Today I stumbled across the only surviving recording of Virgina Woolf's voice. When I heard it, my mind conjured up an image of Clarissa Dalloway speaking. Her accent sounds insufferably uppercrust. In fact, though what she is saying about the English language is very interesting, it's actually hard to follow because the accent is so annoyingly aristocratic. The images in this slideshow also reflect the world of Clarissa Dalloway-- several of them show Woolf at parties and social gatherings much like those detailed in Mrs. Dalloway.
Listening to Virginia Woolf's voice, I too cannot help but compare it to Clarissa's. But I can't seem to picture Clarissa have a voice like this. Virginia's voice just seems so unenthusiastic, where as Clarissa is bubbly and excited about almost everything. True, Virgina's voice sounds very posh, a characteristic I would loosly apply to Clarissa as well, but, hearing her voice, I can't see them having the save tone of voice.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with Maddie. While Clarissa does seem to have moments where she is posh and proper, but her overall feel doesn't appear to be reflective of Virginia Wolf's voice. Her outgoing and somewhat accepting attitude towards everyone that she meets creates a much more inviting tone in my head.
ReplyDeleteI think Clarissa would speak like Woolf during her parties when she is trying to impress the prime minister. However, I think her voice would be a little more friendly. In this recording, Virginia Woolf sounds very uptight but that might just be because she is explaining something very scholarly. Perhaps she spoke differently in normal speech, which is what we mostly see in Clarissa. I agree with you that the images that the video shows reflect Clarissa's life. She is almost exactly what I pictured Clarissa to look like.
ReplyDeleteWhile listening to this, I couldn't help but wonder what year this recording was made in. I always imagined Virginia Woolf's voice to have a slightly higher resonance, to have a little more youth and sarcasm, and this recording makes me think of a slightly older woman.
ReplyDelete