Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
The Historian in Virginia Woolf's Essays with Professor Beth Rigel Daugherty
Beth Daugherty explores the importance of history and especially historians in Woolf’s essays.
Woolf wrote many essays about history. She read and reviewed histories; she read writers’ biographies, memoirs, diaries, and letters when she wrote about their work; and she discussed the writing of history. Woolf sometimes examines the work of individual historians and their writing of history (topic), and she also becomes a historian in her essays, doing research and using historical evidence (method).She considers the literary history of others and writes it herself.
In this lecture, Beth will explore Woolf’s thinking about the historian in six of her essays:
• ‘The Historian and “The Gibbon”’ – study of an historian and his work (E6 81-91); also DoM, CE
• ‘Jones and Wilkinson’ – history of an actor and a soldier (E4 354-59); also DoM, CE 3
• ‘The Captain’s Death Bed’ – literary history of a forgotten novelist (E6 64-73); also CDB and CE 1
• ‘Two Antiquaries: Walpole and Cole’ – history of an age through two men’s letters and an editor’s footnotes (E6 171-80); also DoM, CE 3
• ‘Two Women’ – history of a movement through biography, memoir (E4 419-26); also Mom, CE 4, Penguin A Woman’s Essays
• One part of ‘Phases of Fiction’ (E5 40-88): ‘The Character-Mongers and Comedians’ (E5 55-63); also in G&R, CE 2 (w/errors & omissions) – history of the novel genre
• ‘Jane Austen and the Geese’ – history of a famous author’s reputation (E3 268-71)
Abbreviations
E The Essays of Virginia Woolf, 6 vols.
CE Collected Essays, 4 vols.
DoM The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
CDB The Captain’s Death Bed and Other Essays
Mom The Moment and Other Essays
G&R Granite and Rainbow: Essays
Beth Rigel Daugherty is retired Professor of English at Otterbein University, Ohio.
Saturday 16 January 2027
18.00-20.00 British Summer Time
19.00-21.00 Central European Summer Time
Morning or lunchtime in the Americas
Prices
£33.00 full price
£28.00 Students on a low income
£28.00 CAMcard holders
£28.00 Members of the VWSGB
The Historian in Virginia Woolf's Essays with Professor Beth Rigel Daugherty
Beth Daugherty explores the importance of history and especially historians in Woolf’s essays.
Woolf wrote many essays about history. She read and reviewed histories; she read writers’ biographies, memoirs, diaries, and letters when she wrote about their work; and she discussed the writing of history. Woolf sometimes examines the work of individual historians and their writing of history (topic), and she also becomes a historian in her essays, doing research and using historical evidence (method).She considers the literary history of others and writes it herself.
In this lecture, Beth will explore Woolf’s thinking about the historian in six of her essays:
• ‘The Historian and “The Gibbon”’ – study of an historian and his work (E6 81-91); also DoM, CE
• ‘Jones and Wilkinson’ – history of an actor and a soldier (E4 354-59); also DoM, CE 3
• ‘The Captain’s Death Bed’ – literary history of a forgotten novelist (E6 64-73); also CDB and CE 1
• ‘Two Antiquaries: Walpole and Cole’ – history of an age through two men’s letters and an editor’s footnotes (E6 171-80); also DoM, CE 3
• ‘Two Women’ – history of a movement through biography, memoir (E4 419-26); also Mom, CE 4, Penguin A Woman’s Essays
• One part of ‘Phases of Fiction’ (E5 40-88): ‘The Character-Mongers and Comedians’ (E5 55-63); also in G&R, CE 2 (w/errors & omissions) – history of the novel genre
• ‘Jane Austen and the Geese’ – history of a famous author’s reputation (E3 268-71)
Abbreviations
E The Essays of Virginia Woolf, 6 vols.
CE Collected Essays, 4 vols.
DoM The Death of the Moth and Other Essays
CDB The Captain’s Death Bed and Other Essays
Mom The Moment and Other Essays
G&R Granite and Rainbow: Essays
Beth Rigel Daugherty is retired Professor of English at Otterbein University, Ohio.
Saturday 16 January 2027
18.00-20.00 British Summer Time
19.00-21.00 Central European Summer Time
Morning or lunchtime in the Americas
Prices
£33.00 full price
£28.00 Students on a low income
£28.00 CAMcard holders
£28.00 Members of the VWSGB