Writing to kick up your heels
Having just re-read Virginia Woolf's Orlando after a third-of-a-century hiatus, I revelled in the liveliness and playfulness of both the...
Scrolloping
A portmanteau word created by Virginia Woolf, apparently combining 'scroll' and 'lollop' to describe heavy, florid ornament, or a rambling...
On the Elizabethans and book learning
I have no idea if this is a fair appraisal of the Elizabethan stance on book learning, but I have...
A space filled to repletion
I like visual and typographical playfulness, and here in Orlando the point about economy in language is underlined not with...
From tapers to tinder
I loved this description of a young boy going to all lengths to be able to read as much as...
Toads versus rapiers
Having roundly failed to deter the advances of an Archduke by brazenly cheating him out of tens of thousands...
Like underwear on a washing line
Two things caught my attention: firstly, the way a small, single, commonplace action, such as sitting down and preparing to...
Many-coloured shield
A rich description of 17th century London, this appears to refer to Westminster Abbey, with lights brightly burning inside.
'Now...
Sponge-bag trousers
As I clearly move in the wrong circles, this was a revelation to me. 'Sponge-bag trousers' is the name given,...
A comprehensive indictment
Orlando's elaborate life includes a depressing barrage of lawsuits as conflicting as they are outrageous. While the law trundles through...
The great freeze of London
Virginia Woolf's Orlando gets under the skin of different moments in a 400 year stretch of English history. Here she...
A voice answering a voice?
More than just the writing of poetry, isn't writing in general often 'a voice answering a voice'?
This touching quotation...
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