Orlando (42 page)
Authors: Virginia Woolf
16.
four-in-hand… barouche landau
: different types of carriages.
17.
four great names
: Tennyson and Browning, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. The names that follow all belong to genuine and identifiable, but mainly minor, poets, writers and historians of the Victorian age. At this point, the MS includes a much longer account of the differences between Victorian literature and its antecedents, and, in particular, of the way in which writing has been gentrified and professionalized — far more books are now published and many of them are ‘not books pure and simple but books about books’. Orlando goes to hear Sir Nicholas lecturing on the Romantic poets and is almost suffocated (see above, Note 7). As writers grow more respectable, patrons are no longer sought after: Christina Rossettiturns down an invitation to tea. Lady A. takes Orlando to see Carlyle but is chased away by his wife: ‘Be off with you, fool!… I’d have you know my Thomas is asleep.’ They visit Tennyson at Freshwater, only to be intercepted by Emily in her wheelchair, who prevents them reaching the house: ‘My husband is writing a poem.’ Writers are now ‘enclosed in a sound-proof room and protected by a wife’. Volumnia Fox (Virginia Woolf) is now only remembered because Arnold Bennett once devoted half an hour to demolishing this poor scribbler: ‘She would have been forgotten anyhow, and the half hour spent on her might have given us another of his master pieces.’
18.
Miss Christina Rossetti
: (1830–94) an intense and highly individual poet, the subject of Woolf’s 1930 essay ‘I am Christina Rossetti’ (
CE
, IV, pp. 54–60). Poetic patronage has changed since Dryden’s day (see p. 147).
19.
Suddenly she started… barrel organ
: here, as earlier in the novel, changes in the life of the body become occasions of anxiety and disturbance within the text: the next event befalling Orlando, while apparent to the footman and the maid-servant, cannot easily be
announced. The narration is interrupted first by the sound of the barrel-organ, then thoughts of Kew Gardens (where the lives of the plants were associated, for Woolf, with the rhythms of the body – see Chapter XXV of
Night and Day,
1919), and then by a series of exclamations which recall, without exactly quoting, Milton’s lines:
Hail wedded Love, mysterious Law, true source
Of human offspring…
(
Paradise Lost,
Book 4, lines 750–51.)
20.
their outrigger
: a light rowing boat (they seem to be on the river at Kew).
21.
a son… 20th
: Vita had two sons, Ben and Nigel; when they asked which of them this was supposed to be, Woolf replied, ‘Both of you’ (Nicolson). Neither was born on 20 March, though this date is suggestively close to 17 March (1928), when Woolf completed
Orlando
(see letter to Vita, 20 March 1928,
Letters,
III, p. 474; and Note 39, below); it had been begun the previous October (like the bulbs, ‘thrust into the earth in October’, at Kew, p. 203).
22.
King Edward… lady opposite
: Edward had been a great visitor of ladies, among them, Mrs Keppel, mother of Violet Trefusis (
Vita,
p. 23). With the Edwardian age come modern conveniences — motor-cars, electric light and running water.
23.
eleventh of October… 1928
: the novel’s date of publication and presentation to Vita, who, like Orlando, was then thirty-six (p. 209).
24.
Marshall& Snelgrove’s
: a large department store in Regent’s Street.
25.
Louise then
: Louise Genoux was Vita’s French maid (Nicolson; and
Vita,
p. 191). She has no time for the Prince Consort because he was German — ‘
Sale bosch!
’ (i.e. dirty German). The date is now post-1918; the First World War, in which Germany invaded France, has taken place; George V succeeded Edward in 1911.
26.
a little vulgar – all in silver.
‘The King’s bedroom is the only vulgar room in the house… ’ (
Knole
, p. 15; and see above, Chapter II, Note 34.)
27.
a person’s life…Biography
: Virginia Woolf’s father, Leslie Stephen, was the first and most important editor of the
Dictionary of National Biography,
and received a knighthood for his work on it.
28.
Ra
—
Un… Undert
—: Orlando is driving south out of London, in the direction of Sevenoaks and Knole. As she goes, Woolf describes
the constantly interrupted view from the car window, perhaps seeing it as symbolic of the fragmentary nature of modern city life. The words on the banner probably stand for ‘Rally of the Unemployed’ or ‘Rally against Unemployment’ (popular demonstrations against unemployment had begun again in the spring of 1928, when Woolf was writing this section); ‘Amor Vin—’ is the opening of the Latin tag, ‘amor vincit omnia’ (‘love conquers all’, perhaps an indication that this is the porch of a brothel), and Applejohn and Applebed are undertakers, thus completing the cycle of love and death.
29.
Orlando did not come
: Orlando’s search for another self invokes the theme of the inadequacy of writing to represent lived time or lives, while allowing a recapitulation of the selves as they have appeared in the novel.
30.
What, then? Who, then?
: Orlando’s stream of consciousness as expressed here parodies the staccato, exclamatory style used by James Joyce.
31.
Oak Tree… Prize
: Vita’s poem
The Land
had won the Hawthorn-den Prize in 1927 (Nicolson; and
Vita,
p. 172). Vita used the prize money to plant a grove of nut trees at Long Barn. Woolf renamed the prize after Angela Burdett-Coutts, the great Victorian philan thropist, perhaps to make the point that such prizes are seldom established in women’s names, and in any case cannot have the same significance for a woman as for a man.
32.
porpoise in a fishmonger’s shop
: this description of Vita, which Virginia often teased her with, derived from a shopping trip to Sevenoaks they made together late in 1925 (see 21 December 1925,
Diary,
III, p. 5 2; and Nicolson). Woolf wrote to Vita, ‘Aint it odd how the vision at the Sevenoaks fishmongers has worked itself into my idea of you?’ (5 February 1927,
Letters,
III, p. 326).
33.
There flies the wild goose
: the unattainable wild goose may symbolize supernatural intervention (see the introduction, p. xxxviii); or else the search for self or for an elusive reality (perhaps identical with that described at the end of
A Room of One’s Own
: ‘whatever it touches, it fixes and makes permanent’ (1928; Penguin Books, 1945, p. 108); or, as in the MS, ‘the secret of life’. As Shelmerdine lands at the end of the poem, it appears again.
34.
whipcord breeches… Lopokova
: Orlando changes into Vita’s favourite country dress. Lydia Lopokova was a ballerina, married to the economist (and Bloomsburian) Maynard Keynes.
35.
red Spanish wine
: Vita always drank a Spanish wine called Allella (Nicolson).
36.
In this window-seat…
: the different rooms of Knole are evoked for the last time (see above, Chapter IV, Note 13; and earlier notes).
37.
the loud speaker… Vienna
: the radio’s transference of sound through space parallels the movement of Orlando’s memory, traversing the history of the house.
38.
old Greene… Milton
: the Hawthornden Prize had been presented to Vita by John Drinkwater on 16 June 1927 — Virginia went to the presentation (
Diary,
III, p. 139; and Nicolson). Orlando contrasts the reception of the poem with the private experience of writing it.
39.
the roar of an aeroplane
: Harold Nicolson had once flown from Paris, landing on the cricket field at Knole, while Vita had called, ‘Here Hadji, here!’ (Nicolson.) In the darkness, her pearls are like the phosphorescent flares used to light up runways. The MS ends as follows:
And as Shelmerdine leapt from the aeroplane & ran to meet her a wild goose with its neck outstretched flew above them.
Shell cried Orlando
The [wild] goose is —
‘[The secret of life] is…’
The End. March 17th 1928
A list of the substantive readings from the first British (Hogarth Press) and first American trade (Harcourt Brace) editions, excluding variants in punctuation, capitalization and spelling. Further minor differences between the texts are that the British first edition numbers chapters in Roman numerals, the American in Arabic; the British ‘Contents’ page lists the preface but not the index, while the American lists the index but not the preface; no reference to the jacket illustration occurs in the American edition (since it had a different jacket) but a few extra entries appear in the American index. Page and line numbers given below refer to this edition, the first entry being from the British first edition, the second from the American first edition.
5.28 | Keynes; Mr. Hugh Walpole; Miss Violet Dickinson; ] Keynes; Miss Violet Dickinson; |
6.5 | Raymond Mortimer; Lady Gerald Wellesley; ] Raymond Mortimer; Miss Emphie Case; Lady Gerald Wellesley; |
6.8 | Nicolson; and my sister, Vanessa Bell ] Nicolson; my sister, Vanessa Bell |
11.26 | winter and summer ] winter or summer |
12.14 | reach whatever seat ] reach what ever seat |
14.17 | thirty or perhaps forty, ] thirty, or forty perhaps, |
17.1 | a commanding hand, too; a hand ] a commanding hand; a hand |
19.31 | blame Orlando? ] blame him? |
20.22 | bade him do.]bade him. |
21.7 | Old Stairs and the beer gardens ] Old Stairs and such places |
21.33 | their loves had been active; ] their love was active; |
23.2 | Euphrosyne — so he called them ] Euphrosyne – to give them the names he called them |
26.32 | raved, so he stared. ] raved, so he called her. |
27.2 | had eyes ] had those eyes |
27.12 | bite; shut bite and shut |
28.36 | Maypole (comme une grande perche ] Maypole (une grande perche |
31.1 | pailful ] pail full |
37.3 | they would fly. They would take ship to Russia. ] they would fly north; thence to Russia. |
39.26 | vanished it was ] vanished and was |
39.29 | lit up and the strangest ] lit up the strangest |
39.34 | transformation. As they approached ] transformation. The sounds too seemed closed and concentrated. As they approached |
40.35 | orange peel on to the ice which a dog ] orange peel at the actors which a dog |
42.3 | in these purlieus ] in this purlieus |
44.8 | gay city had been stood ] gay city had stood |
44.13 | huge and massy fragments ] huge and many fragments |
45.4 | were dashed against a tree and sunk ] were dashed to death and sunk |
52.10 | he looked like; know ] he looked like, and know |
52.11 | what he thought – and it is for readers such as these that we write – ] what he thought and felt and it is for readers such as these alone that we write — |
56.34 | man with big, bright eyes. ] man with bright eyes. |
58.6 | solitude of years solitude of many years |
59.34 | but the lips hung loose and slobbered. ] but the lips slobbered. |
60.2 | servility of a well-trained domestic’s face; it ] servility of the face of a well-trained domestic; it |
62.8 | the Elizabethan age was inferior ] the Elizabethan was inferior |
65.15 | would seem very dull ] would seem dull |
67.1 | ‘For’, he said, ‘I have done with men.’ ] ‘For,’ he said, patting the little brutes on the head, ‘I have done with men.’ |
67.13 | Dogs and a bush were the whole of it. ] A dog and a bush were the whole of it. |
68.29 | coloured it a thousand tints, and filled it with ] coloured it all the tints of the rainbow and filled it with |
73.27 | and their windows were lit though they lay dying. ] and the windows were lit though they were dying. |
75.16 | ninety-nine pages more ] twenty-nine pages more |
82.8 | Thus he rushed ] Then he rushed |
83.5 | Howbeit, the Fates were hard ] [No new paragraph in American edition] |
84.18 | and even to use the imagination. ] and even to make use of the imagination. |
85.14 | The houses were white as egg-shells and as bald. ] The houses were bare and bald as egg-shells. |
89.33 | they conjured up ] they conjured him up |
91.7 | lest the native population should be seized … fraught with ] lest the native population … fraught with |
91.14 | valuable, if only because it impressed upon them … the superiority ] valuable … because it impressed upon them … superioiity |
92.15 | the cynosure of all eyes ] the sinecure of all eyes |
94.15 | applied remedies ] applied the remedies |
97.11 | where there are ivy and curtains in plenty.’ ] where there are curtains in plenty. |
97.35 | he was a woman. |
| | |
The sound of the trumpets ] | |
he was a woman. | |
The sound of the trumpets | |
101.7 | the older men and women ] he elder men and women |
101.17 | ramparts, to the breasts of doves, and the flanks of kine.] ramparts, and the plains to the flanks of kine. |
102.34 | blank version poem, ] blank verse poem, |
110.7 | if I can’t swim, ] if I can swim, |
113.30 | wonder, as she pitted ] wonder if, as she pitted |
114.26 | war-horse, nor even ] war-horse, not even |
118.9 | on top, a covey of swans floated, orgulous ] on top, floated a covey of swans, orgulous |
119.16 | aware by a succession ] aware of a succession |
123.4 | The poet’s, then, is the highest ] The poet’s, then, in the highest |
123.11 | Thoughts are divine, etc. Thus ] Thoughts are divine. Thus |
125.8 | their meaning, she threw ] their meaning upon the mind, she threw |
131.26 | seems to hint ] seem to hint |
132.15 | in Orlando, which is to be found if the reader will look at page |
132.25 | been the same. ] been the same too. |
133.10 | would argue, for example, if Orlando was a woman, how did she ] would argue how, for example, if Orlando was a woman, did she |
133.29 | rattling on the cobbles. ] rattling over the cobbles. |
135.21 | into such an excitement? ] into such excitement? |
137.4 | none to answer, ‘is this’, she finished her sentence all the same, ‘what people call life?’ The spaniel ] none to answer, ‘is this what people call life?’ The spaniel |
138.9 | suffering from the effect of three honeyed words ] suffering from the poison of three honeyed words |
138.25 | glimpse she had of these great men from the deck ] glimpse she had of the poets from the deck |
139.17 | that the world has seen. ] that the world has known. |
143.8 | What are “we”?’ ] What are we?’ |
145.2 | men of genius. Nor were they so different from the rest of us as one might have supposed. ] men of genius, yet after all they were not much different from other people. |
149.19 | beneath a fine willow tree. ] beneath a willow tree. |
150.19 | the young woman looked up at him ] the girl looked up at him |
153.3 | lose it. The task is made still more difficult by the fact that she found it ] lose it. What makes the task of identification still more difficult is that she found it |
153.14 | of breeches she exchanged the seductiveness ] of breeches she turned to the seductiveness |
154.25 | the great Roman shadow, ] the great rolling shadow, |
154.27 | that ever left human lips; that have ever left human lips; |
156.16 | All was darkness; ] All was dark; |
157.1 | The great cloud which hung, ] This great cloud which hung, |
157.29 | grown; trousers were fastened ] grown and trousers fastened |
157.30 | legs the country gentleman soon transferred ] legs he soon transferred |
157.31 | tables were covered; nothing was left bare. ] tables were covered too. |
158.8 | dogs, mats, and china ornaments, the home — ] dogs, mats, and antimacassars, the home— |
162.5 | on one day at least of every year, ] on one day at least every year, |
162.13 | but no, she detested ] but not, she detested |
163.12 | end. Meanwhile she began ] end. And so she began |
163.18 | tried drama. ] tried the drama. |
163.26 | pool, which, I dare say, has the same carp in it. ] pool, with, I dare say, the same carp in it. |
164.2 | she began to decorate ] she tried to decorate |
165.19 | as though it were asking ] as though they were asking |
165.27 | the third finger ] the second finger |
167.23 | to be the left hand ] to be the left finger |
168.21 | She became nervous lest ] She had become nervous lest |
173.10 | irises and gentian. ] irises and gentians. |
173.16 | and then thought ‘No, ] and then she thought, ‘No, |
174.11 | things which will be described ] things besides, which will be described |
174.27 | hastily from the breakfast-room ] hastily out of the break-fast room |
174.29 | Mercifully its tail ] Mercifully his tail |
175.20 | to heave that overboard, ] to stow that overboard, |
175.29 | could say anything, which is tantamount ] could say any-thing they liked, which is tantamount |
175.32 | London, things which London, which |
180.11 | in our eyes, some of it rubs off on our thoughts) ] in our thoughts, some of it rubs off on our words) |
180.32 | their brooms and their saucepans ] their brooms, their sauce pans |
182.12 | taking care lest it should slip past the joint of her finger. ] taking care that it should not slip past the finger joint. |
182.14 | on the third finger ] on the second finger |
183.11 | lest the pen might have been ] lest it might have been |
183.17 | As she wrote she felt some power (remember we are dealing with the most obscure manifestations of the human spirit) reading over her shoulder, and when she had written ‘Egyptian girls’, the power told her to stop. ] At this point she felt that power (remember we are dealing with the most obscure |
184.23 | whatever sum the Hogarth Press may ] whatever sum the publisher may |
184.25 | predicament into which ] predicament in which |
187.5 | wasp. Where there is blood there is life. And if killing ] wasp. And if killing |
187.29 | and begin at least to think of a gamekeeper ] and begin to think, at least of a gamekeeper |
190.12 | Human beings alone are thus gifted. ] Human beings alone have this power. |
190.36 | lordships’ legs, they haven’t taken to reading there. ] lord-ships’ legs, ‘they haven’t taken to reading there.’ |
