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Writing how much she misses her, Vita later replies with an oyster doodle.

Alison Bechdel writes in her introduction, "If Virginia and Vita had had smartphones, what a stream of sexting acronyms, obscure emoji (Scissors? I just miss you...' At a dinner party in 1922, Virginia Woolf met the renowned author, aristocrat - and sapphist - Vita Sackville-West.

Virginia Woolf met Vita Sackville-West in late 1922. She went from person to person, taking and leaving, which at the time was definitely a privilege granted only to men.

Maybe Virginia thought her love for Vita transcended gender. I felt seen in way I rarely had, and not just because I saw a character who sat so comfortably between genders as I did.

Very mixed." When it comes to their letters to each other, though, they don’t shy away from talking about the physical side of sapphism. She decided to write Vita (another) love letter, but this time it would be bigger, more extravagant. Works by these authors are integral to the lesbian literary tradition and have created a unique style incorporating imaginative elements to tell these stories in the mainstream.

According to her letters, Vita was quite taken with Virginia, and the two began an intellectual correspondence that eventually became intimate and romantic. Queer identities didn’t mean in Woolf’s day what they do now, and they certainly didn’t in the eras Orlando takes place in. Virginia venerated Vita, and she wrote an entire novel to prove it.

The affection is so warming; they really, really loved each other.

However, as this witty reimagining suggests, the dynamic between the two women was interesting. When Virginia felt Vita slipping away from her for good, she decided to pull out all the stops. I found that her work spoke to me even more after I came out as nonbinary, specifically her novel Orlando.

These discoveries would lead writers to code their work in the hopes of avoiding censorship and government punishment. "Dear Mrs Woolf," writes Vita, "(That appears to be the suitable formula.) I regret that you have been in bed, though not with me – (a less suitable formula.)"

They developed intricate codes and in-jokes, too.

When they are not writing intensively about the queer experience, Jerakah can be found baking chocolate pies and hiding from tornadoes.

Christiaan Tonnis

Art courtesy Christiaan Tonnis under Creative Commons.

Most recently, they have had prose and poetry nominated for Pushcart Prizes in 2019 for pieces published in Crabfat Magazine and Impossible Archetype.

The plot is complicated; Orlando switches genders about halfway through the novel, though this gives the character little pause. Virginia likely took inspiration from Vita’s masculine attitudes in the thirties and forties.

The result, Orlando, became one of Virginia Woolf’s greatest commercial successes, and to me remains one of the most romantic love letters ever written.

Since their publications, the works by these authors have caused a cultural stir especially for queer subcultures in women’s colleges, all-female boarding houses, and other same-sex communities throughout America and England.

was virginia woolf gay