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Voyager avec Virginia Woolf
"Les voyages sont les pires raseurs" écrivait de Bretagne Virginia Woolf à une amie. Elle ne fut pas, en effet, une "grande voyageuse".
Pourtant, elle aime changer de place et ne peut ignorer les lieux célèbres, Rome ou l'Acropole, même si elle en fait peu de cas dans la relation qu'ils lui suggèrent. Pour elle, les fameux monuments n'impressionnent pas plus qu'une noce paysanne ou une foire aux moutons.
Ce qui compte, avec l'auteur des Vagues, c'est la vision toute particulière qu'elle se fait des lieux et des choses, l'émotion que suscite un spectacle urbain ou champêtre, les remarques acides ou humoristique qu'il lui inspire. A l'exception de quelques voyages en Europe et d'une escapade en Asie Mineure, c'est Londres et ses envirions qui donnent l'occasion à l'écrivain de brosser maints petits tableaux pleins de charme et de spontanéité.
C'était une gageure que de vouloir "voyager" avec Virginia Woolf. Jan Morris l'a tentée, en anglais, à partir de Journal et de la Correspondance. Avec les nombreux inédits - en français - qu'apporte notre ouvrage, nous découvrons un aspect inconnu de la romancière du groupe de Bloomsbury, dont nous suivons les traces en Angleterre bien sûr, mais aussi en France, en Italie, en Grèce, en Espagne, en Irlande, en Allemagne, en Hollande et en Turquie.
Pourtant, elle aime changer de place et ne peut ignorer les lieux célèbres, Rome ou l'Acropole, même si elle en fait peu de cas dans la relation qu'ils lui suggèrent. Pour elle, les fameux monuments n'impressionnent pas plus qu'une noce paysanne ou une foire aux moutons.
Ce qui compte, avec l'auteur des Vagues, c'est la vision toute particulière qu'elle se fait des lieux et des choses, l'émotion que suscite un spectacle urbain ou champêtre, les remarques acides ou humoristique qu'il lui inspire. A l'exception de quelques voyages en Europe et d'une escapade en Asie Mineure, c'est Londres et ses envirions qui donnent l'occasion à l'écrivain de brosser maints petits tableaux pleins de charme et de spontanéité.
C'était une gageure que de vouloir "voyager" avec Virginia Woolf. Jan Morris l'a tentée, en anglais, à partir de Journal et de la Correspondance. Avec les nombreux inédits - en français - qu'apporte notre ouvrage, nous découvrons un aspect inconnu de la romancière du groupe de Bloomsbury, dont nous suivons les traces en Angleterre bien sûr, mais aussi en France, en Italie, en Grèce, en Espagne, en Irlande, en Allemagne, en Hollande et en Turquie.
348 pages, Paperback
First published November 4, 1993
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About the author
Virginia Woolf
1,864 books28.9k 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 19, 2019
An interesting read, but a bit disappointing. But still it's always nice to read Virginia Woolf's prose, and there were several texts I didn't know. She was not a great traveller, so this book - a collection of texts mostly from diaries and letters - is mostly a curio, a small pleasure for her admirers - one of whom I am, of course.
I think what I liked less was the editing - I wouldn't have organised the texts by place, as Jan Morris did, I think the collection would be much more interesting and expressive of her mind and feelings about the places if they were organised chronologically. Jan Morris says in the introduction:
'"What one records is really the state of one's own mind." Precisely that is the fascination of these writings. They are seldom descriptions of place, they are records of the effect of place upon a particular sensibility, one of the most finely tuned imaginable. The earliest piece here was written in 1897, when the writer was fifteen, the latest in 1940, when she was fifty-eight, and there is inevitably a vast difference in the style and approach.'
And precisely because of that evolution in her style and approach, I believe the book would be more coherent and enjoyable if it followed her impressions along her life, which is also a kind of travel through time that inevitably influences what one gets from travels through space.
That said, I enjoyed it very much, especially the parts about Greece, her description of Epidaurus reminded me so much of my own visit there.
'...but if statues & marble are solid to the touch, so, simply, are words resonant to the ear.'
I think what I liked less was the editing - I wouldn't have organised the texts by place, as Jan Morris did, I think the collection would be much more interesting and expressive of her mind and feelings about the places if they were organised chronologically. Jan Morris says in the introduction:
'"What one records is really the state of one's own mind." Precisely that is the fascination of these writings. They are seldom descriptions of place, they are records of the effect of place upon a particular sensibility, one of the most finely tuned imaginable. The earliest piece here was written in 1897, when the writer was fifteen, the latest in 1940, when she was fifty-eight, and there is inevitably a vast difference in the style and approach.'
And precisely because of that evolution in her style and approach, I believe the book would be more coherent and enjoyable if it followed her impressions along her life, which is also a kind of travel through time that inevitably influences what one gets from travels through space.
That said, I enjoyed it very much, especially the parts about Greece, her description of Epidaurus reminded me so much of my own visit there.
'...but if statues & marble are solid to the touch, so, simply, are words resonant to the ear.'
April 22, 2019
This is a truly wonderful insight into Virginia Woolf and the places she visited. Jan Morris, the famous travel writer, follows the path of Virginia Woolf, based on her letters, essay and diaries, from early 1900-1940. The book consists of extracts by VW, with comments from Jan Morris in 1992. Locations include London and many parts of the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Greece. Some of the British parts are a little too descriptive, as I enjoy her opinions and experiences more. Morris's comments become very poignant as she provides contexts, some from her early troubles with mental illness, some indicating how near she was to the ending of her life.
July 22, 2023
Really enjoyed these excerpts of Virginia Woolf's travels around England, Europe and Constantinople. They made me both yearn for a time when dress and customs were less homogenised, but also be grateful our attitudes towards people from other countries has improved. Jan Morris adds commentary about their own visit to the same places and people decades later.
November 14, 2020
3 étoiles car je ne prends pas beaucoup de plaisir à lire Virginia Woolf traduite en français. Ses récits de voyage ne sont pas les histoires qui me passionnent le plus également venant d’elle... :)
August 20, 2023
Kind of sad to find out Virginia Woolf was so elitist
August 22, 2023
Todo el rato la sensación de que Virginia no podía pertenecer a ningún lugar por mucho tiempo
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews