Customer Reviews

ORLANDO

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Orlando" is a fictional biography whose subject in the beginning is a sixteen-year-old boy in the Elizabethan era and in the end -- three hundred years later -- is a thirty-six-year-old woman. This is not a novel about transsexuality, as such a premise would indicate, but it is a statement about sexual identity and gender roles in English society as only an author like Virginia Woolf could make, territory not even the brazen D.H. Lawrence could traverse with much confidence. It is a lyrical tour de force in which Woolf displays her considerable talent for subtly describing moods and scenery, but most surprisingly, it demonstrates her sly sense of humor and satire.

Orlando's gender alteration is naturally the central event of his preternaturally long life, but his aging only twenty years over a course of three centuries is certainly no less bizarre. To describe the circumstances under which he becomes a woman or explain the logic by which he ages so slowly would be giving away too much in this review, nor would it really help to recommend the novel to one who is not yet persuaded to read it, so I will be silent on that account, saying only that these outrageous devices fully succeed as vehicles to explore Woolf's theme of femininity with respect to English cultural and historical frames of reference.

The novel examines the effect of gender alteration on Orlando's amorous and professional capacities. As a young nobleman in the Elizabethan court whose interests are swordsmanship and poetry, he is engaged to an aristocratic Irish girl, has a torrid affair with a Russian princess, and meets a silly woman who, resembling nothing so much as a hare, calls herself the Archduchess Harriet. After serving as an ambassador in Turkey, Orlando becomes a woman, joins a band of gypsies, and returns to England where he (she) must handle the legalities regarding his dukeship because of his new gender. As a woman, he manages to gain the romantic attentions of famous writers like Pope, Dryden, and Swift before eventually marrying and having a son. Some surprises ensue, but let it suffice to say that Orlando is not the only androgynous character in the novel.

An underlying, and highly controversial, implication is that every human being harbors aspects of both genders, mainly psychological, but Woolf goes so far as to make them physical in order to press the point. Although the idea may seem tame now, "Orlando" may have set a precedent for cross-gender role-playing when it was first published in 1928. The novel is very much ahead of its time; it has a sort of nonchalant sophistication that characterizes the type of magical realism that was to become a large part of European-influenced literature throughout the rest of the twentieth century. My admiration for Virginia Woolf only increases with each novel of hers that I read, and "Orlando" is in my opinion the best yet.

John Irving ("World According to Garp") wrote an essay on Charles Dickens book "Great Expectations" in which he said that that book was the first book he had ever read that he wished he had written. For me the first book that I had read that I wished I had written is "Orlando" by Virgina Woolf. It blew me away. I had seen the movie version a few years ago, and recently found it in a bookstore, so I decided to check it out. It's subtitle is "A Biography" and although it is based (very loosely, I'm sure) on someone's actual life, it becomes clear to the reader that this is definitely a work of fiction. The reason that I enjoyed it so much is, well, let me put it this way...Charles Dickens and John Irving were and are storytellers, very wonderful, brilliant storytellers, but Virgina Woolf is (well, was) an amazing artist. I don't go for poetry that much, I'm a prose kind of guy, but "Orlando" for me, was the very best kind of poetry but written as a narrative. Read this book. And let me know what you think...

Orlando is simply wonderful. In the novel, Woolf uses the character of Orlando, a person who lives through four centuries as man sometimes and woman sometimes. The term biography might throw you, since Orlando is no normal biography. Woolf personifies literary thought as a person (hence the timelessness and gender changing capability). She depicts Elizabethan times through the early twentieth century with wit and sarcasm. The more that you've read of English literature from Shakespeare forward the more you will catch the little jokes and the reason for why certain things happen. A very enjoyable read. The film version is not exactly the same, so I recommend sticking to the book.

Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" is unique in form, being a mock biography of a fictional character. We are introduced to Orlando, a protagonist based partly on Woolf's close friend Vita Sackville-West, as a 16-year-old boy, the son of noble parents, in the latter years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. By the end of the book, more than three hundred years later, he has become a 36-year-old woman living in "modern" times (meaning 1928, the year of publication).

Woolf uses Orlando's sexual transformation and long life as a vehicle for investigating influences on and consequences of gender and sexuality through history. Her commentary is pointed and often right on the mark. But at the same time, the book is infused with Woolf's dry wit, giving everything a humorous overtone. For example, when Orlando returns to England after his transformation, everyone at home assuming him to be dead, she finds herself embroiled in a legal battle to get her property back: "The chief charges against her were (1) that she was dead, and therefore could not hold any property whatsoever; (2) that she was a woman, which amounts to much the same thing" (168). One can tell that, while these issues were obviously important to her, Woolf was having fun when she wrote this.

Now, as far as my personal reaction, I am going to be among the minority of reviewers here in saying that overall I really didn't much care for the book. In talking to others who have read it, I've noticed that "Orlando" seems to be one of those "love it or hate it" works. Perhaps I went into it with the wrong expectaions, this being my first Woolf novel, but it just kind of fell flat for me. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be the kind of book it was. Thinking it was going to be a historical fiction piece with a serious tone, I found it to be much more like a more emotional version of "Candide." Much of it is farcical, and certainly far from being believable.

Though Woolf makes some very insightful and worthwhile social commentary here, her presentation, I felt, detracted from its impact. The fantasy-world feel that permeates much of it makes it seem unreal, and therefore less applicable to our own world. In addition, the narrative tone changes from time period to time period, which makes the book feel disjointed. Just as you get used to one style - BAM! - it changes to a different tone and you're left feeling disoriented all over again. And furthermore, Orlando her/himself doesn't feel like a real person. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't empathize with her/him. All of this, I found, got in the way of the actual story and its intended impact.

In summary, I do commend Woolf's experimentation in style, and as I noted the underlying messages are important, but overall the book just wasn't as strong as it could have been. If you're a fan of Woolf, go ahead and give it a try. You may well find that you like it after all. But if you like more reality-rooted and tonally serious stories, this probably won't leave you very satisfied. Try it, but calibrate your expectations first.

"Orlando" served as my sweeping introduction to the incredible writing of Virginia Woolf. (For anyone who has seen the movie, do yourself a favor, and read this amazing book!) One is forced to wonder what sort of genius mind Woolf possessed; only a mind of the finest tuning could have produced such a work! "Orlando" is truly representative of superior literature and demonstrates the art of writing at its finest! No review does the novel justice...any topic imaginable is covered..of course, all is reviewed from the standpoint of five passing centuries and multiple backdrops ranging from the exotic to the droll. Woolf's treatment of sexuality, intelligence, consciousness, time, and the human psyche is poignant. "Orlando" is definitely worth the read. No matter the reader, "Orlando" is sure to be an unforgettable novel, its author's genius surely to be admired.

_Orlando_ is Virginia Woolf's mock biography of her friend Vita Sackville-West. It follows the title character through English history from the Elizabethan Age to the 1920s, when the novel was written. The writing is different sections of the book mimics the styles of different periods of English literature. Most of the book is firmly tongue-in-cheek (Woolf can be very funny), but it does brush lightly upon issues of art, gender, and history.

I think _Orlando_ is the most purely entertaining of Woolf's novels. Orlando's various adventures are highly laughable, and Woolf's dry commentary rarely fails to elicit a smile. It is also one of Woolf's less experimental and ambitious novels. She wrote this novel as a lark, for amusement--it is a very different project from, for example, _The Waves_. This is not to say this is in any way a conventional novel--but it is rather different from Woolf's other works of the 1920s.

I would definitely recommend this to most readers--it is more accessible to the general reader than Woolf's other novels. Readers familiar with the history of English literature will find it particularly amusing. If you are a first-time Woolf reader looking to really experience her more important works, however, I would suggest _Mrs. Dalloway_ or _To the Lighthouse_ first.

This fake biography (complete with counterfeit photographs and an index) is not Virginia Woolf's greatest novel by any means--but even the least of her works must rank among the finest of early twentieth-century fiction.

The "plot" seems more appropriate to a Heinlein novel: a boy raised during the Elizabethan period becomes a woman, lives until the 1920s, and ages only 36 years. During the past century, the novel's reception has evolved much like its lead character: while early critics and readers praised the book as a literary parody bordering on farce, later generations have regarded the novel more as a commentary both on sexual roles and on the oppression of women. Some readers will see Orlando as representing, in human form, the evolution of literature (it`s telling that the only other character who lives as long as Orlando is a critic); some will focus on the novel's presentation of gender and sex. Both interpretations (and others) seem to be equally valid--which is why this book is so powerful even today.

One of the most charming (and surprising) qualities of the novel is Woolf's refusal to take herself or her book seriously. At times, the novel is laugh-out-loud funny. She mocks her own style (she interrupts one of her infamous run-on paragraphs with "nature ... has so much to answer for besides the perhaps unwieldy length of this sentence"), and she even makes fun of the book's very concept (when Orlando is not doing much of anything, Woolf exclaims: "If only subjects ... had more consideration for their biographers!"). "Orlando" infuses everyday life with both wit and elegance; or, as Woolf puts it, "when the shrivelled skin of the ordinary is stuffed out with meaning it satisfies the senses amazingly."

Woolf's skill of imagery in writing is amazing. Her love of her character Orlando is apparent in the gentle way she carries him/her from the 15th century to 1928. I wanted to jump into the story, sit beside Orlando, ride a horse beside him, and kiss him as a man and then again as a woman. A stunning read and one that should be on any well-read person's read and read again list...enjoy.

"Orlando" is the only Woolf novel that engages in fantasy. The main character, Orlando, lives from the Elizabethan era to 1928 and transforms from a man to a woman somewhere along the way. That detail in itself promises an intriguing plot.

Woolf's prose often resembles poetry, and in "Orlando" this is no exception. She cleverly renders Orlando's (and the first-person narrator/biographer) feelings and experiences with a myriad of seemingly useless details. It may take some time to get used to and make sense of how these details fit; yet, that is the beauty and brilliance of Woolf's language that makes this novel (and her other works) such a pleasure to read.

"Orlando" is referred to as Woolf's "holiday" novel and one that Woolf herself said she wrote in preparation for the next (and often considered best) book, The Waves. While "Orlando" does seem more light-hearted and comical than her other work, and this is partly due to the fantasy and her use of satire and parody, it can also be quite political in the issues it addresses, particularly those related to gender, literature, and modernity. Orlando as a character conveys her emotions but does not reflect much on their implications. However, we as readers who witness her transformation and her lifestyle, who are made to read to about Orlando's existence and position in the world, would soon find ourselves thinking about Woolf's recurrent themes and how they relate to humanity.

As a whole, "Orlando" is very thought-provoking. Every time I pick it up, I find something new to marvel at.

In her most playful and exuberant novel, Virginia Woolf writes the "historical biography" of Orlando, a young boy of nobility during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. A wild ride through four centuries, the novel shows Orlando aging, magically, only thirty-six years between 1588 and 1928. Even more magically, he also changes from a man to a woman. As she explores Orlando's life, Woolf also explores the differing roles of men and women in society during various periods, ultimately concluding that one's role as a man or woman is determined by society, rather than by birth.

From the Elizabethan period, during which Orlando works as a steward for the queen and also serves as her lover, he progresses to the reign of James I, experiencing a profound love for a Russian princess, Sasha, who is herself exploring the role of a man. When the relationship ends, he retreats, devastated, to his estate, with its 365 rooms and 52 staircases, which he redecorates over the next few years. An interlude in which he is wooed by the Archduchess Harriet/Archduke Harry leads to his ambassadorship to Constantinople, a period spent with the gypsies, and his eventual return to England--as a woman. New experiences and observations await her there.

Throughout the novel, Woolf matches her prose style to the literary style of the period in which Orlando lives, creating always-changing moods and sheer delight for the reader. Some constants continue throughout the four centuries of Orlando's life. Orlando is always a writer, always recording his thoughts, and always adding to a poem he has begun as a child entitled "The Oak Tree." He is always returning to his 365-room house whenever he needs to recuperate from his experiences, and some characters repeat through time. (Orlando is betrayed by Nick Greene during the reign of James I, but he is encouraged by Nicholas Greene in the Victorian period.)

Literary historians make much of the fact that Woolf modeled Orlando on Vita Sackville-West, Woolf's lover, and that this study of gender roles was an early exploration of lesbianism, bisexuality, cross-dressing, and transgender identities. The novel is pure fun to read, however, and though it raises serious and thoughtful questions about sexuality and the ways that it controls our lives, there is no sense that Woolf wrote the novel specifically to make a public statement or prove a point. Her themes of gender and its relation to social expectations, of imagination and its relation to reality, of the importance of history in our lives, and of the unlimited potential of all humans, regardless of their sex, transcend the specific circumstances under which Woolf may have written the book. A playful and delightful novel, which broke new ground with its publication. n Mary Whipple