Stephanie Jane reviewed How Should One Read a Book? by Virginia Woolf
Interesting ideas
4 stars
I've previously read, I think, five of Virginia Woolf's books including Jacob's Room and Mrs Dalloway which I loved, and The Waves in a soporific audio edition that repeatedly sent me to sleep! How Should One Read a Book? is a different prospect in that it is Woolf's 1920s equivalent of a TEDx talk, originally delivered to a girls' school audience. In a sign of the times a-changing, I was frustrated at Woolf's using male pronouns throughout her lecture. As a female author speaking to a female audience, I felt she should at least have identified her theoretical readers as women. Perhaps she could have included more than a token Jane Austen in her named authors too! Other than this, I was interested in her ideas around how we can hone our reading tastes and her concept of 'shadow shapes' which are the lasting impressions we carry away from each …
I've previously read, I think, five of Virginia Woolf's books including Jacob's Room and Mrs Dalloway which I loved, and The Waves in a soporific audio edition that repeatedly sent me to sleep! How Should One Read a Book? is a different prospect in that it is Woolf's 1920s equivalent of a TEDx talk, originally delivered to a girls' school audience. In a sign of the times a-changing, I was frustrated at Woolf's using male pronouns throughout her lecture. As a female author speaking to a female audience, I felt she should at least have identified her theoretical readers as women. Perhaps she could have included more than a token Jane Austen in her named authors too! Other than this, I was interested in her ideas around how we can hone our reading tastes and her concept of 'shadow shapes' which are the lasting impressions we carry away from each book we read. Sheila Heti elaborates further on this in her thoughtful introduction. Actually, I think I preferred Heti's two essays to Woolf's, even though I know they were supposed to support the headline speaker. Woolf's focus on classics that I haven't read and inclusion of (presumably) famous quotes that I didn't recognise left me feeling a little excluded.
I'll finish up with my favourite quote from the central essay which are also Virginia Woolf's closing words: “I have sometimes dreamt, at least, that when the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards -- their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble -- the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when He sees us coming with our books under our arms, "Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading.”
