Virginia Woolf och politik

Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) från Wicklow var en förgrundsfigur i kampen för att Irland skulle få fullständig självstyrelse. Hans namn dög upp för mig första gången när jag läste Åren (1937) av Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), där nämns hans död på en löpsedel:

  The paper boys at the gates were dealing out papers with unusual rapidity. Men were snatching them and opening them and reading them as they walked on. She looked at a placard that was crumpled across a boy's legs. 'Death' was written in very large black letters.
  Then the placard blew straight, and she read another word: 'Parnell.'
  'Dead'... she repeated. 'Parnell.' She was dazed for a moment. How could he be dead - Parnell? She bought a paper. They said so...
  'Parnell is dead!' she said aloud. She looked up and saw the sky again; clouds were passing; she looked down into the street. A man pointed at the news with his forefinger. Parnell is dead he was saying. He was gloating. But how could he be dead? It was like something fading in the sky.
   She walked slowly along towards Trafalgar Square, holding the paper in her hand. Suddenly the whole scene froze into immobility. A man was joined to a pillar; a lion was joined to a man; they seemed stilled, connected, as if they would never move again. (sid 88)

History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to the Present Day av Edward Alfred D'Alton fick jag för bra kilopris hos antikvariat Faust. Illustrerad, intressant.