Virginia Woolf. What comes to your mind when you hear the name?
"Stream of consciousness"? "Mrs. Dalloway"? "The person who Nicole Kidman played in the movie 'The Hours' and won an Academy Award"? I think everyone has a different image of him. Miyuki Ozawa, the author of this book, says the following in her "Greetings":

　

"While reading through Woolf's diverse writings, I came to a certain conclusion.
"Virginia Woolf is cute."
That is it.”

 

Cute. Even as someone who has read Virginia Woolf's writing, I was taken aback by this. What words would I use to express the unconventionality of Woolf's work, the newness that can be felt even now, or the simple beauty of her writing? I wouldn't know unless I really thought about it, but it probably wouldn't be "cute." For Professor Ozawa, Woolf is "cute." Cute. Cute... What is the "cuteness" of the author who wrote "A Room of One's Own," the author who wrote "To the Lighthouse"? What is "cute Woolf," and what kind of Woolf does this person see in her?

 

There is a word called "oshi." When you are a fan of someone or something, that person or something is your "oshi." In this book, Ozawa-sensei talks about his own "way of supporting (kawaii)" Woolf. Not only that, but he also talks with various other people who are also "Woolf fans." Someone once tried to recreate a dish that appeared in the book, and someone is seriously planning a Bollywood remake (!) of the movie "Orlando" based on Woolf's original work. Just as "kawaii" was not in my field of vision as a way of supporting Woolf, the "way of supporting" of each of the people in this book is completely different from my "way of supporting" Woolf, and I felt like I was being shown a world outside the box. Let's say you have never come across Woolf's writing before. Or, let's say you have read her work but were not particularly attracted to her (if such a thing exists). By reading this book to the end, and by coming into contact with each of the passionate "Woolf fans" in this book, you will want to pick up a Woolf book at least once.

As a Wolf fan, I am really happy that this book was published. By the way, my favorite character is Orlando.

 

 

I grew up in Tohoku and moved to Osaka. I've lived there for quite a long time, but I can't speak the Kansai dialect. I've loved foreign literature since I was a child. I'm best at Japanese, English, Spanish, and French, in that order, but I'm not good at speaking any of them. Besides books, I also love movies, and I've made original covers for UMEDA TSUTAYA BOOKS for movie originals, and held a panel exhibition for "Parasite" and sold Korean literature. I would love to collaborate with any other movies I find interesting in the future. "The Three Braids," "Central Station," "Summer Outside," "Bel Canto," "Hidden Scream"...I've written reviews for many wonderful books so far. I'm going to continue to boldly ask, "Can I write reviews?" What I'm interested in now is the reprinting of out-of-print books. There are so many books I want to see resurrected, such as "Leaving Las Vegas" and "To the Friend Who Didn't Save My Life." I also love mysteries.

 

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