Finding a voice

The Power of Renewable Resources: Orlando's Tactical Engagement with the Law of Intestacy

“…10 The DNB, as does Orlando, 'condenses and defines tradition by telling over again the stories of distinguished men and women, and makes national achievement visible by placing it between the covers of many large and impressive volumes'. 11 Raitt's discussion emphasises Woolf's satire of Victorian biography and its use of the Victorian biographical methodology, which demonstrates the techniques of condensation (noting a few stories of a few significant men and women) and repetition (telling those few significant stories over and over). This approach to writing biography consequently creates a Victorian 'grand narrative' of British national achievement and, thus, British national identity.…”