[Vwoolf] 2 questions

[Mark Hussey]

[posted on behalf of Brenda Silver]

 

A student in my Woolf course this term in Dublin sent me the following
question.  Does anyone know anything about this?  Please send replies to me
as well as to the list.   Thanks!  Brenda

 

"A quirky question if I may. I am a keen long distance sailor and was
intrigued by VW's  light characteristic of the lighthouse as two short and
one long. This is the sequence for morse "U". In seafaring terms the flag
"U" or the light sequence "U" means "You are sailing into danger". Most
off-shore oil/gas platforms and wind turbines all flash Morse "U".

 

I cannot think of any lighthouse in the UK with this sequence and so checked
the actual light sequence on the lighthouse in north Cornwall that VW
visited in the  1890's. It originally flashed once every 10 seconds and then
in later years had a red light attached to it. The lighthouse is now
disused.

 

So, it seems, possibly, that VW intentionally used two short and one
long.Has there been any scholarly debate on why she used that particular
light characteristic?"

**

Another question from a student in my Woolf class this term.  Again, if you
could send your reply to me as well as the list I'd appreciate it.  Brenda

"The Irish writer whom I am researching, Susanne Rouviere Day (1876-1964),
in one of her autobiographical novels published in 1914, refers to reading
Gautier. 

 

In one of the academic papers you gave us to read on "Orlando" the author
refers to Gautier in her introductory paragraph where she is
reviewing/mentioning novels of a similar genre to "Orlando", many of which
had been banned by the censor. 

 

I have got myself a copy of Gautier's "Mademoiselle de Maupin" published in
1835 . . . 

 

I have 2 questions. Had VW read Gautier's novel or any of of his other works
which presumably spell out his thoughts on beauty being loved independently
of sex, and for its own sake? Second question, Susanne R Day was heavily
involved with the suffragist movement in Ireland and London from 1909
onwards.Within that suffragist/suffragette milieu would an author like
Gautier have been topical or required reading? "

 

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