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Novel by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1928. One protagonist, two sexes, 400 years, a poem and a house. Very funny | Novel by [[Virginia Woolf]], first published in 1928. One protagonist, two sexes, 400 years, a poem and a house. Very funny. | ||
The subtitle "Biography" indicates that this is a book about a real person. Which it isn't. Orlando is a fictional character who lives over 300 hundred years from Queen Elizabeth's reign to 1928, when monarchs no longer matter. Orlando begins his adventures as a nobleman who writes plays and poems every day. Throughout the novel he falls in love with many young women. And he is a courtier and ambassador. | |||
And suddenly a woman. After some heartbreaking events and disappointments, Orlando sleeps for seven days and wakes up as a woman: "Orlando had become a woman-there is no denying it. But in every other respect, Orlando remained precisely as he had been. The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity." | |||
Experiencing being a woman, she thinks about both genders. She can not decide whether she has liked being a man or being a woman. In the 18th century, Orlando spends time with intellectuals and writers, but gets tired of them after a while. She begins spending time with prostitutes which she finds very entertaining. Suddenly, it is Victorian times and Orlando meets Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire, who upon her falling and twisting her ankle rescues her. Not long after, they marry. The novel ends with Orlando thinking about all her adventures and people who contributed in her present being and how everything is connected to everything else. | |||
Woolf expresses her "modern fourth-dimensional concept" when she depicts Orlando in the beginning of the book as a boy of 16 in Elizabethan times and as a 36 year old woman in 1928. Equally flexible are the notions of gender, playfully dealing with the notion of androgyny. | |||
'''Literature''' | |||
Brown, Richard D, and Suman Gupta. ''Aestheticism & Modernism: Debating Twentieth-Century Literature 1900-1960''. London: Routledge, 2005. Print. | |||
Kaivola, Karen. “Revisiting Woolf's Representations of Androgyny: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Nation”. ''Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature'' 18. (1999): 235–261. | |||
Lee, Hermione. ''The Novels of Virginia Woolf''. London: Methuen, 1977. Print. | |||
https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/08/reviews/woolf-orlando.html | |||
Latest revision as of 12:35, 9 February 2016
Novel by Virginia Woolf, first published in 1928. One protagonist, two sexes, 400 years, a poem and a house. Very funny.
The subtitle "Biography" indicates that this is a book about a real person. Which it isn't. Orlando is a fictional character who lives over 300 hundred years from Queen Elizabeth's reign to 1928, when monarchs no longer matter. Orlando begins his adventures as a nobleman who writes plays and poems every day. Throughout the novel he falls in love with many young women. And he is a courtier and ambassador.
And suddenly a woman. After some heartbreaking events and disappointments, Orlando sleeps for seven days and wakes up as a woman: "Orlando had become a woman-there is no denying it. But in every other respect, Orlando remained precisely as he had been. The change of sex, though it altered their future, did nothing whatever to alter their identity."
Experiencing being a woman, she thinks about both genders. She can not decide whether she has liked being a man or being a woman. In the 18th century, Orlando spends time with intellectuals and writers, but gets tired of them after a while. She begins spending time with prostitutes which she finds very entertaining. Suddenly, it is Victorian times and Orlando meets Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, Esquire, who upon her falling and twisting her ankle rescues her. Not long after, they marry. The novel ends with Orlando thinking about all her adventures and people who contributed in her present being and how everything is connected to everything else.
Woolf expresses her "modern fourth-dimensional concept" when she depicts Orlando in the beginning of the book as a boy of 16 in Elizabethan times and as a 36 year old woman in 1928. Equally flexible are the notions of gender, playfully dealing with the notion of androgyny.
Literature
Brown, Richard D, and Suman Gupta. Aestheticism & Modernism: Debating Twentieth-Century Literature 1900-1960. London: Routledge, 2005. Print.
Kaivola, Karen. “Revisiting Woolf's Representations of Androgyny: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Nation”. Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 18. (1999): 235–261.
Lee, Hermione. The Novels of Virginia Woolf. London: Methuen, 1977. Print.
https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/08/reviews/woolf-orlando.html