Join Dr. Derek Ryan at Sissinghurst Catle Garden on April 5 for “Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: Masterclass,” a masterclass celebrating Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.
Rooftop view of Sissinghurst Gardens
The course will delve into the world of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf as Ryan, senior lecturer in modernist literature at the University of Kent, explores their letters. He will maintain a particular focus on those mentioning Sissinghurst Castle Garden near Cranbook, Kent.
The masterclass unfolds with a lecture exploring Vita and Orlando, leading to a workshop where participants craft a sequel inspired by Sissinghurst.
Participants will wander through the garden, immersing themselves in the letters’ nuances, and collaboratively creating a literary piece.
With his expertise and insightful guidance, Ryan brings the Bloomsbury era to life, making this 3-hour masterclass a unique and enriching experience.
Masterclass details
Where:Sissinghurst Castle Garden When: April 5 from 1 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Cost: £35. Where to meet: Participants will meet outside Visitor Reception. What to wear: Weather appropriate clothing, as some of the class will take place outdoors. Accessibility: Part of the event will take place upstairs in the Oast Exhibition Space, so participants should be able to navigate stairs. Parking: There is car parking available on site with standard charges of £4 for all day parking that can be paid for at Visitor Reception. Parking is free for National Trust members. For more information:Learn more about the class. Booking:Book the class.
The tower that contains Vita Sackville West’s personal study at Sissinghurst Castle.
A still from the documentary “Orlando, My Political Biography”
“The contemporary world is full of Orlandos who are changing the course of history,” says Spanish-born philosopher turned director Paul B. Preciado.
“Orlando, My Political Biography,” his documentary adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1928 pseudo-biography Orlando, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year — and took home four prizes — while interrogating the relevance of Woolf’s Orlando in the process.
The film is described as a “cinematic essay in conversation with Woolf’s 1928 satiric fantasy Orlando: A Biography, as well as “a personal essay, historical analysis, and social manifesto.” Preciado, who first read Woolf’s novel at the age of 15, also describes it as “my own biography.”
In it, Preciado casts a diverse cross-section of more than 20 trans and non-binary individuals in the role of Orlando as they interpret scenes from the novel, weaving their own stories of identity and transition into Woolf’s narrative.
Choosing the cast
Preciado explains how he chose the cast this way: “The way I selected the other participants was by trying to understand if they could speak the language of Virginia Woolf. This, to me, was the most difficult aspect of any Orlando performance, because Virginia Woolf’s language is so sophisticated, so crystalized and sparkling, that it’s hard to speak her words without sounding phony or ridiculous.”
The documentary enlists a cast that includes well-known French LGBTQ+ figures to share the role of the novel’s eponymous hero as they perform interpretations of scenes from the novel, weaving into Woolf’s narrative their own stories of identity and transition.
It also includes footage of singer and trans pioneer Christine Jorgensen and fiery advocate Sylvia Rivera to help reflect the history of queer resistance.
Choosing the scenes
Preciado explains how scenes from Woolf’s novel were chosen for the film: “Some of the scenes were chosen by the Orlandos through the reading sessions . . . some Orlandos lobbied for certain scenes in the novel to be included in the film, and we went with those.
“The scene of Orlando returning to England by ship after having transformed into a woman, I really wanted to adapt this scene properly since it’s one of the crucial scenes in the novel. But it became so difficult. We went to the north of France and obtained a small boat that we had to pretend was bigger than it was–it was extremely expensive, and I had very little money with which to make the film. Very quickly we realized that this scene was impossible, that it wasn’t going to work. So we decided to make a mock-up of a boat in a studio and see how that would look.
“Many of the scenes I had in mind–especially since Orlando is a book of adventures and travel and changing epochs and countries–couldn’t be rendered on film as they are in the novel.
“Another example was a scene in the desert that became difficult to pull off since I had to find a desert that was nearby–and there are no deserts close to France!
“At a certain point I realized that faithfully adapting such scenes was less important than capturing the language of Virginia Woolf as well as representing the main adventure of the book, which is transitioning. It would be less about constructing the proper settings and decor and more of a spiritual or internal journey.”
Reappropriating Woolf’s words
“We discovered a freedom in reappropriating the words of Virginia Woolf,” Preciado said. “And not because Virginia Woolf said everything possible about transitioning, but because I think Virginia Woolf may have also been non-binary.
“In the last 40 to 50 years she’s been read–perhaps even over-read–as an exemplar of female and feminist authorship. But when re-reading her I realized she was very much at odds with what was supposed to be her own femininity. She was not comfortable with it and never aligned with it so much–she wasn’t even very interested in a naturalistic definition of feminism, at least as it existed during her lifetime.
“So I’ve thought, how interesting would it be if she was a non-binary author who lived during a time when the thought of being non-binary was impossible? That opened for me a very different way of reading Orlando. I’m not content with the politics of reading works through the identity of the author–for example, the idea that if the author isn’t trans then his or her book can’t be trans. Because maybe the author was able to recreate him, herself or themselves, in his, her or their own mind. The things we do exceed identity–otherwise if we have to be measured by our anatomy or whatever else then we’re going to be caged within the language of normative binaries. So that’s crucial for me.
“And when working on the readings of Orlando something started to happen–we brought Woolf into a contemporary, non-binary world, and a sort of joyful, amusing adventure began to occur in how we experienced her words, to the point where the cast members and their families would call me and say, ‘These readings are great, can we come back for more of them?’ Then it became clear to me that this was working, that we could use the language of Virginia Woolf against the language of normative identity.”
Now in theaters
Interested in seeing the film? Check this link for locations, dates, and tickets.
All Woolfians, whether in Turkey or not, are welcome to join the inaugural event of the newly formed Virginia Woolf Society Turkey for an online talk and the sharing of ideas for talks, blog posts, and/or projects on Virginia Woolf and her connection to Turkey.
When: Tuesday, July 4, at 5 p.m. BST Who: Dr Lee Okan from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA What: “Time’s Fluidity: Analyzing Virginia Woolf’s Orlando through Henri Bergson’s Philosophy of Duration” How: Register FREE on Eventbrite.
This free online talk will explore the use of time and its intertwining with gender and identity, particularly in relation to Henri Bergson’s theories of time and duration. Join in to see how Woolf defies traditional conceptions of time.
For further information, please contact: virginiawoolfturkiye@ gmail.com and follow the group on Twitter: @VWoolfTurkiye
The Beyond Words French Literature Festival at Institut français in Kensington, London celebrates Virginia Woolf’s work at 8:15 p.m. on May 19 as Paul B. Preciado and Merve Emre engage in conversation on Orlando’s impact on Preciado’s art and personal journey.
Preciado is a philosopher and writer. Emre is an author, academic and literary critic.
Virginia Woolf wrote my biography before me when publishing Orlando, a century ago – trans writer and philosopher Paul B. Preciado
More on the agenda
But don’t stop there. From May 12-21, the seventh edition of the festival will cross borders and genres to take participants on a literary journey through lively discussions, powerful readings and inspiring live performances and screenings.
Renowned authors from both side of the Channel, such as Ian McEwan, Lauren Elkin, Deborah Levy, Éric Vuillard, Laurent Mauvignier and Muriel Barbery, as well as new exciting voices, will meet, discuss or present their latest releases.
Many events are in English or both English and French and are priced at £3-15.
If you will be in New York City on March 15, you can learn about Vita Sackville-West from her cousin. Yes, I’m serious.
Sponsored by the Royal Oak Foundation, the first talk in an in-person lecture series will be given by Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville on March 15 at 6 p.m. (ET) at 20 W. 44th Street, between 5th and 6th avenues. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture, which is titled “Vita Sackville-West and A Sense of Place.”
Information about the event, which I learned about from a press release, is a bit sketchy. The release did not include any information regarding cost, and the appropriate page on the Royal Oak Foundation website is not updated to include the lecture series focused on Vita. However, I did find this email address, which might be helpful for obtaining more information: lectures@royal-oak.org
About the lecture series
The lecture series will describe Vita Sackville-West’s life and illustrate the places important to Virginia Woolf’s friend and lover.
One of these places was Knole, the 365-room house in which she grew up but which she was not able to inherit due to her sex. Woolf immortalized Vita’s feelings about Knole in her 1928 novel, Orlando.
In his lectures, Sackville-West will discuss Vita’s connections to Knole, as well as Sissinghurst, a nearby castle ruin and tumbledown farm that is considered Vita’s greatest creation and most enduring legacy. Both Knole and Sissinghurst are now owned by Britain’s National Trust.
About Robert Sackville-West
Robert Sackville-West, the 13th generation of the family to live at Knole, studied history at Oxford University and went on to work in publishing. He now chairs Knole Estates, the property and investment company that, in parallel with the National Trust, runs the Sackville family’s interests at Knole.
Knole House, originally built as an archbishop’s palace but given to the Sackville family in 1603.
With his expertise and insightful guidance, Ryan brings the Bloomsbury era to life, making this 3-hour masterclass a unique and enriching experience.
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