Marie’s restaurant in Greenwich Village, I met the American explorer of the Arctic, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who hired me to translate into English the German documents he needed for a massive study of the Arctic countries of the world that he was writing for the War Department.
My dream was to leave Brooklyn and live in Greenwich Village, but none of my jobs paid enough to let me leave home. I applied to the Guggenheim Foundation and, with their recommendation, won a grant to go abroad given by the New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs. It was 1935, and it was my third fellowship. My project was to write a book on women under fascism, communism, and democracy. It occurred to me that while in London, I might be able to interview Virginia Woolf for my study of women.
When I told George Cornish, the editor at the Herald Tribune , that I was going abroad, he said, “You can be our special foreign correspondent and send us articles that you think will interest us.”
I was still home when a letter came from Professor Schöffler telling me that the Tauchnitz Press, of which he was literary editor, had decided to publish my doctoral thesis on Virginia Woolf in a trade paperback edition. It was three years since I had written the dissertation, but now it was coming out in Germany from the same publisher that had published all of Virginia Woolf’s books. “You’re in good company,” Professor Schöffler wrote. 5
Excitedly, I worked on the galleys of the book, corrected some minor printer’s errors, and finally held it in my hands. It was my first published book, bound in the same light green cover in which the Tauchnitz Press had published Virginia’s works. It would be sent, the publishers told me, to universities in America, Germany, and England. I found it on sale in Barnes and Noble, which was then housed in one small bookshop in lower Manhattan. It sold for $1.50, a good price in 1935. Hardcovers sold for $2.95 or $3.95.
With apprehension and the chutzpah of youth, I sent the book to Virginia Woolf, with this letter:
14 Harmon Street Brooklyn,
New York
May 8,1935
Mrs. Virginia Woolf
The Hogarth Press
52, Tavistock Square London, W.C.1
Dear Mrs. Woolf,
I am sending you a copy of a book I have written about your work. Although dated 1934, the publication was unfortunately delayed and the book has just appeared.
I wrote the book while living in Germany, where, as you no doubt know, you are regarded, and I feel it is with justice, as England’s foremost novelist.
I shall be deeply interested in your opinion of the book.
Sincerely yours,
Ruth Gruber
On May 17,1935, the manager of the Hogarth Press, Margaret West, answered my letter.
The Hogarth Press
52 Tavistock Square,
London, W.C.1
May 17th, 1935.
Miss Ruth Gruber,
14 Harmon Street,
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Dear Madam,
Your letter of May 8th and the book to which you refer, addressed to Mrs. Virginia Woolf have been received during her absence in Italy. They will be placed before her on her return.
Yours faithfully,
THE HOGARTH PRESS.
Margaret West
MANAGER.
As soon as I received Miss West’s letter, I replied,
May 28,1935
Dear Miss West,
Thank you for your letter of May 17th. I am planning to sail for Europe on the 22nd of June to gather more material for a book I am now working on. I shall probably arrive in England on the 27th of June and should like very much to arrange an interview with Mrs. Woolf if she plans to be in or near London at that time. May I expect to hear from you soon?
Sincerely yours,
Ruth Gruber
I had real doubts that Virginia Woolf would agree to invite me. But I figured she would either allow me to interview her, or instruct her secretary to tell me she was too busy.
She did, of course, invite me, but I knew nothing about her physical or mental health when I met her. Nor did I know that she kept a diary, the entries of which she usually wrote in the afternoon between tea and dinner. Half a century later, in
My dream was to leave Brooklyn and live in Greenwich Village, but none of my jobs paid enough to let me leave home. I applied to the Guggenheim Foundation and, with their recommendation, won a grant to go abroad given by the New Jersey Federation of Women’s Clubs. It was 1935, and it was my third fellowship. My project was to write a book on women under fascism, communism, and democracy. It occurred to me that while in London, I might be able to interview Virginia Woolf for my study of women.
When I told George Cornish, the editor at the Herald Tribune , that I was going abroad, he said, “You can be our special foreign correspondent and send us articles that you think will interest us.”
I was still home when a letter came from Professor Schöffler telling me that the Tauchnitz Press, of which he was literary editor, had decided to publish my doctoral thesis on Virginia Woolf in a trade paperback edition. It was three years since I had written the dissertation, but now it was coming out in Germany from the same publisher that had published all of Virginia Woolf’s books. “You’re in good company,” Professor Schöffler wrote. 5
Excitedly, I worked on the galleys of the book, corrected some minor printer’s errors, and finally held it in my hands. It was my first published book, bound in the same light green cover in which the Tauchnitz Press had published Virginia’s works. It would be sent, the publishers told me, to universities in America, Germany, and England. I found it on sale in Barnes and Noble, which was then housed in one small bookshop in lower Manhattan. It sold for $1.50, a good price in 1935. Hardcovers sold for $2.95 or $3.95.
With apprehension and the chutzpah of youth, I sent the book to Virginia Woolf, with this letter:
14 Harmon Street Brooklyn,
New York
May 8,1935
Mrs. Virginia Woolf
The Hogarth Press
52, Tavistock Square London, W.C.1
Dear Mrs. Woolf,
I am sending you a copy of a book I have written about your work. Although dated 1934, the publication was unfortunately delayed and the book has just appeared.
I wrote the book while living in Germany, where, as you no doubt know, you are regarded, and I feel it is with justice, as England’s foremost novelist.
I shall be deeply interested in your opinion of the book.
Sincerely yours,
Ruth Gruber
On May 17,1935, the manager of the Hogarth Press, Margaret West, answered my letter.
The Hogarth Press
52 Tavistock Square,
London, W.C.1
May 17th, 1935.
Miss Ruth Gruber,
14 Harmon Street,
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Dear Madam,
Your letter of May 8th and the book to which you refer, addressed to Mrs. Virginia Woolf have been received during her absence in Italy. They will be placed before her on her return.
Yours faithfully,
THE HOGARTH PRESS.
Margaret West
MANAGER.
As soon as I received Miss West’s letter, I replied,
May 28,1935
Dear Miss West,
Thank you for your letter of May 17th. I am planning to sail for Europe on the 22nd of June to gather more material for a book I am now working on. I shall probably arrive in England on the 27th of June and should like very much to arrange an interview with Mrs. Woolf if she plans to be in or near London at that time. May I expect to hear from you soon?
Sincerely yours,
Ruth Gruber
I had real doubts that Virginia Woolf would agree to invite me. But I figured she would either allow me to interview her, or instruct her secretary to tell me she was too busy.
She did, of course, invite me, but I knew nothing about her physical or mental health when I met her. Nor did I know that she kept a diary, the entries of which she usually wrote in the afternoon between tea and dinner. Half a century later, in
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