[Vwoolf] 2 questions

[Stuart N. Clarke]

There is certainly something odd about the lighthouse in TL.  As well as the problem of the beam, the Godrevy lighthouse was never black and white but always all white.

CF. JR “A pale yellow light shot across the purple sea; and shut. The lighthouse was lit.”

This seems more historically accurate than the lighthouse light in TL: ‘there, sure enough, coming regularly across the waves first two quick strokes and then one long steady stroke, was the light of the Lighthouse. It had been lit’ (98). ‘The first lighting apparatus for Godrevy [had] a four-wick lamp and a clockwork revolving mechanism. [. . .] The light made a full revolution in four minutes, showing a white flash every 10 seconds, visible at a distance given variably as 15, 16 or 17 miles.’ When it was converted to an unmanned operation in 1934, ‘the new light was a faint glimmer in contrast to the bold flashing white beam which first shone forth from Godrevy in 1859’ (Thomas, Charles, and Jessica Mann (2009), Godrevy Light, Truro, Cornwall: Twelveheads Press, 20, 28).



Stuart


From: Mark Hussey 
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2016 9:17 PM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu 
Cc: Brenda R. Silver 
Subject: [Vwoolf] 2 questions

[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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