On Being Ill - Hardcover

Woolf, Virginia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1930464061 ISBN 13: 9781930464063

Publisher: Paris Press, 2002

Synopsis

In this poignant and humorous work, Virginia Woolf observes that though illness is part of every human being’s experience, it has never been the subject of literature like the more acceptable subjects of war and love. We cannot quote Shakespeare to describe a headache. We must, Woolf says, invent language to describe pain. And though illness enhances our perceptions, she observes that it reduces self-consciousness; it is "the great confessional." Woolf discusses the cultural taboos associated with illness and explores how illness changes the way we read. Poems clarify and astonish, Shakespeare exudes new brilliance, and so does melodramatic fiction!

On Being Ill was published as an individual volume by Hogarth Press in 1930. While other Woolf essays, such as A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas, were first published by Hogarth as individual volumes and have since been widely available, On Being Ill has been overlooked. The Paris Press edition features original cover art by Woolf’s sister, the painter Vanessa Bell. Hermione Lee’s Introduction discusses this extraordinary work, and explores Woolf’s revelations about poetry, language, and illness.

About this title

About the Author

Virginia Woolf (1882 1941) is one of the great literary geniuses of the 20th century. Her innovative fiction and essays are revered by readers around the globe. She was a central member of the Bloomsbury group and a groundbreaking feminist, publishing book-length essays that continue to change the lives of women today. Her most popular novels include To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway, and Orlando. When she was not writing, Virginia Woolf operated Hogarth Press with her husband Leonard Woolf.

Hermione Lee (1948- ) is the acclaimed Virginia Woolf scholar and the author of Virginia Woolf (Knopf, 1997). She is a biographer, critic, broadcaster, and Goldsmith’s Professor of English Literature and Fellow of New College, Oxford, England. She is also the author of Willa Cather: A Life Saved Up; Philip Roth; Elizabeth Bowen: An Estimation; The Novels of Virginia Woolf; and Edith Wharton. She is one of the co-editors of the Oxford Poets Anthologies.

Review

The essay has the virtue of suggesting an origin for [Virginia Woolf’s] impassioned, circumnavigatory style: her racing, feverish mind.” THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

I’d assign my students to read, ten times daily, the first sentence of Virginia Woolf’s brilliant and beautiful essay On Being Ill until they learned to appreciate the full potential, the dazzling glory, and the clarity of the complex sentence . [D]elicate but powerful an effecting, resonant recapitulation and illustration of the inadequacy and superfluity of language in our efforts to describe human suffering.” Francine Prose, BOOK FORUM

A most unusual and long-neglected reverie on illness, language and poetry reprinted by the sterling Paris Press . Woolf lets her consciousness roam over the unpredictable terrain of sickness the sick body, the sick mind and how difficult it is for us to find words to describe this altered state. This is a brilliant and odd book, charged with restrained emotion and sudden humor.” LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Examining her own familiarity with illness, Woolf undertakes a rigorous, compassionate, and droll investigation of how illness shapes the identity of a sick patient, particularly the invalid, not only affecting his or her perceptions of the world but also awakening the helplessness of being unable to convey those perceptions, or the effects of illness, to other. [ ] Because of its enduring relevance, On Being Ill is a necessary and compelling read. The slender and striking hardbound edition from Paris Press gives an old text new life.” YALE JOURNAL FOR HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE

On Being Ill’ is one of those peculiarly fascinating essays that Woolf wrote which defy categorization: part mediation, part autobiography and part critical analysis; it refuses to be pigeon-holed. [ ] I have no hesitation in recommending this new edition . Paris Press is a non-profit organization and is to be congratulated on this splendid publication. If you do not already have this essay in your collection, this is a must.” VIRGINIA WOOLF BULLETIN

This new and beautiful reprinting by Paris Press, a small nonprofit house in Massachusetts, replicates design elements of the Hogarth edition, including Vanessa Bell’s cover art. It also contains a superb introduction by literary scholar and biographer Hermione Lee, who considers On Being Ill’ one of Woolf’s most daring, strange, and original essays.’ ” JOURNAL OF CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

About this edition

• Publisher: Paris Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1930464061
• ISBN 13: 9781930464063
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 64