Ellie Brady: Woolf's Women online
Virginia Woolf’s Women
An online week of study July 10–14, 2023
Ignited by a life-long passion for Virginia Woolf’s writing I signed up to spend an intensive week immersed in her work with scholars, readers, and enthusiasts from around the world during the Literature Cambridge 2023 Summer Online course Woolf’s Women. This programme offered a rich opportunity to delve into Woolf’s writing and her world. We studied five books: Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, A Room of One’s Own, and Between the Acts. We did this as an international community of learners and thinkers brought together to share a week reading and reflecting and gaining insight on Woolf’s relevance today.
I felt some initial trepidation as I signed up wondering how this course would work online, across time zones, and hoping to feel comfortable and supported with a group of people who were, in their majority, new to me. While I’ve taken a number of classes with Literature Cambridge online, signing up for an intensive week of lectures, supervisions, and discussions felt initially intimidating. However, Day 1 focusing on Mrs Dalloway, quickly dispelled any misgivings I had about organisation and participation; each session was superb. Pre-recorded lectures were sent out at least a day ahead giving ample time to listen to stellar talks with informative handouts to guide discussion. For someone living in the MST zone in Salt Lake City, Utah, I was not awake for the first live lecture of each morning. But no worries, I could listen to the lecture the night before and go into the day well-prepared for the rich discussions and learning opportunities to come.
The theme of Woolf’s Women provided a fresh approach to each text from an incisive and provocative perspective. While each lecture centered on different women characters from the novels, those lectures and the additional live talks also reached outside the works to include fascinating women from Woolf’s world: Jane Harrison, Vita Sackville-West, Ethel Smyth, Katherine Mansfield, Pernel Strachey, and Lydia Lopokova, to name a few. This inclusive approach provided a fuller understanding of the historical context in which Woolf lived and worked. It also provided an enhanced framework for ongoing reading to continue the journey of ‘think[ing] back through our mothers’ as Karina Jakubowicz highlighted in her excellent lecture on A Room of One’s Own.
The supervision sessions were another outstanding feature of the week. In these small group discussions four participants from similar time zones were able to meet with one lecturer for continued, focused discussion on the featured book and lecture of the day. My supervisor, Alison Hennegan, provided our group with exceptional guidance while at the same time encouraging each of us to share deeply about our questions and insights. Through this process a collaborative circle of thinkers was forged in a very short time.
While keeping within the framework of Woolf’s Women, the course considered questions of love, motherhood, art, friendship, class, identity, gender, feminism, politics, and war. Optional discussion sessions, led by Trudi Tate, organized on several days also provided a free, wide-ranging opportunity to meet more informally with other participants and lecturers. These conversations and a shared experience of study built a sense of camaraderie across this diverse group.
The entire week was intellectually engaging and expansive. The week concluded with a wonderful reading from Virginia Woolf’s A Sketch of the Past. Closing the week with this offering was a beautiful tribute to Woolf’s life seen through her own reflections. I came out of the week celebrating all that I learned and yearning for more. This course demonstrated the continued relevance of Virginia Woolf’s writing and influence, and also underscored the amazing work of Literature Cambridge in building a community dedicated to literary inquiry that moves across borders and unites people in common study. Thanks to Trudi Tate and all the excellent lecturers and staff who made this week a reality.
Ellie Brady
Salt Lake City, Utah, US
The 2024 live online summer course is on Woolf and Childhood, 8-12 July 2024.
