Hana, Local Trans Pat Witch🏳️‍⚧️

I am reading a book of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West’s love letters and it is very good. Some of my favorite bits so far:

• The part where Virginia refers to Vita as a “pronounced Sapphist”
• The numerous letters where Vita writes to her husband “I just want you to know I’m NOT in love with Virginia, I’m just obsessed with her PLATONICALLY, also we had sex”, followed by another letter to her husband like “Why won’t you believe me that I’m not in love with her!! I told you about the sex!!! Should that prove I’m honest”, and then two weeks later her letters to Virginia start being like “Darling I am in love with you, I feel my heart has been ripped out when we’re apart”
• The part where Vita writes in a letter to Virginia “P.S. Please call me honey”, then Virginia immediately starts all her letters with “Dearest Honey”, “Sweet Honey,” etc.
• The part where Vita is stressed about being seated next to a guy at a dinner party bc she had sex and then eloped with his wife 7 years earlier

I've got about 80 pages left of letters to go, and they continue to be an absolute delight. Some more favorite bits:

• When Virginia writes a letter to Vita like "I always come up with petnames for you, you never do the same for me, also I am taking the time to write to you even though you are not writing to me, I am just putting in a lot of effort here that's not being reciprocated. Anyway I need to buy makeup what should I buy I don't know anything about this"
• Anytime Virginia says "I will do X as a treat". I.e. "I think, for a treat, I shall let myself dash [Orlando] in for a week", or "I shall now have my little treat of writing to Vita"
• Vita really likes these cute lil' primates named Pottos (see above) so Virginia has not only adopted this as her nickname, but has developed an entire alter ego called "Potto", who is kind of petulant. Vita is into it. At one point, Vita sends Virginia a gift and Virginia responds with "Potto does not like gifts. Please do not send Potto anymore presents"
• Just the entire Orlando situation. It is well known that Orlando is about Vita, and it figures prominently in the letters. Imo, the letters provide essential context that make the book, which is very funny and very queer (and one of my favorites), even funnier. Like, why is the narrator so obsessed with Orlando's legs? Because Virginia was obsessed with Vita's legs IRL!
• This quote from Vita after she reads Orlando: "You have invented a new form of Narcissism...I am in love with Orlando - this is a complication I had not foreseen"
• This quote from Virgina, writing to Vita: "A woman writes that she has to stop and kiss the page when she reads O[rlando]...The percentage of Lesbians is rising in the States, all because of you".

I am sad to report that I am finished with this volume of love letters. My wife picked this up for me as a special gift in a queer bookstore while they were studying abroad in London this summer and I'm so happy that they did, because it was consistently one of the most delightful things I've read all year. Thank you @milktea

There were plenty more favorite bits in the last 1/3 of these letters:

• When Vita is in the US for a few months, Virginia is like "I am so jealous of all those other women you are sleeping with I cannot take it. Please write me a letter about how I am so wonderful and how you love me best after your husband and sons"
• Virginia continues to be very jealous of Vita's other affairs and yet despite that starts to write letters to Vita being like "Well I had sex with X the other day and here's what it was like"
• This is from a footnote but at one point, Vita's mother went off on a rant at family dinner to Vita's son, Ben, about his parents' "morals" because they slept with other people and were both not-heterosexual. Ben, who respected Virginia greatly, told Virginia about it and when he was done she responded with "the old woman ought to be shot"
• Vita to Virginia when Virginia is unwell: "Dear Mrs. Woolf...I regret that you have been in bed, though not with me"
• Vita continues to sign letters with "Your Orlando"
• Virginia was friends with Ethel Smythe, a much older composer and lesbian, who was in love with her. When WWII broke out, Ethel Smythe began talking to her next door neighbor, who she had avoided up to that point, and then the two of them fell in love. Very happy for these 84-year-old lesbians

In general the last section of letters were also especially affecting because of WWII and Europe's general political situation. There is so much discussion of rationing, fears of war, the effects of the German bombings, family losses during the Spanish Civil War and fear of more during WWII, and Virginia and Vita worrying about each other and the anxiety of never knowing if they'll be able to see each other again. And the ending is, as expected, heartbreaking

Anyways again, I love these women and I loved their love letters very much. They are consistently delightful and I highly recommend them