot be sure about this, as the reasons for the parrot’s actions are ambiguous. Perhaps its actions were a simple matter of luck, and the fire was started by accident. Virginia Woolf leaves us to decide for ourselves. But the message is strong; Mrs. Gage treats James the parrot with kindness and respect, and all her good fortune follows from that.
The story has many full and some half-page illustrations by Julian Bell. They are delicate, gouache paintings with occasional fine outlines. The artist uses a restricted palette, favouring mauve and grey shades. Much attention is paid to lighting effects, and perspective so that the proportions of foreground objects (or the parrot, for instance) are exaggerated. They are attractive illustrations, but they puzzled me, because the artistic technique is not of the early 20th century. It is a far more contemporary style. The reason is simple; they are not by the same Julian Bell who was the sub-editor and older brother of Quentin, but by his nephew. The illustrator here is Julian Bell, the son of Quentin and Anne Olivier Bell (art scholar and editor of Virginia Woolf’s diaries), grandson of Vanessa Bell (the artist) and grandnephew of Virginia Woolf.
Well, I’m glad we’ve got that sorted out. There’s another book I want to read by Virginia Woolf on a similar theme. Written in 1933, “Flush” is a full length fictional biography she wrote of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s pet cocker spaniel, Flush. It is said to be very funny, and clearly another example of her interest in the close relationship between humans and their pets. Perhaps this much earlier little story gave her the spark of an idea.
There’s evidently another side to Virginia Woolf.
Read
April 27, 2025À semelhança dos Brontë, os Woolf/Bell sempre foram (porque continuam a ser) artistas precoces. E como os primeiros, também estes se afadigavam, ainda na infância e juventude, com criações literárias e artísticas que viriam a tornar-se, com o tempo, percussores de obras que são verdadeiros marcos do século XX.
E tal como Virginia e a sua irmã Vanessa, também os filhos desta última se dedicavam às letras. É de uma dessas incursões pela literatura que nasce este A viúva e o papagaio, pequeno conto escrito por Virginia para o jornal que Quentin e Julian Bell compunham para apresentar à família.
Em si, este conto não podia ser mais singelo:
Uma velhota quase cega e manca, senhora muito remediada que vive em Yorkshire com o seu cão, Shag, recebe inesperadamente notícias de que é beneficiária do testamento do seu irmão mais velho:
«Deixou-lhe todos os seus bens»(...) «que consistem numa casa, um estábulo, caixotes com pepinos, escoadores, carrinhos de mão, etcetera , etcetera, em Rodmell, perto de Lewes. Lega-lhe também a totalidade da sua fortuna, isto é, três mil libras esterlinas.»
Mas o irmão da senhora Gage era um sovina, logo, em que se traduzirá esta herança? Isso fica para cada leitor descobrir. Basta dizer que há um papagaio chamado James à mistura e que, como a senhora Gage diz: «Os animais atuam com muito mais sentido do que nós pensamos».
A viúva e o papagaio é uma incursão muito singela ao talento de criadora e narradora de Virginia Woolf, ao seu lado mais caseiro, ao seu amor pelos animais e à sua dedicação aos seus. Esteticamente apelativo é uma pequenina divagação sobre a velhice, o afeto e a recompensa.
E tal como Virginia e a sua irmã Vanessa, também os filhos desta última se dedicavam às letras. É de uma dessas incursões pela literatura que nasce este A viúva e o papagaio, pequeno conto escrito por Virginia para o jornal que Quentin e Julian Bell compunham para apresentar à família.
Em si, este conto não podia ser mais singelo:
Uma velhota quase cega e manca, senhora muito remediada que vive em Yorkshire com o seu cão, Shag, recebe inesperadamente notícias de que é beneficiária do testamento do seu irmão mais velho:
«Deixou-lhe todos os seus bens»(...) «que consistem numa casa, um estábulo, caixotes com pepinos, escoadores, carrinhos de mão, etcetera , etcetera, em Rodmell, perto de Lewes. Lega-lhe também a totalidade da sua fortuna, isto é, três mil libras esterlinas.»
Mas o irmão da senhora Gage era um sovina, logo, em que se traduzirá esta herança? Isso fica para cada leitor descobrir. Basta dizer que há um papagaio chamado James à mistura e que, como a senhora Gage diz: «Os animais atuam com muito mais sentido do que nós pensamos».
A viúva e o papagaio é uma incursão muito singela ao talento de criadora e narradora de Virginia Woolf, ao seu lado mais caseiro, ao seu amor pelos animais e à sua dedicação aos seus. Esteticamente apelativo é uma pequenina divagação sobre a velhice, o afeto e a recompensa.
October 14, 2018
Gostei muito de ler este livro para crianças.
Porque tem uns desenhos lindos e uma história terna e divertida, com uma velhota e bichinhos: um cão e um papagaio leal e esperto;
Porque — o melhor de tudo — me foi oferecido pela minha criança 😊
Porque tem uns desenhos lindos e uma história terna e divertida, com uma velhota e bichinhos: um cão e um papagaio leal e esperto;
Porque — o melhor de tudo — me foi oferecido pela minha criança 😊
May 31, 2022
It’s always enjoyable reading a few pages by Virginia Woolf. In this entertaining little short story about a poor old widow, Woolf shows how misfortune and luck sometimes live side by side.
July 9, 2023
"É esta - disse ela - a recompensa pela bondade que mostramos aos animais."
November 12, 2024
Uma história bonita, bem contada, na qual é visível a fidelidade que os animais têm por quem os trata com ternura e atenção, e o amor de quem cuida deles.
February 4, 2017
Leitura conjunta com o filhote! ☺
July 16, 2019
Um pequeno conto que nos mostra como o amor e carinho que oferecemos aos animais nos é devolvido e multiplicado.
Gostoso para todas as idades.
Gostoso para todas as idades.
August 2, 2015
Ho appena finito di leggere i sette racconti di Virginia Woolf contenuti in questo libretto della collana del Sole 24 ore che esce la domenica. E sono rimasta estasiata dalla bellezza e dalla delicatezza di alcuni di essi. In particolare sono tre quelli che ho preferito, tre piccoli capolavori, in cui ci sono tre donne sole, infelici, incomprese, che vivono una situazione di disagio per la drammatica incomunicabilità in cui si dibattono, verso le quali ho sentito subito un moto di vicinanza, di solidarietà.
“La signora nello specchio:un’immagine riflessa” è il mio preferito, con un’atmosfera impalpabile di indeterminatezza amplificato dalle immagini riflesse nello specchio posto nell’atrio della casa di Isabel. Così leggi e ti domandi: qual è la vera immagine di questa donna paragonata “al fantastico e tremulo convolvolo”, silenziosa e misteriosa, che ha viaggiato in tutto il mondo ed ha conosciuto tanti uomini, pur non avendone sposato alcuno? E’ quella riflessa dallo specchio nell’atrio o è quella che appare alla fine, nuda e crudele, nella triste verità della sua esistenza? Lo specchio riflette da lontano la donna come gli altri la vedono, è come l’occhio della società che osserva e scruta l’esteriorità delle persone; quando ci si avvicina ad esso invece, quando la persona riempie la superficie dello specchio ecco che il mondo arretra e viene fuori il vero “io”, tristemente diverso dal primo. Bellissimo.
“Lappin e Lapinova” è un altro racconto molto bello. Anche qui vi è una figura femminile, Rosalind, infelicemente sposata con un uomo freddo, distante e serioso, membro di una famiglia che si crogiola nell’orgoglio del proprio ceto, che non la comprende e la esclude. Una donna bisognosa di affetto che non trova in famiglia e in società, costretta a rifugiarsi nell’immaginazione per dare calore ad un matrimonio gelido, creando personaggi immaginari, coniglietti soffici e dolci che ispirano tenerezza, fin quando non si scontrerà con la realtà.
“Un riepilogo” è brevissimo, cinque pagine, eppure Sasha Latham è così ben descritta come se la scrittrice ne avesse parlato a lungo. Sasha è una donna timida e silenziosa, che in società non si trova a suo agio, perché non riesce a manifestare la sua ricchezza interiore, quell’immaginazione artistica che trasfigura il mondo che la Woolf descrive con la sua scrittura riflessiva ed eterea.
Non sono tutti racconti da cinque stelle, il primo, che dà il titolo al libro, ed anche qualche altro, come “Scene della vita di un ufficiale di marina britannico”non sono bellissimi, ma sono forti le emozioni (tristezza, sofferenza, e tanto bisogno di amore) che mi ha dato la lettura di quei cammei, in cui ho pensato la scrittrice abbia messo molto di sé ma anch’io ho ritrovato molto di me.
“La signora nello specchio:un’immagine riflessa” è il mio preferito, con un’atmosfera impalpabile di indeterminatezza amplificato dalle immagini riflesse nello specchio posto nell’atrio della casa di Isabel. Così leggi e ti domandi: qual è la vera immagine di questa donna paragonata “al fantastico e tremulo convolvolo”, silenziosa e misteriosa, che ha viaggiato in tutto il mondo ed ha conosciuto tanti uomini, pur non avendone sposato alcuno? E’ quella riflessa dallo specchio nell’atrio o è quella che appare alla fine, nuda e crudele, nella triste verità della sua esistenza? Lo specchio riflette da lontano la donna come gli altri la vedono, è come l’occhio della società che osserva e scruta l’esteriorità delle persone; quando ci si avvicina ad esso invece, quando la persona riempie la superficie dello specchio ecco che il mondo arretra e viene fuori il vero “io”, tristemente diverso dal primo. Bellissimo.
“Lappin e Lapinova” è un altro racconto molto bello. Anche qui vi è una figura femminile, Rosalind, infelicemente sposata con un uomo freddo, distante e serioso, membro di una famiglia che si crogiola nell’orgoglio del proprio ceto, che non la comprende e la esclude. Una donna bisognosa di affetto che non trova in famiglia e in società, costretta a rifugiarsi nell’immaginazione per dare calore ad un matrimonio gelido, creando personaggi immaginari, coniglietti soffici e dolci che ispirano tenerezza, fin quando non si scontrerà con la realtà.
“Un riepilogo” è brevissimo, cinque pagine, eppure Sasha Latham è così ben descritta come se la scrittrice ne avesse parlato a lungo. Sasha è una donna timida e silenziosa, che in società non si trova a suo agio, perché non riesce a manifestare la sua ricchezza interiore, quell’immaginazione artistica che trasfigura il mondo che la Woolf descrive con la sua scrittura riflessiva ed eterea.
Non sono tutti racconti da cinque stelle, il primo, che dà il titolo al libro, ed anche qualche altro, come “Scene della vita di un ufficiale di marina britannico”non sono bellissimi, ma sono forti le emozioni (tristezza, sofferenza, e tanto bisogno di amore) che mi ha dato la lettura di quei cammei, in cui ho pensato la scrittrice abbia messo molto di sé ma anch’io ho ritrovato molto di me.
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January 30, 2022so i was browsing a bookshop and i saw a beautiful edition of this book and i was so surprised because i had no idea Virginia had written a children's short story ??? i didn't purchase it but i made a mental note to look for it later in a library perhaps. today i happened to browse my sister's bookshelf and discovered she read it during middle school :,,(
this is a heartwarming story about a human/pet relationship but you can very much tell with Virginia's narration style - half haunting half loving and her habitual way with words. i hope in the future they introduce other works from Virginia to high school students! i would have loved to discover her sooner and study her texts in a literature class....
this is a heartwarming story about a human/pet relationship but you can very much tell with Virginia's narration style - half haunting half loving and her habitual way with words. i hope in the future they introduce other works from Virginia to high school students! i would have loved to discover her sooner and study her texts in a literature class....
September 28, 2016
Leitura partilhada com o filhote - valeu pelos minutinhos passados a dois à volta de mais uma leitura :)
February 28, 2017
A moral da história é boa, mas carece de maior profundidade. Mesmo sendo uma história infantil, não deixa de ser superficial até para os mais novos.
December 8, 2021
Um bonito conto sobre a relação entre humanos e animais.
March 3, 2024
Boa leitura de espera enquanto a sogra compra as suas coisas no continente
October 23, 2023
jedina dobra stvar sa sajma - prelepom izdanju bulevar books. a na štandu inače radi vitomirka trebovac čiji sam veliki fan i žena se toliko obradovala što znam ko je i što sam je pitala kad će neka njena nova knjiga. super su marine ilustracije, ja sam baš uživala
February 5, 2024
Achei uma história simples mas reconfortante de ler. Adorei a presença de certas características autobiográficas da autora. Deram-me a sensação de ser um conto relativamente íntimo.
December 19, 2022
Um conto de Virginia Woolf, leve, divertido e com uma mensagem interessante.
Pertence ao Plano Nacional de Leitura - 5 ano, contudo considero que este conto não tem idade, e que pode e deve ser lido por qualquer pessoa.
Pertence ao Plano Nacional de Leitura - 5 ano, contudo considero que este conto não tem idade, e que pode e deve ser lido por qualquer pessoa.
January 29, 2016
Um pequeno conto que me demonstra, mais uma vez, que devo dar a oportunidade a grandes escritores clássicos!
August 1, 2017
Любопитна поредица на Лист и добра идея, но според мен не е за деца. Включително и илюстрациите на всяка една от книжките не са интересни на децата ми.
August 24, 2017
Вирджиния Улф ник��га не е била сред любимите ми писатели. Така става, когато някой професор, влюбен в творчеството на даден автор те бомбардира с библиографията му в продължение на цял семестър. Четенето по задължение е лошо нещо. Все си търсех повод най-накрая да се помиря с майката на модернизма и да се престраша отново да посегна към нещо нейно и ето, че и това стана. Благодарение на издателство „Лист” наскоро разлистих „Вдовицата и папагалът”, част от поредицата „Детски шедь6оври от велики писатели”. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":
https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
March 25, 2020
"A Viúva e o Papagaio" de Virginia Wolf é um conto curto que fala da história de Sra. Gage, uma viúva que recebe a notícia do falecimento do seu irmão mais velho que lhe deixou uma herança. Ela vai até à cidade onde seu irmão vivia e apercebe-se que afinal de contas a fortuna que ele lhe tinha deixado não era merecedora do seu deslocamento. No entanto, com a ajuda do papagaio James ela acaba por encontrar o tesouro escondido por seu irmão. A história fala de uma amizade de uma viúva e o seu papagaio, um amor eterno que termina no leito da morte. Adoro!
April 24, 2022
Ön not: Virginia Woolf'la ilk olarak Kendine Ait Bir Oda aracılığıyla tanışma niyetindeydim ancak bu kısa çocuk öyküsünü görünce araya sıkıştırmak istedim.
Sesli kitabını dinlerken; bir yandan kitaptan takip edip bir yandan da öykünün geçtiği mekanlar için haritaya bakarak kısa bir sürede bitirdim.
Hayvanların zekasının küçümsenmemesine dair tatlı bir öyküydü.
Sesli kitabını dinlerken; bir yandan kitaptan takip edip bir yandan da öykünün geçtiği mekanlar için haritaya bakarak kısa bir sürede bitirdim.
Hayvanların zekasının küçümsenmemesine dair tatlı bir öyküydü.
May 9, 2017
Uma história muito simples e que nos mostra que devemos ter amor pelos animais, independentemente de tudo.
September 1, 2020
Uma história simples, mas cheia de significado !
August 8, 2024
Achei fofo, é um livro muito fácil de ler com uma história básica mas não deixa de ser um livro bom.
O primeiro contacto que tive com o livro foi através de um excerto no manual da escola, onde achei bem escrito por isso comprei o livro.
Recomendo é um livrinho para ler rápido e bom para sair da ressaca literária.
O primeiro contacto que tive com o livro foi através de um excerto no manual da escola, onde achei bem escrito por isso comprei o livro.
Recomendo é um livrinho para ler rápido e bom para sair da ressaca literária.
September 13, 2025
“cose che non succedono mai, se ci si mette ad attenderle di proposito”
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