Just One More Post

I've finished Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out.  I was going to wait to post on it again, but as it is fresh in my mind bear with me just one more time.  Can I give the book another plug?  It is an excellent book, and I heartily recommend it if you have an interest in WWI and the interwar era or women's history.  I know this is a cliche, but the book is immensely readable.  Nicholson does a wonderful job of presenting the stories of these women's lives and tying them all together in a coherent manner and reflecting how historical events impacted their lives and really shaped history thereafter.  In many cases these are very ordinary women, and in some cases extraordinary women.  Their lives, no matter how mundane were fascinating to read about. 

I feel like I've only picked out passages that stress the negative experiences many women had.  Some of what I read was truly heartwrenching, but there were also many very positive stories as well. And despite the tragedy of the War, it probably was the biggest factor in creating new avenues for women to work and excel outside of the home.  The world changed irrevocably after the War, and women's lives have never been the same.       

One woman that Nicholson writes about in great detail, Gertrude Caton-Thompson, was of the wealthier class.  She fell in love with a man a few years younger than she, but of the same social class.  Although they had been good friends, following the conventions of the time she (as well as he) never revealed her true feelings to him.  And then it was too late.  Despite her grief, she continued on.  She never married, but she did study and became a noted and respected archaeologist.  I won't quote everything Nicholson writes about her career but here's a bit:

"In later expeditions Gertrude Caton-Thompson excavated the monumental ruins at Zimbabwe in southern Africa, the Paleolithic remains at the Kharga Oasis in the Egyptian Sahara , and the Moon Temple of Hadramaut in southern Arabia.  Leopards, fevers, fleas, swamps and precipices, storms at sea, floods, cyclones and crocodiles beset her undertakings, but Gertrude's stoical upper-class upbringing and military correctness stood her everywhere in good stead: 'Mercifully I am not easily alarmed,' she wrote. 

"Gertrude Caton-Thompson was twenty-eight when Carlyon Mason-MacFarlane died; she lived nearly another seventy years: they were years of intrepid adventure, intellectual purpose, deep friendship and simple, intense pleasure.  She was admired, loved and widely honored.  A life bled of meaning had been reanimated.  Could anyone describe such a woman as unfulfilled?"

Gertrude Caton-Thompson wrote her memoirs in 1983.  They were published as Mixed Memoirs and I hope to get my hands on a copy.  She's just one of the women Nicholson wrote about in some detail and that really intrigued me.  I've photocopied Nicholson's bibliography as a matter of fact.  She consulted over 200 books in her research.  The bibliography is fairly extensive, and I am looking forward to finding some of the books listed that she discussed in the book. 

I've marked more passages, but I won't bombard you with them this time around.  In the last chapters Nicholson discusses the many accomplishments women of this era achieved and truly there were many.  This was an enjoyable read, and I've already ordered her other book, Among the Bohemians.  It must have been in the back of my mind, but I wasn't really thinking about it, but Virginia Nicholson is Venessa Bell's granddaughter and thus she is the great-niece of Virginia Woolf.  Among the Bohemians is about 1920s Bohemian Bloomsbury, and I can't wait to read it.  I'm splurging and getting it from the UK (nicer edition and Amazon here is out of stock), but that's okay since it is free shipping from The Book Depository!  And I've only ordered the one book, so it won't be too expensive. 

I said before that I thought perhaps I was overdoing it reading so many books about this era, but now I don't think so.  I think I just really didn't get on all that well with the Eccles novel.  The other books I've been reading about this period have kept me fairly glued to them and now I've moved on to Alison Light's Mrs Woolf and the Servants.  I've only started on the introduction and preface, but I am already impressed by it.

"Loathing, anger, shame - and deep affection: Virginia Woolf's relationship with her servants was central to her life. Like thousands of her fellow Britons she relied on live-in domestics for the most intimate of daily tasks. Her cook and parlour maid relieved her of the burden of housework and without them she might never have become a writer. But unlike many of her contemporaries Virginia Woolf was frequently tormented by her dependence on servants. Uniquely, she explored her violent, often vicious, feelings in her diaries, novels and essays. What, the reader might well wonder, was it like for the servants to live with a mistress who so hated giving her orders, and who could be generous and hostile by turns? Through the prism of the writer's life and work, Alison Light explores the volatile, emotional territory which is the hidden history of domestic service. Compared to most employers in Britain between the wars, Leonard and Virginia Woolf were free and easy. Life in the Bloomsbury circle of writers and artists was often fun."

It sounds as though this is as much about domestic service in general as it is about the Woolfs and their servants specifically.  Don't be surprised if I mention this again.  As it is an ILL book, I need to be conscientious about reading it, though I don't think that will be hard.  This will be my third nonfiction book this year already, which is quite good for me.  And I've already got more titles lined up that I want to read.

One more thing (sorry, this has gotten long and that's what I had wanted to avoid), since I am still talking about books about the Edwardian period--can I mention Susan's post about Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben.  I've said before I'm not very good with sad animal stories, though I did manage Call of the Wild pretty well recently.  Lots of good things have been written about it--here and here, so I'm sold.  As it is still in hardcover and only available in the UK, I'm hoping to get it via ILL.  I contemplated ordering it (along with the Nicholson book), but in a very few months it will be out in paper, so I couldn't bring myself to put in the cart.  So I guess I'm still on my Edwardian kick--just not feeling so bogged down anymore. 

Comments

[Kitty]

I really must read that book. And I hope you like "Among the Bohemians"; I found it really interesting, as it really goes into detail about the difficulties of actually living that kind of lifestyle in those days. Fascinating stuff.

[Kitty]

Oh, and if you do read "Our Horses in Egypt", please do post your thoughts... I'm intrigued by it but I also have a hard time with sad animal stories, and having just lost my horse over the holidays I'm not sure if I can read it any time soon. The Dunkirk scene in "Atonement" nearly finished me off... those cavalry horses... aargggh!

[Lyn Baines]

Great review Dani, you already know how much I loved this book. The first chapter was heartbreaking but, you're right, a lot of the women had happy, fulfilled lives. I'm sure you'll enjoy the Bohemians & Mrs Woolf. Have you read Bloomsbury Pie by Regina Marler? Published by Virago in 1997. It's a look at the Bloomsbury industry which really began with Holroyd's biography of Strachey & the publication of Carrington's diaries in the late 60s & then took off with the feminist's rediscovery of Woolf in the 70s. I think you'd enjoy it.

[Jill]

I think I'm going to seek this one out. I always enjoy books on women's history and this sounds absolutely fascinating.

[Dorothy W.]

You're making me want to read some nonfiction -- when it's good, it's really good, right? And Singled Out sounds wonderful.

[Danielle]

Kitty--I can't wait to get Amongst the Bohemians--something to look forward to in the mail. It sounds like it was such a carefree and fun lifestyle, but it probably was much harder than it seems. I've requested Our Horses in Egypt and I am sure I'll post about it. It sounds like a good book, though sad.
Lyn--I am so glad you mentioned the Nicholson book, as I heard about it from you in the dovegreybook group. I'd welcome any other books about this period! I will look up Bloomsbury Pie as well. In the long run I think women have fared much better after the war than before. It was sad, but many of those women did some amazing things! Have you read any of the books from the bibliography in the back? I photocopied it and hope to track some of the books down.
Jill--Yes, this is one I heartily recommend! It was very well researched and the writing was very good.
Dorothy--It takes me ages sometimes to get through NF, but when it is written like this, and about such a fascinating subject I actually find myself picking up the NF book rather than a novel--Something I don't often do.

[Equiano]

Do try and get hold of the TV series THE EDWARDIAN COUNTRY HOUSE _ I'm sure you'll find it fascinating. The BBC did it here and I know it was shown in the States (not sure what channel) a couple of years ago. It is one of those experiments when people from today are made to live an edwardian lifestyle, which might not be your kind of thing, but this particular series was fascinating not least for the way the roles of women as the war loomed large began to change.

[tara]

Oh, how I desire this book. I have a few things I'm pining for and will place an order with The Book Depository. Not sure why I wait, really, since there is no minimum order??