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Words do Not Live in Dictionaries – Virginia Woolf

By January 25, 2016January 24th, 2018Authors, Video

Words do not live in dictionaries, they live in the mind: Whilst researching authors for our TotD page I came across this wonderful recording of Virginia Woolf discussing the invention of new words and the evolution of language.

This is apparently the only known recording of her voice; I hope you enjoy listening to a woman from times gone by sounding as though she is merely sitting in the chair opposite.

The recording comes from a BBC radio broadcast from April 29th, 1937. The talk was called “Craftsmanship” and was part of a series entitled “Words Fail Me”. The text was published as an essay in “The Death of the Moth and Other Essays” (1942).

The recording has been transcribed and is available to read here.



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