Comments on: The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:00:20 +0000

Litlove, I think you are right about that law of physics! I have a few more that are starting to get really heavy!

Arti, I hope you are enjoying Mrs. Dalloway! It is definitely one to read slowly and more than once. I gets better with each reading.

Verbivore, I wanted to give up but I worried that my Woolf as a favorite author credentials might be revoked if I did

Imani, I agree. I don’t mind complete or collected if they are only the published works but when they include all the fragments it starts to get to be a bit much.

Emily, six versions of the same story are five versions too many! It would be interesting if you are studying a writer’s process or development, but as a general read, the published works are the way to go.

By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:56:58 +0000

I had a similar problem with the complete short fiction of Zora Neale Hurston, which features about six versions of the same story – she was apparently trying to work out a theme, and while it was interesting and would have provided excellent fodder for an academic paper…around version #5 I had had enough. As much as I love Woolf I haven’t read much of her short fiction, so it’s good to know that I might want to shoot for a shorter, “selected shorts” volume.

By: imani

imani — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:07:42 +0000

I have a similar problem with most “Complete” or “Collected” short story/fiction collections. Going with the works as they were originally released always works out better for me.

By: verbivore

verbivore — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:52:11 +0000

I’m quite impressed at your having finished this, especially since it turned out to be not that exciting. I suspect I would have given up, even with as much as i love Woolf.

By: Dorothy W.

Dorothy W. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:44:46 +0000

It’s good to know that this book isn’t the best place to read Woolf, unless you are an expert or completely obsessed. There are plenty of other collections of her work that would be better to turn to, I’m sure — or perhaps a person could turn to this book and read selectively? Anyway, it’s good to be forewarned!