Virginia
Woolf was convinced that South America was a land
in which millions of butterflies flooded the air
and wild animals ran loose in the streets. To
further fuel the Englishwoman’s imagination,
Victoria presented her with a box of butterflies
to be hung in her bedroom. It was Virginia who
persuaded Victoria to write her Autobiografía,
arguing that so few women had written “interesting
and truthful” memoirs. Though invited numerous
times to visit Argentina, Virginia was never able
to make the voyage. Victoria, who dedicated several
articles, a conference and a book to the Englishwoman,
writes: “the lyricism of Virginia Woolf
is as remarkable as her humor; she has crossed
into the kingdom of poetry.” The argentine
woman edited Woolf’s essays and two of her
novels, including Borges’s translation of
Orlando. Victoria describes her reaction to the
news of Virginia’s unexpected suicide in
1941: “I would have liked to limit myself
to writing: To Virginia Woolf… because in
searching for a phrase, there was none I could
come up with that I could set beside her name.”
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