MOMENTS OF BEING

In 1980 the BBC recorded Dame Peggy Ashcroft reading an abridged version of Virginia Woolf's autobiography, Moments of Being, on five cassette sides. The sixth side, a biographical "Portrait of Virginia Woolf," also contains taped interviews with her sister, Vanessa, and a nephew, plus the only known recording of Woolf herself (1937). This is a true audio history of the renowned author, read splendidly. Woolf's rich prose mixes earliest childhood memories with later anecdotes about Bloomsbury & Co. Historical heavy hitters are mere names dropped with amiable regularity . . . "saw Bertrand Russell with (John) Maynard Keyes . . ." " . . . spoke to The Strache (Lytton Strachey) . . . ." What a wonderful way to learn about a writer and her time! L.(H.)B. v ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: APR 94]