If you want a new and enhanced understanding of Virginia Woolf’s life and work, spend some time traveling through England in her footsteps.
In June of 2004, I spent 10 days doing just that. And despite the fact that our time was limited and her favorite haunts had changed in the 63 years since she died, it was definitely a trip worth making.
The jaunt was part of a graduate level course fittingly called England in the Steps of Virginia Woolf. It was offered by the University of Alabama at Huntsville, and it was taught by Dr. Rose Norman.
Fifteen of us traveled from London to Kent to Sussex to Cornwall. All along the
way, we carried the bible of Woolf travels — Virginia Woolf, Life and London: A Biography of Place by Jean Moorcroft Wilson. Her informative volume didn’t substitute for a map when we wandered down the wrong road, but it did provide plenty of insight and direction along the way.
Read more on Woolf and place
- Visit Marilyn Bender’s Web page, Virginia Woolf’s London, for an online look at Woolf sites.
- Take a look at a six-day itinerary on the Virginia Woolf Literary Tour page.
Read Sonita Sarker’s views on “Locating a Native Englishness in Virginia Woolf’s The London Scene.” - Get Daphne Merkin’s perspective on Cornwall in her Sept. 12, 2004, New York Times article “To the Lighthouse and Beyond.”
- Enjoy Woolf’s own words about her favorite big city in The London Scene. Snowbooks published the illustrated hardback edition, complete with all six of Woolf’s original essays, in 2004.
- Visit the National Trust Web page to learn more about Monk’s House and Woolf’s writing Lodge, as well as Vita Sackville-West’s Knole and Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Then find out about touring Charleston Farmhouse, known as Bloomsbury in the country. Before you leave Sussex, stop in at Berwick Church, decorated by Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, and Quentin and Angelica Bell. After all that Sussex sightseeing, you’ll need lunch. The Cricketers Arms provides a lovely country setting, along with excellent food. It was one of my favorite stops on our trip. And it’s within walking distance of the church. Take a look at the map.
Visit Woolf’s London in virtual reality
At first glance, Woolfians appear to be notoriously low-tech. But Todd Kuchta, assistant professor of English at Western Michigan University, brought a welcome high-tech element to the 17th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf.
His conference presentation, “Teaching Mrs. Dalloway’s London in Virtual Reality,” showed off the virtual reality version of Woolf’s London that he created as a teaching and learning aid. Students, teachers, and common readers can follow Woolf through London on his site.
England in the Steps of Virginia Woolf photo book
As a thank you gift for my graduate school advisor, Dr. Tammy Clewell, assistant professor of English at Kent State University, I put together a hardcover full-color photo book that pictures key Woolf sites from London to Cornwall. You can take a look at my pictorial version of England in the Steps of Virginia Woolf and order one for yourself, if you like.
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