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Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando' was inspired by Vita Sackville-West and Knole. A project to digitise the original manuscript means it is now accessible online.
Virginia Woolf’s novel ‘Orlando: A Biography’ has been described as ‘the longest and most charming love letter in literature’. The book follows the story of a fictional aristocratic poet who tumbles through historical time periods and whose sex changes throughout the story. Woolf’s inspiration for her main character was her friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West.
Virginia first met Vita, a fellow writer, at a dinner party in 1922. In the years that followed the women developed a romantic relationship which had a profound impact on both their lives and their writing. The character of Orlando was inspired by Vita’s life, friends, ancestors and childhood home at Knole. Vita was born in 1892 to Lord and Lady Sackville but, as her parents’ only daughter, was doomed to never inherit her family home. The loss of Knole left a deep scar on Vita’s life.
My voluntary exile from Knole is very curious... I feel exactly as though I had a liaison with a beautiful woman who never, from force of circumstance, belonged to me wholly.
In ‘Orlando: A Biography’, the main character is always in possession of their ancestral home and this certainty was Virginia’s gift to Vita. On 6 December 1928 Viriginia gave her original manuscript, written in distinctive purple ink, to Vita with a dedication on the first page. The manuscript was preserved in Vita’s secluded Tower Writing Room at Sissinghurst Castle until her death in 1962.
‘the yellow pools which chequered the floor, made by the sun falling through the stained glass of a vast coat of arms in the window… Orlando stood now in the midst of the yellow body of a heraldic leopard.’
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A short film about the manuscript of Virginia Woolf’s 'Orlando' (1928), written and presented by Holly James Johnston. This film looks at the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, how Vita’s aristocratic family history at Knole inspired Virginia to write Orlando, and why it feels symbolic that the manuscript now belongs in Knole’s collection.
The manuscript was given to the National Trust by Vita’s son, Nigel Nicolson, who believed it was Orlando’s rightful home. The purple ink that Virginia used to handwrite her drafts is very sensitive to light therefore the manuscript is rarely on display to prevent the words fading. However, a recent project to digitise every page means that one of the most beautiful and complex literary works of the twentieth century can now be accessed from anywhere in the world.
Front cover
Page 1, dedicatory page
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We look after over 300 historic buildings and nearly one million works of art, which need constant care to maintain them. You can help protect these important buildings and collections by donating today.
Take in the scale and magnificence of this 600-year-old estate with its courtyards, showrooms, Gatehouse Tower and acres of parkland.
Historic, poetic, iconic: a refuge dedicated to beauty. Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson fell in love with Sissinghurst Castle and created a world-renowned garden.
Discover the life of prolific writer and passionate gardener Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson at Sissinghurst Castle Garden. 
The author Virginia Woolf was a leading figure of the Bloomsbury movement in the early 20th century. Read about how her life was shaped by her unconventional approach to gender and sexuality.
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