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tiixtai 's review for:
Virginia Woolf
by Nigel Nicolson
Kind of lifeless and occasionally clumsy.
Nicolson seems most concerned with "correcting" or "proving wrong" opinions that he doesn't agree with - whether VW's and other Bloomsburians or other biographers and scholars. He criticizes the subjective interpretations of other biographers or scholars but never acknowledges his own subjectivity. Meanwhile, doesn't seem to grasp that opinions are indeed subjective (and not, as mentioned, something to be corrected). Also doesn't seem to understand the complexity of human relationships. Nicolson makes apologies for people and frequently invalidates VW's feelings, opinions and statements, including pretty much the whole of A Room of One's Own. ("but even Shakespeare had strong female characters so ur not really oppressed duh".)
Normally, I can handle a biographer showing the unflattering side of their subject, and find it interesting (if not crucial) to boot, but somehow with this book I developed a sense of distrust for the author.
Basically I got the idea that Nicolson was mad VW didn't like the people he liked & that scholars don't see VW's life as he saw it and set out to write his own version of what's what. I'm sorry, I know guessing at an author's intentions is really banal. But srsly.
Nicolson seems most concerned with "correcting" or "proving wrong" opinions that he doesn't agree with - whether VW's and other Bloomsburians or other biographers and scholars. He criticizes the subjective interpretations of other biographers or scholars but never acknowledges his own subjectivity. Meanwhile, doesn't seem to grasp that opinions are indeed subjective (and not, as mentioned, something to be corrected). Also doesn't seem to understand the complexity of human relationships. Nicolson makes apologies for people and frequently invalidates VW's feelings, opinions and statements, including pretty much the whole of A Room of One's Own. ("but even Shakespeare had strong female characters so ur not really oppressed duh".)
Normally, I can handle a biographer showing the unflattering side of their subject, and find it interesting (if not crucial) to boot, but somehow with this book I developed a sense of distrust for the author.
Basically I got the idea that Nicolson was mad VW didn't like the people he liked & that scholars don't see VW's life as he saw it and set out to write his own version of what's what. I'm sorry, I know guessing at an author's intentions is really banal. But srsly.