The Common Reader

Virginia Woolf

ISBN 10: 0008658455 / ISBN 13: 9780008658458

Published by HarperCollins Publishers, GB, 2024

About this Item

HarperCollins is proud to present our range of timeless literary classics. The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions. In her second volume of essays, Virginia Woolf delves deeper into the delights of reading. Here, she explores the novels of Thomas Hardy and Daniel Defoe, and recounts the fascinating lives of Christina Rossetti and Mary Wollstonecraft. In ' How Should One Read a Book?' she offers sage advice for the common reader, and sheds light on the lessons and pleasures literature can provide. Published in 1932, The Common Reader: Second Series is a wise and illuminating companion collection to her 1925 First Series. Woolf's enduring appeal and ideas continue to resonate with readers in the twenty-first century.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780008658458

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Common Reader
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, GB
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0008658455
• ISBN 13: 9780008658458
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 11.1W x 2.2H x 17.8D centimeters 11.1 centimeters width by 2.2 centimeters height by 17.8 centimeters depth
• Weight: 160 grams

About this title

Synopsis

‘Books are the mirrors of the soul.’

The follow up to her enlightening collection of essays which advocate reading for pleasure’s sake, The Common Second Series delves even deeper into the delights literature has to offer, told with Woolf’s trademark thoughtfulness and flair.

Published seven years after the first instalment, The Common Second Series explores the works of Thomas Hardy, Laurence Stern and George Eliot, elegantly dissecting the art of the biography and the very nature of reading itself. Again Woolf speaks from the perspective of the everyday reader, urging for an intuitive and curious approach to literature – one which allows for freedom and experimentation as opposed to academic rigour. Timeless in its advice and a testament to Woolf’s appreciation of the written word, the lessons and ideas in this illuminating collection of essays resonates deeply still today. This audiobook edition is beautifully narrated by Kristin Atherton.

Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) was one of the most significant novelists of the twentieth century. A modernist writer and progressive thinker, she is known for her stream of consciousness narrative style and influence on feminist criticism. Her works have been translated into over fifty languages and are widely read and adapted to this day.