From Publishers Weekly
Never before collected in a single volume, Woolf's 46 short stories demonstrate her fondness for experimenting with narrative forms and voices. Arranged chronologically, the pieces range from tales with traditional plot lines to denser interior monologues, and enable the reader to appreciate Woolf's development as a writer of fiction. In her fine introduction, Dick, a professor at Canada's Queen's University, notes that Woolf used her short fiction as a "testing ground" for her novels, and this becomes evident. (Clarissa Dalloway appears in a number of the stories, either running errands or entertaining at home.) Woolf's many guisesincluding the feminist, the social commentator, the biting witsurface in turn here, and the composite portrait that emerges is extremely satisfying. Woolf scholars and collectors of her work will welcome the inclusion of a number of previously unpublished stories. First serial to Harper's and The American Poetry Review. Foreign rights: Hogarth Press. January 10
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Woolf's short stories originally appeared in various magazines and anthologies, often sloppily or intrusively edited. The 45 texts collected here were carefully prepared by Susan Dick after comparison of all surviving manuscript and printed versions; 17 have never before been published, assuring this volume an important place in the Woolf canon. The earliest pieces date from 1906 and the last were in progress when Woolf drowned herself in 1941. Taken together, they show the evolution of Woolf's experimental methods and the origin of some of the major themes in her novels. Dick's meticulous but unobtrusive editing gives us for the first time a reliable text for some of Woolf's best writing.
Michael Edmonds, State Historical Soc. of Wisconsin, MadisonCopyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
by William Strunk
