Book Review: "Street Haunting and Other Essays" by Virginia Woolf

Do you remember that time when I said I thought I'd read everything by Virginia Woolf? Yeah, I was wrong. The book Street Haunting and Other Essays is published by the Vintage Classics collection and compiles some of Virginia Woolf's most satisfying short fiction. The book is set up in different sections, starting with Virginia Woolf's scathing book reviews in which she discusses 'bad books'. The next section deals with the British Empire and then we have Class, Lives of the Obscure, Education and Places. Each of these sections compels the reader to read deeper and deeper into Woolf's brilliant nonfiction, her voice and her ability to add realism into her tone.

One of the first pieces is called The Anatomy of Fiction in which Virginia Woolf talks about a literary snob named Mr Hamilton. She speaks of the fact that there is so mcuh to learn from literature and that the mind of Mr Hamilton is actually quite closed as he states that he would rather read about provincial characters than interact with the actual people in real life. Woolf makes scathing insults towards him and there is an essence of sarcasm in the air. It is different to the fiction books you will read by her but honestly, her ability to write in different types of literature is astounding.

Many of these essays do similar things even though they are quintessentially different in their topics. They all provide social commentaries on art and literature, they offer insights into her culture of London and her culture of writing. It is something like opening a door on to her life that we don't normally get to see. In her essay entitled Miss Mitford, she produces some feminist criticism on top of it, looking at multiple women from history. Take a look at this:

For instance, little is known of Sappho, and that little is not wholly to her credit. Lady Jane Grey has merit but is undeniably obscure. Of George Sand, the more we know, the less we approve. George Eliot was led to evil ways which not all her philosophy can excuse. The Brontes, however highly we rate their genius, lacked that indefinable something which marks a lady; Harriet Martineau was an atheist, Mrs Browning was a married woman; Jane Austen, Fanny Burney and Maria Edgeworth have been done already, so that what with one think and another, Mary Russell Mitford is the only woman left.

Of course, there are many parts of this book which include her feminist critique but there are others that remind me of different works by the same author. For example Street Haunting, reminds me of Kew Gardens in a ways because it is all about observation. Street Haunting is about a narrator who sets out on an evening walk through London under the pretext of buying a pencil. As she wanders the streets, she observes people, shops, and the cityscape, reflecting on how the act of walking allows her to temporarily escape her own identity and inhabit the lives of others. The essay also explores themes of self, identity, and the experience of urban life. Like Kew Gardens in which the narrator observes people walking around the flowers, this one is all about people and is fantastic as it is simple.

Another one I thought was pretty good was an essay she writes about America though she acknowledges she has never actually been there. She imagines what the country would be like, applying her own perceptions to the possible realities of the country in the post-war era. She discusses the impact of American literature on her understanding of the country. She references writers like Walt Whitman, Henry James, and Herman Melville, whose works have contributed to her mental image of America. The author is fascinated by the idea of America as a place of innovation, modernity, and freedom. She contemplates how America represents the future and the new, in contrast to the old world of Europe. It is a brilliantly written exploration of a whole new world yet undiscovered.

So yes, Virginia Woolf has still, much to discover for me and so I cannot say I have read everything she has written - hopefully I will still have things to find out about her and her writings even now.