Virginia Woolf to Ethel Smyth, 20 April 1931:
'Stella Benson I don't read because what I did read seemed to me all quivering -- saccharine
with sentimentality; brittle with the kind of wit that makes sentiment freezing: But I'll try
again'.
Unknown
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf to Ethel Smyth, c.28 December 1932:
'D'you know I get such a passion for reading sometimes its like the other passion -- writing --
only the wrong side of the carpet [...] this passion, which has been so well advised, lands me
tonight in a book like the reek of stale cabbage and cheap face powder -- a book called The
Story of San Michele by [Axel] Munthe [1929] [...] A book more porous with humbug, reeking
more suddenly with insincerity, I've never read. I'm at page 50 [...] And I'm reading Stella
Benson [Tobit Transplanted (1931)]: with pleasure'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Virginia Woolf Print: Book
After reading "Living Alone" in 1923, Winifred wrote Stella a letter of appreciation. When no answer arrived she concluded that Stella Benson, like so many authors, put her "fan mail" in the wastepaper basket, but months afterwards a reply came from South China.'
Unknown
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Winifred Holtby
