Our charmed travel continued today, when our return trip took only a few minutes longer than our drive to the city. We got home nice and early, got to unpack and have dinner, and then headed to the garden–where Sydney worked hard and Erin entertained Miss Katherine.
Odd things I noticed about the conference:
1) One of the recurring themes was the focus on the role of sounds in Woolf’s novels (street music, the noise of motor cars, etc.), a theme I found amusing since all of the panels took place in a 70’s building that had a roaring air conditioning system and whining fluorescent lighting. I had to raise my voice many notches to be heard while presenting my paper, which was quite an interesting experience. First time I’ve ever been asked to speak up 🙂
2) I would estimate that something like a third of the conference participants were British, so I spent my weekend surrounded by lovely accents and charming paper deliveries. Quite lovely, really. And by now I have clipped British voices narrating my thoughts–even as I work very hard to be sure that no faux-British accent comes out of my mouth.
3) As I feared, a conference of Virginia Woolf scholars was largely female, which made for very long lines for the ladies room. An interesting place to network!
Erin
Alan Schmierer