Book and reviews of it by Emily Kopley
Virginia Woolf and Poetry, 2021
I argue that Woolf's career was shaped by her impression of the conflict between poetry and the n... more I argue that Woolf's career was shaped by her impression of the conflict between poetry and the novel, a conflict she often figured as one between masculine and feminine, old and new, bound and free. In large part for feminist reasons, Woolf promoted the triumph of the novel over poetry, even as she adapted some of poetry's techniques for the novel in order to portray the inner life. Woolf considered poetry *the* rival form to the novel. A monograph on Woolf's sense of genre rivalry thus offers a thorough reinterpretation of the motivations and aims of her canonical work. Drawing on unpublished archival material and little-known publications, the book combines biography, book history, formal analysis, genetic criticism, source study, and feminist literary history. Woolf's attitude towards poetry is framed within contexts of wide scholarly interest: the decline of the lyric poem, the rise of the novel, the gendered associations with these two genres, elegy in prose and verse, and the history of English Studies. *Virginia Woolf and Poetry* makes three important contributions. It clarifies a major prompt for Woolf's poetic prose. It exposes the genre rivalry that was creatively generative to many modernist writers. And it details how holding an ideology of a genre can shape literary debates and aesthetics.
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The Year's Work in English Studies, 2023
Review of *Virginia Woolf and Poetry*, 2022
Woolf Studies Annual, 2022
*Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature*, 2022
Peer-Reviewed Articles by Emily Kopley
![Research paper thumbnail of Anon is Not Dead: Towards a History of Anonymous Authorship in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain (Mémoires du Livre 7.2. [Spring 2016])](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/50057730/thumbnails/1.jpg)
In 1940, Virginia Woolf blamed the printing press for killing the oral tradition that had promote... more In 1940, Virginia Woolf blamed the printing press for killing the oral tradition that had promoted authorial anonymity: “Anon is dead,” she pronounced. Scholarship on the printed word has abundantly recognized that, far from being dead, Anon remained very much alive in Britain through the end of the nineteenth century. Even in the twentieth century, Anon lived on, among particular groups and particular genres, yet little scholarship has addressed this endurance. Here, after defining anonymity and sketching its history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, I offer three findings. First, women had less need for anonymity as they gained civil protections elsewhere, but anonymity still appealed to writers made vulnerable by their marginalized identities or risky views. Second, in the early twentieth century the genre most likely to go unsigned was autobiography, in all its forms. Third, on rare occasions, which I enumerate, strict anonymity achieves what pseudonymity cannot. I conclude by suggesting that among British modernist authors, the decline of practiced anonymity stimulated desired anonymity and the prizing of anonymity as an aesthetic ideal.
![Research paper thumbnail of Virginia Woolf's Conversations with George Rylands: Context for A Room of One's Own and "Craftsmanship" (Review of English Studies 67.282 [Nov. 2016]: 946-969)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/46538118/thumbnails/1.jpg)
George ‘Dadie’ Rylands (1902-1999) was a Cambridge don and a director and scholar of Shakespeare.... more George ‘Dadie’ Rylands (1902-1999) was a Cambridge don and a director and scholar of Shakespeare. He is well known for hosting the sumptuous dinner in King’s College that Virginia Woolf elaborated in A Room of One’s Own (1929),
but he played a yet more significant, and hitherto unrecognized, role in Woolf’s writing life. Rylands brought Woolf in touch with English Studies and mediated between two of its aspects: the patriarchal world that privileged verse and the more democratic world that esteemed verse and prose equally. Rylands’ private letters and critical study Words and Poetry (Hogarth Press, 1928) reinforced Woolf’s confidence that prose could adapt elements of verse, and by extension that her verse-adapting prose had much in common with Shakespeare’s prose-adapting verse. Further,
Rylands’ writing on words’ freedom, in Words and Poetry and his BBC talk ‘The Language of Shakespeare’ (18 March 1937), offered language that Woolf transformed for her BBC talk ‘Craftsmanship’ (29 April 1937), delivered in the
series ‘Words Fail Me’. Woolf alludes to Rylands to counter the views of the first speaker in the series. This article draws on the Monks House Papers at the University of Sussex and the King’s College Archive Centre at the University of
Cambridge.
![Research paper thumbnail of Virginia Woolf's Cousin J. K. Stephen: Forgotten But Not Gone (English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, 59.2 [Jan. 2016]: 191-209)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/40758850/thumbnails/1.jpg)
In 1891, J. K. STEPHEN (1859–1892) wrote in “To P. L., Aged 4½”
that if “as the years go by” the ... more In 1891, J. K. STEPHEN (1859–1892) wrote in “To P. L., Aged 4½”
that if “as the years go by” the addressed girl should keep “any phrase of mine, / Aglow with memory’s cheering fire,” then the poet will not “Have written quite in vain.” In his lifetime this versifier, actor, and orator was much admired wherever he went, from Eton to Cambridge to literary London. Yet today J. K. Stephen’s memory endures in dispiriting embers rather than cheering fire. He is known primarily among Etonians and Ripperologists, the former for his legendary turn as Keeper of the College Wall in the Eton Wall Game, the latter for his candidacy as Jack himself. Posterity’s neglect is in this case just: J. K. Stephen’s verse is simplistic and often wantonly cruel, and the man was repellent and erratic in emotions and behavior, the more so after an accident in 1886 that eventually led to his death from mania. It is not surprising that Stephen is little remembered today; it is instead surprising that he should ever have been celebrated.
This article does not aim to restore Stephen to cultural memory but instead to draw on his life, verse, and impressions on others to make two arguments. First, Stephen’s disproportionately high repute attests to the late-Victorian esteem of apparent masculine power. Second, Stephen played a minor but yet unrecognized role in the imaginative lives of Julia Duckworth Stephen and her daughter, Virginia Woolf.
Studies in American Jewish Literature, Jan 1, 2009
Writing for a general audience by Emily Kopley
Between Pinnacle and Chasm [review of Woolf's diaries], 2023
Woolf while they were in the country. On October 20 the Woolfs surveyed the damage. Virginia Wool... more Woolf while they were in the country. On October 20 the Woolfs surveyed the damage. Virginia Woolf while they were in the country. On October 20 the Woolfs surveyed the damage. Virginia wrote in her diary: "I began to hunt out diaries. What cd we salvage in this little car?" Two days wrote in her diary: "I began to hunt out diaries. What cd we salvage in this little car?" Two days later she noted: "24 vols of diary salved; a great mass for my memoirs". In March 1941 Woolf drowned later she noted: "24 vols of diary salved; a great mass for my memoirs". In March 1941 Woolf drowned herself. Apart from "A Sketch of the Past" and some earlier pieces, her memoirs were unwritten. herself. Apart from "A Sketch of the Past" and some earlier pieces, her memoirs were unwritten.
Oxford University Press blog, 2022
*Jacob's Room* (1922) was Virginia Woolf's first experimental novel. Readers have long wondered w... more *Jacob's Room* (1922) was Virginia Woolf's first experimental novel. Readers have long wondered why, in this novel by an author celebrated for portraying the inner life, Jacob's inner life is opaque. In this short essay for the Oxford UP blog, I propose an answer: he is the hero of a Shakespeare play.
The broadcast of "Craftsmanship," which aired on 29 April 1937, was Woolf's third and final contr... more The broadcast of "Craftsmanship," which aired on 29 April 1937, was Woolf's third and final contribution to radio, and the final third of the talk constitutes the only recording of her voice. Though this broadcast is well known, in its print and recorded versions, its context--the motive for the pointedness of Woolf's argument--has been forgotten. Woolf counters the views of previous speakers in the "Words Fail Me" series (A. Lloyd James, Allan Ferguson, and Logan Pearsall Smith). These speakers had trumpeted efforts to confine words to a precise meaning, as in the dictionary or in scientific discourse, while Woolf celebrates words' many and metaphorical meanings. This essay recovers the context of Woolf's broadcast by drawing on *The Listener*.
Interviews and Media Coverage by Emily Kopley
McGill's Faculty of Arts Newsletter, 2022
In connection with my essay "At the Service of Words: Hearing the 'echoes, memories, associations... more In connection with my essay "At the Service of Words: Hearing the 'echoes, memories, associations' in Woolf's 'Craftsmanship," published in the TLS of 28 April 2017, I spoke on the TLS podcast "Freedom, Books, Flowers, and the Moon." This installment of the podcast is called "How comics got serious." At 35:30 minutes my essay is summarized, from 37:30 to 49:20 I speak, the hosts then discuss Woolf's voice, and from 52:30 to the end they play the 8-minute recording of Woolf.
Concordia University News, 2020
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Book and reviews of it by Emily Kopley
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Peer-Reviewed Articles by Emily Kopley
but he played a yet more significant, and hitherto unrecognized, role in Woolf’s writing life. Rylands brought Woolf in touch with English Studies and mediated between two of its aspects: the patriarchal world that privileged verse and the more democratic world that esteemed verse and prose equally. Rylands’ private letters and critical study Words and Poetry (Hogarth Press, 1928) reinforced Woolf’s confidence that prose could adapt elements of verse, and by extension that her verse-adapting prose had much in common with Shakespeare’s prose-adapting verse. Further,
Rylands’ writing on words’ freedom, in Words and Poetry and his BBC talk ‘The Language of Shakespeare’ (18 March 1937), offered language that Woolf transformed for her BBC talk ‘Craftsmanship’ (29 April 1937), delivered in the
series ‘Words Fail Me’. Woolf alludes to Rylands to counter the views of the first speaker in the series. This article draws on the Monks House Papers at the University of Sussex and the King’s College Archive Centre at the University of
Cambridge.
that if “as the years go by” the addressed girl should keep “any phrase of mine, / Aglow with memory’s cheering fire,” then the poet will not “Have written quite in vain.” In his lifetime this versifier, actor, and orator was much admired wherever he went, from Eton to Cambridge to literary London. Yet today J. K. Stephen’s memory endures in dispiriting embers rather than cheering fire. He is known primarily among Etonians and Ripperologists, the former for his legendary turn as Keeper of the College Wall in the Eton Wall Game, the latter for his candidacy as Jack himself. Posterity’s neglect is in this case just: J. K. Stephen’s verse is simplistic and often wantonly cruel, and the man was repellent and erratic in emotions and behavior, the more so after an accident in 1886 that eventually led to his death from mania. It is not surprising that Stephen is little remembered today; it is instead surprising that he should ever have been celebrated.
This article does not aim to restore Stephen to cultural memory but instead to draw on his life, verse, and impressions on others to make two arguments. First, Stephen’s disproportionately high repute attests to the late-Victorian esteem of apparent masculine power. Second, Stephen played a minor but yet unrecognized role in the imaginative lives of Julia Duckworth Stephen and her daughter, Virginia Woolf.
Writing for a general audience by Emily Kopley
Interviews and Media Coverage by Emily Kopley
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but he played a yet more significant, and hitherto unrecognized, role in Woolf’s writing life. Rylands brought Woolf in touch with English Studies and mediated between two of its aspects: the patriarchal world that privileged verse and the more democratic world that esteemed verse and prose equally. Rylands’ private letters and critical study Words and Poetry (Hogarth Press, 1928) reinforced Woolf’s confidence that prose could adapt elements of verse, and by extension that her verse-adapting prose had much in common with Shakespeare’s prose-adapting verse. Further,
Rylands’ writing on words’ freedom, in Words and Poetry and his BBC talk ‘The Language of Shakespeare’ (18 March 1937), offered language that Woolf transformed for her BBC talk ‘Craftsmanship’ (29 April 1937), delivered in the
series ‘Words Fail Me’. Woolf alludes to Rylands to counter the views of the first speaker in the series. This article draws on the Monks House Papers at the University of Sussex and the King’s College Archive Centre at the University of
Cambridge.
that if “as the years go by” the addressed girl should keep “any phrase of mine, / Aglow with memory’s cheering fire,” then the poet will not “Have written quite in vain.” In his lifetime this versifier, actor, and orator was much admired wherever he went, from Eton to Cambridge to literary London. Yet today J. K. Stephen’s memory endures in dispiriting embers rather than cheering fire. He is known primarily among Etonians and Ripperologists, the former for his legendary turn as Keeper of the College Wall in the Eton Wall Game, the latter for his candidacy as Jack himself. Posterity’s neglect is in this case just: J. K. Stephen’s verse is simplistic and often wantonly cruel, and the man was repellent and erratic in emotions and behavior, the more so after an accident in 1886 that eventually led to his death from mania. It is not surprising that Stephen is little remembered today; it is instead surprising that he should ever have been celebrated.
This article does not aim to restore Stephen to cultural memory but instead to draw on his life, verse, and impressions on others to make two arguments. First, Stephen’s disproportionately high repute attests to the late-Victorian esteem of apparent masculine power. Second, Stephen played a minor but yet unrecognized role in the imaginative lives of Julia Duckworth Stephen and her daughter, Virginia Woolf.
This monograph investigates in depth the tension between Woolf and the generation of male poets who first came to public attention in the 1930s, a generation that included W.H. Auden, Julian Bell, Cecil Day-Lewis, John Lehmann, Louis MacNeice, Peter Quennell, and Stephen Spender. While the poets’ youth, gender, homosociality and manner of turning politics into poetics irritated Woolf, their favoured genre especially prompted her criticism. In her two essays on the younger poets, the 1932 "A Letter to a Young Poet" and the 1940 "The Leaning Tower," Woolf argues that lyric poetry no longer reflects contemporary life and that more powerful vehicles might be mixed-genre modes, the novel, and autobiography (forms she herself pursued). Far from antagonistic in turn, many of the young poets accommodated Woolf’s combative argument by claiming her novels as, in fact, poetry, and expressing appreciation of Woolf’s prose through their verse, both during her lifetime and after. This important study traces allusions exchanged between Woolf and the 1930s poets to reveal mutual engagement and influence. Further, this essay draws in part on lesser-known published documents and on unpublished archival material to clarify a major cross-generational debate about literary form.
Bloomsbury Heritage series No. 60, perfectbound paperback, 76pp., incl. illustrations,ISBN 978-1-907286-20-9, price £10.50