Book Review: "Selected Letters" by Virginia Woolf

You've guessed it, I'm back on the train of binge-reading things of a certain genre. This time it is not British Library Crime Classics, nor is it terrifying gory horror and no, it's not 'good for her' literature either. This time, it is 'selected letters' collections. I have already read the selected letters of John Keats which really opened my eyes as to who he really was beneath the genius poet. I have also read the selected letters of Lord Byron (a ten letter collection published for th 200th anniversary of his death). Now, I am moving on to reading the selected letters of Virginia Woolf - yet another writer I regard as a genius of her style. Seeing beneath the mythology created around her has been very special.

The first thing I really enjoyed about her selected letters was her writing style. In her books, she uses a lovely realist style by giving us descriptions that aren't loaded or flamboyant. However, in her letters she uses incredible descriptions of great flamboyancy, she pours herself out on the page and its so different to her novels. Her novels feel intimately her, but her letters feel like she's speaking directly to someone. When I first read A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf in my teens, I was absolutely in love with her writing immediately. Now, reading her letters - I found an even more deep and profound communication and longing for space, peace and books. Take a read of this:

I long for a large room to myself with books and nothing else, where I can shut myself up and see no one and read myself into peace. This would be possible at Gordon Sq: and nowhere else. I wonder why Savage doesn't see this. As a matter of fact my sleep hasn't improved a scrap since I have been here, and his sleeping draught gives me a headache, and nothing else.

- Selected Letters by Virginia Woolf

Another thing I have always loved about Virginia Woolf is her descriptions about reading. She always has something fantastic to say about literature, the act of reading, the enjoyment of reading and reading as one of the greatest pleasures of all. The fact that Virginia Woolf and I share the same birthday should therefore, suprise nobody since that is all I seem to talk about too. Some of her letters go into detail about how much she enjoys reading as much as how much she enjoys writing. Take a read of this one:

I read then, and feel beauty swell like ripe fruit within my palm: I hear music woven from the azure skeins of air; and gazing into deep pools skimmed with the Italian veil I see youth and melancholy walking hand in hand. Yet why separate and distinguish when all are pressed to your ardent lips in one clear draught?

- Selected Letters by Virginia Woolf

As you can see, it's never just about sitting there and reading. It is about the whole experience of the senses when you get into a story. It's a depth of experience that the Romantics once described in their poems about nature and humanity and living for experience. Virginia Woolf's letters often detail her life and times, but also her pursuits. One of them that I loved (but also felt bad about) is when she was once writing about a story she wrote. The part I felt bad about is that the footnote stated that it was never found.

Not only all of this though, we also get a look into different things that Virginia Woolf herself was reading whilst thinking profound thoughts about what she would write next. She was reading Christina Rossetti and John Keats and honestly, she has some of the most interesting and brilliant things to say. Take a look at what she says about the life and times of Christina Rossetti. (I too, adore the poetry of Christina Rossetti). Take a look at what she has to say about it:

I am reading my dear Christina Rossetti with her kind voice and her prominent eyes, and her acquiescent piety: but all the same she sings like a robin and sometimes like a nightingale - the first of our English poetesses. She doesn't think, I imagine; but just throws up her head and sends forth her song, and never listens, but makes another. O you Christians have much to answer for! She died surrounded by all the horrors of the Church, poor woman. Then I am reading your Keats, with the pleasure of one handling great luminous stones. I rise and shout in ecstasy, and my eyes brim with such pleasure that I must drop the book and gaze from the window. It is a beautiful edition.

- Selected Letters by Virginia Woolf

All in all, I adored this book about the fantastic experiences of reading, letters regarding love and death, the sadness behind losing her father, the discontent she had with people telling her to get married and obviously the fantastic writing she did over her lifestime. I was probably most surprised at how personal some of the letters were and now, after reading the book I feel now that I know her much better than I did from simply reading her works of fiction.