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Flush
Flush | Virginia Woolf
23 posts | 31 read | 36 to read
Published in 1933 by Hogarth, Flush is an experiment in biography, using the medium of a pet dog, the eponymous character, to examine the imagined life of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. While Woolf's approach is essentially fictional, she used existing correspondence between Browning and her husband, combined with poems about Flush the dog to create non-fictional threads. On these factual underpinnings, Woolf then layered themes that she wished to explore. Connections to A Room of One's Own come across in the way Woolf deals with Browning's life as a woman writer and intellectual, existing in a patriarchal city environment. In choosing such an approach, Woolf certainly betrays the autobiographical elements in the text, given her own status and also allows her to cover the pressures imposed by her private ailments.
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Jen2
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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Pickpick

I love these old books!

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Jari-chan
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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Pickpick

Flush is the biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog. But since Flush is a dog, his life is tightly knotted with Elizabeth's. So we learn about both, especially since Woolf includes pictures and sources. We learn about life in England during the Victorian era, about good dog breeds and mutts, about men and women and how spaniels are called spaniels. Lovely, even though many things Flush observes isn't.

#doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Liz_M @AnneCecilie also just reviewed this! It must be having a European moment. 😊 9mo
Jari-chan @Liz_M It really looks like 😁 9mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 9mo
29 likes3 comments
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AnneCecilie
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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Flush was Elisabeth Barrett Browning‘s English cocker spaniel. We get the story of who Flush ended up with her, their life together and the changes that where to happen with Miss Barrett being courted by Mr Browning and them getting married.

I don‘t think I‘ve ever read a book where the animal have seemed so alive, at times I forgot that the story was told by a dog.

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AnneCecilie
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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#WeeklyForecast

I want to see if I can finish To the River and if I do I want to start Islands of Abandonment

I‘m just about to start Flush

I want to read Jane and Prudence

I read volume 1 of Orange yesterday and want to read volumes 2 and 3 this week.

Books_et_al I‘m really enjoying Islands of Abandonment. 9mo
AnneCecilie @Books_et_al The concept sounds great so I‘m glad to know it‘s enjoyable too. 9mo
52 likes2 comments
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Gillyreads
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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Have a few days holiday. On the left is my holiday book stack and on the right is my husband‘s. We will see if we manage to get through them 📚

LazyOwl Enjoy your break 3y
Gillyreads @LazyOwl thanks 😊 3y
13 likes2 comments
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gradcat
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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#ReadWithMrBook #NarratedByAnimal

What a lovely book (that I didn‘t even know existed!) about a Spaniel named Flush, and the trials and tribulations of his life spent with, first, Elizabeth Barrett [Browning], and then with both she and her husband, Robert Browning. I found myself sympathizing rather too much with Flush‘s (sometimes) sadness, so evocative is the writing of Woolf. When Flush is taken from his country life with Miss Mitford and ⬇️

gradcat ⬆️ (cont) given to Miss Barrett in London, he is obliged to forego his youthful gamboling and rowdiness for the rather quieter life in the bedroom of an invalid. This Flush happily does, as soon as he learns a few ground rules. But when Mr Browning comes a-calling, Flush‘s jealousy causes him to revert back to some of his earlier, more feral ways. Extreme events later on cause everyone to settle down together; Flush eventually lives his life in ⬇️ 4y
gradcat ⬆️ (cont) bliss with both Elizabeth and Robert, happier and wiser in his later life in Italy, and on the final return trip to England. Woolf cobbled this story together after reading two poems of Barrett Browning‘s written in homage to her dog, Flush, and by sourcing some of her own dog‘s antics to fatten this “biography of a dog.” 👩🏻‍🎓🐱♥️ 4y
gradcat @MrBook It only occurred to me just now, when I checked on the proper wording of your prompt for July, that I may have not followed the prompt exactly as it‘s meant to be done. This book is a biography of a dog, and while it is written from his point of view, there is actually an omniscient narrator. As it is too late now to read another book, I‘ll leave it to you to judge whether it‘s worthy of your intentions when you listed the prompt. Oops!😔 (edited) 4y
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merelybookish
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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A robust #bookreport from a lazy holiday week! Remote locations, long drives, and no schedule really ups my reading time. Managed to knock off a few #tob and #mounttbr titles. 🙂
Highlight was 99 Stories about God.
@Cinfhen

Suet624 Shoot. I‘ve been meaning to read that Joy Williams book for a long time. 4y
Centique Wow you read a lot! I‘ve got Angle of Repose on my list soon too 😊 4y
merelybookish @Suet624 It's odd! But kind of delightful. 4y
merelybookish @Centique More than my usual for sure! But lots of downtime over the holiday. I'm trying to read down my TBR pile and Angle of Repose has been on it for years! 4y
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merelybookish
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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I finished Between the Acts and was feeling smug at having read all of Woolf's novels. Then discovered this is also considered one of her works of fiction. So made a a quick Amazon Kindle purchase. I WILL finish all her novels before 2020, I will!

LeahBergen You‘ve got this! 🐶 4y
Graywacke Cool accomplishment! Enjoy this last one. 4y
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TrishB You go 👍🏻 4y
Reviewsbylola I liked this one! 4y
youneverarrived 🙌🙌 4y
Leftcoastzen 👏👏👏 4y
61 likes7 comments
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mrsmarch
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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❤️Quincy MA
🧡35
💛Library, book gifts, PaperbackSwap, BetterWorldBooks, the occasional new-bought splurge // I‘m a SAHM & genealogist 😂
💚11 years married
💙She/her
💜I‘m a huge Alcott fan...I read Little Women first thing every new year...Mrs March and Mrs Alcott are consummate mothers of daughters & huge role models for me.

ValerieAndBooks Re: genealogy— I turned over my DAR app to my registrar mid-September and hoping for approval soon 🤞 (my grandmother was DAR so hope that‘ll make it a bit faster). It won‘t be member 1000000 but close enough 😂 4y
mrsmarch @ValerieAndBooks It doesn‘t get looked at any faster when you have a relative to go in on, but I checked the Pending Member Report for a new member I just sent in, and they‘re reviewing applications that arrived in DC the week of 9/23 — so they are breezing right along! I‘m sure everything will be great. 👍🏻 4y
ValerieAndBooks Good to know. True, it‘s not expedited if there‘s already a DAR relative but hope it means less things they have to check off 🤞. My registrar said they were really backlogged this summer, so we‘ll see 😊. Feel free to email me at valphia at aol.com if you want to compare notes. My patriot I‘m applying through, served when he was living in MA. 4y
32 likes3 comments
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HotCocoaReads
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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I so enjoyed reading Flush—it‘s very readable (unlike some of her more stream-of-consciousness fiction). I liked also getting the beauty of Woolf‘s descriptions along with the biographical information about Elizabeth Barrett‘s and Robert Browning‘s courtship and early marriage. Plus, through a dog‘s unique perspective!

Severnmeadows I really loved this book! 5y
HotCocoaReads @Severnmeadows It was wonderful! 5y
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mrsmarch
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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Spent some time updating my owned books on GoodReads because this find came in the mail. #dogsoflitsy

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Michael_Gee
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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Moray_Reads
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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erzascarletbookgasm
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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LeahBergen I have Flush on my TBR, too. 👍🏻 6y
87 likes1 comment
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WanderingBookaneer
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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8/ 26 books read #ReadingWomenChallenge

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WanderingBookaneer
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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Woolf‘s birthday is as good day as any to read this biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning‘s cocker spaniel.

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youneverarrived
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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Woolf's biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's dog.

She wrote in a letter ‘I was so tired after the Waves, that I lay in the garden and read the Browning love letters, and the figure of their dog made me laugh so I couldn‘t resist making him a Life‘. #dogdays #anditsaugust

TrishB I was as tired after reading The Waves 😀 just finished it over the weekend. 7y
youneverarrived @TrishB 😂😂she's not an easy read I still haven't read that one yet though! 7y
TrishB It was my first of hers and I believe the hardest! I will read others but probably spaced out! 7y
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eedevore
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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If this munchkin was stolen and my fiancé told me not to empower gangsters by paying the ransom, I would no longer have a fiancé. Mr. Browning is not scoring any points with me.

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BooksForYears
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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Happy National Puppy Day from Kali and I! 🐶

#nationalpuppyday #dogbooks #persephonebooks #kittenlitten

LeahBergen Flush! 💗 7y
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Reviewsbylola
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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I would be lying if I said I didn't buy Persphones for the beautiful endpapers. #readjanuary

LeahBergen ❤❤ 7y
Cinfhen Sooo pretty💜🌸🌺💜 7y
erzascarletbookgasm Gorgeous ❤️ 7y
vicgreentoriafield 😮beautiful! 7y
134 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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BooksForYears
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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For this #FunFridayPhoto I'm picking two of my favorite books, both "fictional biographies", and both written by Virginia Woolf.

FLUSH is an imagined biography of the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel. ORLANDO is the biography of a character inspired by Vita Sackville-West.
#biography #virginiawoolf #persephonebooks

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ephemeralwaltz
Flush | Virginia Woolf
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Ah fall weather... I came down with a cold today 🤒 BUT I'm going to see my very first opera on Friday so I'm happy! So excited! #macbeth

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BooksForYears
Flush: A Biography | Virginia Woolf
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Pickpick

On one level, this is a pseudo-biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's spaniel, with information coming from the poet's letters and other writings. On another, the book is a critique of British and Italian society in the inter-war period. Due to his canine status, and the way Woolf writes his internal monologues, Flush is a continual foreigner in his world. This canine naïveté allows the author to comment on socioeconomic and class divides.

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