Virginia Woolf and the emotion work of reading George Eliot: A case study in reader-author relationships

Virginia Woolf has written extensively about her own strategies of reading. In her essays and her letters, she often describes the methods she employs to reconstruct the real author's personality and retrace authorial voices in the books she was experiencing as a reader. This article will compare Woolf's methods to contemporary discussions about immersion in fictional texts and emotional engagement with characters, eventually arguing that the concept of emotion work, developed by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, is a fruitful one for understanding the process Woolf engages in. Thanks to this theoretical approach, it will also offer an original analysis of the relationship between Woolf and Eliot, arguing that the study of Woolf's engagement with this writer can offer a point of access for the study of Woolf's relationship with the legacy of Victorian women writers, an emotionally charged one.

Automated summary

The article discusses Virginia Woolf's reading strategies and suggests that understanding her reading behavior requires an exploration of the concept of emotion work. It also highlights the relationship between Woolf and Eliot as a means to delve into her emotional connection with the legacy of Victorian women writers.