44. "The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf" edited by Susan Dick

Dick, Susan, Ed. The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1989. Print.

The more I read work by Virginia Woolf, the more I recognize Buddhist themes. The following is from her short story “The Journal of Mistress Joan Martyn,”: “And my brain that was swift and merry at first and leapt like a child at play, settled down in time to sober work upon the highway, though it was glad withal. For I thought of the serious things of life—such as age, and poverty, sickness and death, and considered that it would certainly be my lot to meet them; and I considered also those joys and sorrows that were for ever chasing themselves across my life” (58).

Here one can connect to the story of the Siddhartha Guatma (the Buddha) when he begins his journey and sees a sick man, a poor man, and a dying man. One can also connect her “merry and swift” mind to the monkey mind that, upon meditation, is settled and able to focus.

What I loved about this collection of Woolf's short fiction is that it is organized in chronological order. While reading, you are able to see how her writing evolves and it is sooooo fascinating. She wrote several short stories about characters from one of her seminal texts, Mrs. Dalloway, including such stories as "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street," "The New Dress," and "The Man Who Loved his Kind."

Some of my favorite stories from the collection include "Phyllis and Rosamond," "The Journal of Mistress Joan Martyn," "The Mark on the Wall, and" "The Widow and the Parrot: A True Story." If you are a fan of Virginia Woolf, I highly recommend this collection of short fiction.

4 darts out of 5

Bookshelf Project Status: KEEP

12. "Between the Acts" by Virginia Woolf

Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. San Diego: Harcourt Inc., 1941.
219 pages
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Between the Acts was the last book Virginia Woolf wrote before her suicide in 1941. It is a story about a family in England who hosts a play at their country home to raise money for the church. The plot covers the play itself as well as the interactions and happenings, as the title suggests, between the acts. There are several unhappy characters making connections with other equally unhappy characters and a lot of implied scandal that never comes to fruition.

I am usually a huge Virginia Woolf fan. She is my favorite writer, and this is the first of her novels that I’ve been disappointed by. Keeping in mind that she died before she was able to make revisions, the characters seemed to lack the motivation and depth Woolf had so frequently achieved in her earlier novels. The plot moved slowly, very slowly, and nothing really seemed to happen. The depiction of character interactions was dull and simplistic.

Maybe this is the effect Woolf was going for. Maybe she wished to illustrate how mundane life can be. If that was the goal, it sure didn’t make for good reading. This is not her best work and I would recommend Orlando or Mrs. Dalloway over Between the Acts in a heartbeat.

1.5 darts out of 5