"the precious stuff of which books are made lies all about one"

[chialingsheh]

"George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte between them must share the parentage of many novels at this period, for they disclosed the secret that the precious stuff of which books are made lies all about one, in drawing-rooms and kitchens where women live, and accumulates with every tick of the clock."

This is from Virginia Woolf's short story, "Memoiors of a Novelist"

I am translating this short story into Chinese. And my questions are:
1. who or what are "they" in "for they disclosed the secret that....."
2. what does "which" refer to in "the precious stuff of which books"
3. what or who is "one" in "...made lies all about one...."

 

[5jj]

1. who or what are "they" in "for they disclosed the secret that....."

George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte

2. what does "which" refer to in "the precious stuff of which books"

The precious stuff

3. what or who is "one" in "...made lies all about one...."

Oneself. A writer today would have used 'you'.

 

[teechar]

3. what or who is "one" in "...made lies all about one...."

Here, "one" refers to any person/individual. It is a general reference to people.

 

[Tdol]

We'd probably use around instead of about too.

PS Memoirs of a Novelist

 

[Barque]

the precious stuff of which books are made lies all about one

I had to read the sentence twice to understand it. I initially thought that "lies" referred to falsehoods and then realised it's a verb used to mean "rests on".

... they disclosed the secret that the precious stuff of which books are made, rests on/is based on oneself ...