Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

This is our second Virginia Woolf study in East Sussex, a county which in many ways became the writer’s spiritual home.

As one of the key members of the celebrated Bloomsbury Group, Woolf is often seen as a London writer, but she and her husband Leonard had an abiding love for the South Downs. Together they purchased Monk’s House near Rodmell in 1919 and used it as their writer’s retreat. Virginia wrote some of her major works there and the Sussex landscape was integral to her writing as she tried to capture what she saw as its unsurpassable beauty. There are a number of other Bloomsbury outposts in the area: in 1916 Virginia’s sister, Vanessa Bell, moved to Charleston Farmhouse with the painter Duncan Grant, while John Maynard Keynes and his wife Lydia Lopokova also settled locally.

Night and Day (published in 1919) is full of surprises. Written by Virginia Woolf in the early stages of her career, it doesn’t offer what her seasoned readers have been primed to expect. Instead of a bold use of form and curious choice of subject matter, the text features a typical marriage plot with a supposedly happy ending and a dose of romantic conflict along the way. The common criticism of Night and Day is that it is far too conventional. For this reason, the text is rarely studied and eagerly dismissed, despite the fact that Woolf herself credited it with teaching her ‘certain elements of composition’ she felt she needed to learn. If works such as Jacob’s Room (1922) and Mrs Dalloway (1925) represent Woolf’s ‘arrival’ as a writer, then Night and Day is part of the journey that gets her there. Read in this way, the novel becomes a blueprint for her later books, containing the seeds of the radicalism that is yet to come. Indeed, the greatest surprise concealed within Night and Day is that it isn’t conventional at all, it is simply a set of challenges posed in conventional terms – a Woolf in sheep’s clothing.  

This study will suit both new and experienced readers of Woolf’s writing, providing an insight into her creative development that also enhances an understanding of her other works. Sessions will focus on close-reading sections of the text in order to allow for a deep and thorough understanding of this enjoyable novel. 

SALON DETAILS:

• To make a booking or ask questions please email us at litsalon@gmail.com using ‘Night and Day 2024’ as the subject line. Payment will be by bank transfer (N.B. we will supply bank details which will be different from any you may have used on previous occasions).
• Facilitated by Toby Brothers and Karina Jakubowicz
• 11-14 April 2024, Alfriston, East Sussex
• This is an opportunity to enjoy the locale, including visiting Charleston House, Charleston in Lewes and Monk’s House, as well as joining with other readers in discussing Night and Day and its relationship to Woolf’s other works. We are in the process of investigating particular outings in the area based on what exhibits will be available at the time of our visit, these will be added to the schedule as we confirm the best options.
• £460 for twelve hours (or more) of study spread over four days, plus accommodation costs (please see details below)
• We will stay at Wingrove House, a 19th century colonial-style country house hotel set in the beautiful and historic village of Alfriston, East Sussex in the South Downs National Park. We will be within easy reach of sites associated with Bloomsbury, making it the ideal choice for Woolf-related Salons. The cost for three nights, including breakfast, will start at £504.00 per person (room charges vary, rising to a maximum of £711.00). Please note that participants are responsible for booking their own accommodation and any insurance required, the hotel is holding a number of rooms for clients of the London Literary Salon until 31 January 2024, please mention that you are with the Salon when booking.
• Recommended edition: Night and Day by Virginia Woolf, Oxford World’s Classics, ISBN-13: 9780199555604