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Orlando: A Biography (Oxford World's Classics) | |||||||
 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand Catalog: Book Release date: 2000-04 Media: Paperback Number of pages: 400 Ean: 9780192834737 Book Isbn: 0192834738  Tip: compare prices with similar booksAuthor:
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 Written on May 8, 2005 Summary: Very Interesting Person This novel stabs at society's defining roles of the sexes in a way that is humorous, yet thought provoking as Woolf entertains her readers in this biography of herself. The author begins with her birth in the sixteenth century, and ends in the twentieth century. She starts as a young man and ends up a woman at the end of the novel, she most definitely makes appoint of showing how women have been oppressed throughout the centuries which is not something no one knows, but a good reminder. Throughout the novel, Orlando rarely changes in appearance with an eerie androgynous look as she/he sees monarch's come and go, and changes along with every forthcoming style. Orlando is a fantasy like novel that is gutsy and a creative mockery of Woolf, as she characterizes in depth the roles of the sexes with a wit and humor. I highly recommend this book along with the movie. Written on May 7, 2005 Summary: Orlando Orlando begins life as a titled and gifted young man in sixteenth century England, but later acquires a much larger perspective through a series of intense and improbable events that take him across barriers of culture, time, and gender. After enduring a supernaturally cold winter in England and an affair with a Russian Princess that ends badly, Orlando decamps for the Orient, where he becomes a woman. Nonplussed, Orlando decides that it is "better to be quit of martial ambition, the love of power, and all other manly desires if so one can more fully enjoy the most exalted raptures known to the human spirit, which are . . . contemplation, solitude, love." There follows much discussion of gender and gender confusion. Woolf tells us that: "The difference between the sexes is, happily, one of great profundity. Clothes are but a symbol of something hid deep beneath. It was a change in Orlando herself that dictated her choice of a woman's dress and of a woman's sex. And perhaps in this she was only expressing rather more openly than usual - openness indeed was the soul of her nature - something that happens to most people without being thus plainly expressed. For here again, we come to a dilemma. Different though the sexes are, they intermix. In every human being a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness, while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what it is above." There are many other themes in this imaginary biography which spans centuries. One is comical examination of English society and culture: "Thus, stealthily, and imperceptibly, none marking the exact day or hour of the change, the constitution of England was altered and nobody knew it. ... The muffin was invented and the crumpet. Coffee supplanted the after-dinner port, and., as coffee led to a drawing-room in which to drink it, and a drawing-room to glass cases, and glass cases to artificial flowers, and artificial flowers to mantelpieces to pianofortes, and pianofortes to drawing-room ballads, and drawing-room ballads (skipping a stage or two) to innumerable little dogs, mats, and antimacassars, the home - which had become extremely important - was completely altered." This "biography" is also metafiction, and there are several humorous references to the act of writing. In fact, Orlando herself writes prolifically throughout the novel (carrying with her a poem, "The Oak Tree," that must constantly be revised as she changes).and encounters many literary figures, among them the revered Alexander Pope who makes a big impression: " ... `How noble his brow is,' she thought (mistaking a hump on a cushion for Mr. Pope's forehead in the darkness)." Sometimes I don't get Virginia Woolf, but I was very entertained by this novel. Written on April 29, 2005 Summary: Adult fairy tale... An adult fairy tale exploring gender roles, role reversals, and the creation of fiction/poetry in Elizabethan to early 20 c England (with a brief stop in Constantinople and a stay among the gypsies along the way). Hilarious and inventive. Marvelous prose. By the way, I saw the movie some years back and was very confused by it - not so with the novel. Written on February 28, 2005 Summary: A Delight from the Belle of Bloomsbury Oh, what a romp this is! When Virginia Woolf isn't feeling sorry for herself, she can be a delight. Don't read this book as a treatise on sexual identity or societal roles. Woolf describes the book as a biography, and that's what it is. Orlando makes his (then her) way through the world, trying to make sense of it and, from time to time, trying to fit in. It wreaks havoc with your love life when you don't age over the centuries (just ask Anne Rice's vampires). But it does give you perspective, and that is why we read.  Written on February 21, 2005 Summary: A different way to look at gender roles through history. 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. |
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| Catalog | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book |
| Release date | 2000-04 | 1989-12-27 | 1989-12-27 | 1990-09-24 | 2006-07-03 | 1970-10-21 |
| Media | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback |
| Number of pages | 400 | 132 | 228 | 216 | 348 | 228 |
| Ean | 9780192834737 | 9780156787338 | 9780156907392 | 9780156628709 | 9780156031578 | 9780156118705 |
| Book Isbn | 0192834738 | 0156787334 | 0156907399 | 0156628708 | 0156031574 | 015611870X |
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