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The London Scene
Paperback
Main Details
Title |
The London Scene
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Authors and Contributors |
By (author) Virginia Woolf
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Edited by Louis Wustemann
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Illustrated by Suzanne Barton
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Physical Properties |
Format:Paperback | Pages:72 | Dimensions(mm): Height 12,Width 153 |
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Category/Genre | Literary essays |
ISBN/Barcode |
9780954575922
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Classifications | Dewey:824.912 |
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Audience | General | Tertiary Education (US: College) | Professional & Vocational | |
Illustrations |
8 black & white line drawings
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Publishing Details |
Publisher |
Snowbooks Ltd
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Imprint |
Snowbooks Ltd
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Publication Date |
1 September 2004 |
Publication Country |
United Kingdom
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Description
The London Scene is a neglected collection of essays by one of England's most acclaimed writers. Virginia Woolf was born and had a home in London--a city in which she loved to walk and that she used as the backdrop for many of her works. In these essays, she records her thoughts and feelings as she explores the streets that (in common with so many of its other inhabitants) she both loved and loathed. The London Scene begins in the docks of the East End and travels against the current of the Thames westwards, following the flow of commerce from the unloading of goods at Tilbury to the crowds of shoppers on Oxford Street. Intrigued by the grand facades of the City and Westminster, Virginia Woolf admires the splendour of St. Paul's and the austerity of Westminster Abbey. She visits the spartan houses of literary men and then concludes her journey with a wry look at the House of Commons.
Author Biography
Virginia Woolf is one of the great authors of the twentieth century. A member of the Bloomsbury set, her most famous novels include A Room of One's Own and Mrs Dalloway
Reviews...they're observational vignettes, snapshots of London life which manage to be both dated (in their snobbery) and strangely modern (in their meandering, histrionic resemblance to the psychogeographical ruminations of Iain Sinclair: The Tower of London, for example, is 'the knot, the clue, the hub of all those scattered miles of skeleton desolation'.) -- Time Out Kirkus Review US:Although she died more than sixty years ago, Virginia Woolf's sensitive, intelligent, novels - especially TO THE LIGHTHOUSE and MRS DALLOWAY - are still widely and appreciatively read. She and her husband Leonard were closely involved in the formation of the Bloomsbury Group - a bevy of upper-middle-class writers and artists who together influenced much of early 20th-century fictional technique. Fiction, however, was not Virginia's only gift - as exemplified in this charming and vigorous collection of essays, commissioned in 1931 by Good Housekeeping magazine, about London, where the Woolfs mainly lived and which Virginia loved. Her acute observation, imagination, literary expertise and affection combined to produce a poetic eloquence which brings London, its people and places, alive on the page. From the romance and squalor of the Docks to the brashness of Oxford Street, the haunted atmosphere of (mainly literary) Great Men's Houses, the greatest 'House' of all (the Commons), Abbeys and Cathedrals, she presents the wide variety of the greatest city in the world; in simple, straightforward, prose which is a delight to read. London has changed, of course, over the years; but this little book captures it at a particular moment in time: Virginia Woolf's time. The book itself is lovingly designed and made. The witty black-and-white illustrations by Suzanne Barton catch the mood precisely. The perfect gift for Virginia Woolf admirers - and lovers of London. (Kirkus UK)
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