Woolf in the World: A Pen and a Press of Her Own
Monday or Tuesday
Monday
or Tuesday contains eight short stories, including “Kew Gardens,”
“A Haunted House,” and “A Society.” Woolf wrote
her angry feminist story, “A Society,” in response to Arnold
Bennett’s views on the intellectual inferiority of women as put
forth in his book Our Women. In her tale, Woolf allows a group of women
to examine the civilization produced by men—their books, courts,
and colleges. As war breaks out at the end of the story, the women conclude
that the future for their daughters is bleak unless a new society can
be conceived. Once a woman learns how to read “there’s only
one thing you can teach her to believe in—and that is herself.”
Virginia Woolf. Monday or Tuesday. With woodcuts by Vanessa
Bell.
Richmond: Hogarth Press, 1921.
According
to the advertisement, shown here, the reviews of Monday or Tuesday were
superb, except for “A Society,” which particularly annoyed
her reviewers: “She gushes drivel, as in ‘A Society’
with the certainty that it is wisdom, and her sense of honour is unmistakably
feminine.”—The New Age
Hogarth Press. Advertisement for Monday or Tuesday, 1921.
Presented by Frances Hooper ’14.
Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College
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