DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically or cytologically confirmed indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, including the following subtypes:

  • Grade 1, 2, or 3 follicular lymphoma

  • Marginal zone B-cell lymphoma

    • Nodal or extranodal
  • Mantle cell lymphoma
• Measurable disease by CT scan

• Relapsed or refractory disease

  • Disease progression or recurrence after most recent therapy OR failure to induce a complete response after most recent therapy

• No known brain metastases

  • Previously treated brain metastases that are currently asymptomatic without steroids allowed

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Performance status

• ECOG 0-2 OR
• Karnofsky 60-100%

Life expectancy

• More than 3 months

Hematopoietic

• Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,000/mm^3
• Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• Bilirubin normal (patients with elevated unconjugated bilirubin [e.g., Gilbert's disease] allowed)
• AST and ALT ≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal

Renal

• Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL

Cardiovascular

• No symptomatic congestive heart failure
• No unstable angina pectoris
• No uncontrolled cardiac arrhythmia

Immunologic

• No known HIV infection
• No active or ongoing infection
• No history of allergic reaction to compounds of similar chemical or biologic composition to vorinostat

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception
• No other uncontrolled illness
• No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance
• No other active malignancy
• No active graft-vs-host disease (GVHD)
• No chronic GVHD except mild skin, oral, or ocular GVHD with no requirement for systemic immunosuppression

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• See Chemotherapy
• More than 3 months since prior rituximab (unless there is evidence of progression)
• At least 3 months since prior autologous stem cell transplantation
• At least 6 months since prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation
• No concurrent biologic therapy
• No concurrent sargramostim (GM-CSF) or filgrastim (G-CSF)
• Concurrent epoetin alfa or darbepoetin alfa therapy for lymphoma-related anemia allowed provided it is initiated before the start of study therapy

Chemotherapy

• No more than 4 prior chemotherapeutic regimens

  • Steroids alone, rituximab alone, or local radiation is not considered 1 regimen
  • Iodine I 131 tositumomab OR ibritumomab tiuxetan alone is considered 1 regimen
• More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C)
• At least 2 weeks since prior low-dose chlorambucil
• No other concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• See Chemotherapy
• At least 2 days since prior steroid therapy
• At least 2 months since prior steroids for the treatment of brain metastases
• No concurrent hormonal therapy

Radiotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics
• See Chemotherapy
• More than 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy
• No concurrent radiotherapy

Other

• Recovered from prior therapy
• At least 2 weeks since prior valproic acid
• No concurrent antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No other concurrent anticancer agents or therapies
• No concurrent complementary or alternative medicines except routine vitamin supplements