Orlando: A Biography

By Virginia Woolf, Mark Hussey (Editor) and Maria DiBattista

An annotated edition of "Woolf's most intense work," a fantastical biography that spans from the court of Elizabeth I to the year 1928 (Jorge Luis Borges).

Begun as a "joke," Orlando is Virginia Woolf's fantastical biography of a poet who first appears as a sixteen-year-old boy at the court of Elizabeth I, and is left at the novel's end a married woman in the year 1928. From Orlando's early days as a page in the Elizabethan court, through first love, heartbreak, and gender transformation, we follow Woolf's protagonist across centuries, through adventures in Constantinople and friendship with the poet Alexander Pope. All along, Orlando pursues literary success with her long poem, The Oak Tree.


 


Part love letter to Vita Sackville-West, part exploration of the art of biography, Orlando is one of Woolf's most enduringly popular and entertaining works. It has inspired a number of adaptions, including a film version starring Tilda Swinton. This edition, annotated and with an introduction by Maria DiBattista, author of Imagining Virginia Woolf, will deepen readers' understanding of Woolf's brilliant creation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 3, 2006
• ISBN: 9780547543161

Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, essayist, short story writer, publisher, critic and member of the Bloomsbury group, as well as being regarded as both a hugely significant modernist and feminist figure. Her most famous works include Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and A Room of One’s Own.

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Reviews for Orlando

[dbsovereign · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just an outright joy of writing read of a novel that plays with time and love. It can be read as something resembling fantasy/science fiction - it can also serve as a nice break from her more challenging books.

[thecriticaltimes · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a book best read after you're 40. If you were forced to read this in college then I fully understand why this book made no sense to you whatsoever. Quite frankly I don't quite get it completely myself yet but I do appreciate its scope and intent. In a nutshell Orlando, a titled squire a few centuries ago can't find peace of mind and eternally asks the question: is this all there is? Through many abstract adventures and many decades of living he lands in Italy where he falls asleep for days only to awake a woman. From this perspective and this point on a similar story is told and Orlando still asks the question: now that I have this different perspective: does it matter?None of the questions stated above can be explicitly found in the novel. In fact nothing I said so far is really clearly described and if someone argued that the entire book is the retelling of a dream I might agree. Many passages appear to be randomly stitched together and certain facts which appear crucial are even casually mentioned and then dropped altogether (such as Orlando having a son). There is a reason for this I'm convinced.It is a short book written in archaic language that changes depending on the time period Orlando lives in. That makes the book difficult to read if the vagueness and dreamlike sequences weren't throwing you off in the first place. Reading Orlando is a lot easier of you've first read All Men Are Mortal by Simone de Beauvoir. That particular novel asks the same question and wants to know what this life we live is all about. But it does so by playing a man and a woman against each other so that we see our existence through their conflicts. In Orlando this idea is compressed by literally combining the two sexes into one.Virginia Woolf left out a lot of narrative detail because it isn't important for the question she asks. That is why we do not know how it happens that Orlando changes from a man into a woman. Or why nobody thought it weird that the owner of the mansion suddenly appeared quite different.Although Woolf goes into some detail regarding human relationships, she paints Orlando as someone intrigued by that part of humanity but who isn't completely invested in it. It is difficult to say what the author wanted Orlando to conclude about human existence but it seems she concludes that art and writing is the only valuable activity and product we can experience and produce in our lifetime. Then again I might have to read it again in about 20 years to see if my perspective has changed yet again about this novel.

[michael8xolotl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The writing is beautiful. Woolf tosses off historical generalizations and profound insights about life as effortlessly as I just took a swig of coffee. I usually hate attempts at profundity, although it may be more accurate to say I hate failed attempts, which I'm forced to see every damn day. Woolf doesn't fail though and, better, hides the attempt. She really can't compete with coffee though.

[joririchardson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A poetically worded, yet hazily written, work of flowery and dramatic prose."Orlando," which is a supposed biography, recounts the life of a young man who begins as a handsome courtier in Queen Elizabeth I's court, and hundreds of years later is (well for one thing, is inexplicably still alive) is transformed into a married middle-aged woman.For a book written in the early to mid 1900's, writing a story about a transvestite - before the word even existed - is certainly a giant leap of literary creativity and openness. However, perhaps also due to this very same reason, I thought that Woolf was unclear about how exactly this took place. One day, Orlando simply is described as, "now certainly a woman." How did this come about? What did Orlando think of this? Events in the story do, of course, hint answers to these questions, but nothing is ever expressed concretely. I often felt confused about Orlando, not sure how to picture him/her in my head, and unsure of his identity. The reader does not get to know their main character here.Also, although the wording of "Orlando" is undeniably beautiful - rippling along in metaphors and comparisons of poetic license - this does not go so far as to say that it is necessarily well-written. Certainly, Woolf was one of the most brilliant writers of her time. But, this particular book is most likely not her best. It is loosely written, leaving much to assumption and imagination, and the plot is scattered and unstructured at best. The book wanders aimlessly through time, much like the character herself/himself."Orlando" could be placed amongst Woolf's most inventive works, but most likely not among her best.

[mykl8s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An intriguing story, a novel of ideas, Woolf at her best.

[MiguelRondadeLibros · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The work predominates with an air of freedom, especially tied to women's rights, not granted, but taken. Even at the beginning of the novel, where Orlando is a man, there is a predominantly feminine perspective on life and society in general (if a feminine perspective is something that exists). There’s then a social and romantic flirtation, heightened by a social stratum for which there seem to be no limitations… “the Queen, who knew very well what a man was, although they say not in the usual way, devised a splendid and ambitious career for him. They gave him lands, assigned him houses. He would be the son of her old age, the support of her weakness; the oak on which she would lean her degradation.”
The narrator at times becomes another character in the novel, which is subtitled as “A Biography” almost satirically. This narrator interjects into the story and at times proposes dialogues with the reader, gradually loosening them over time. The references to “the documentation” that supports Orlando's story are very funny. The biography is actually a parade through time (over three hundred forty years) of how women have empowered themselves and also of how society has assimilated the role of women over time. The sex change experienced by Orlando somehow represents the life of a person who does not feel comfortable with their gender and who seeks, as a woman, a new freedom. During the transformation, the three ladies (Purity, Chastity, Modesty) lose the battle against Truth. If she intended to construct a metaphorical fable there, she missed it by a long shot. One of the worst things in the book. Then there is a constant game of ambiguity with several characters: the archduke who dresses as a woman to win over Orlando the man, the trans man who aids her after an accident in the countryside, etc. Paradoxically, during the period when she should have experienced more freedom (as a woman, with the gypsies) Orlando must flee to avoid an assassination attempt. Another paradox is being convinced of not being made for commitments and ending up married. The fruit of that marriage is her only daughter, whom the biography ignores completely, as befits the narrator focused on women's rights and their freedom. In summary, the book is very imaginative. Covering over three hundred years of English history with a character that seems immortal (in fact, she is still alive at the end of the novel) is a great achievement. It would have been rich to know what other things were happening in the societies of each time, beyond castle parties. Only at the end, with the mention of some inventions from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is there some opening to the rest of society. The feminist message, if it aims to have one, does not reach or move me. I think that some personal tastes of the author that are not necessarily representative of society as a whole, nor even of women as a collective, predominate over this: multiple love, lack of lasting commitments, sudden enchantment that overcomes long-term ones, immediate pleasure, sex as a changing and elusive creature. The poetic quality diminishes as the story progresses. Interestingly, when the narration goes through Orlando the man, the words take greater flight. Then they dilute and lose consistency. Some very notable paragraphs…
“The violence was everything. The flower opened and wilted. The sun rose and sank. The lover loved and left; the young translated in practice the rhymes of the poets. The girls were roses, and their seasons were as brief as those of flowers. Before night fell, they had to be cut.”
“It was an afternoon of astonishing beauty. As the sun declined, all the domes, spires, towers, and pinnacles of London stood out black as ink against the furious red clouds of the west.”
“Every two hundred yards there was an oil lamp, but the intermediate zone was like a wolf's mouth. Orlando and Mr. Pope crossed ten minutes of darkness; then half a minute of light. Thus, a very rare state of soul was born in Orlando. (Translated from Spanish)

[JohanaLiz0306 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You read the name of this author and you expect nothing less than a wonderful story, something that blows your mind, but unfortunately that didn't happen for me. No matter how much I try to like the author, I find that she just doesn't end up appealing to me.
We are told the life of Orlando over the course of five centuries; at the beginning, we see him as a young courtier belonging to royalty, lovesick and reckless. One day he wakes up as a woman, and after that, we accompany her in the discovery of her sexual identity, her infinite changes, adventures, and her entry into maturity, while the world itself changes rapidly around her.
I am struck that a topic like binarism or transsexuality (because it's not homosexuality) was addressed in 1928. This novel is modern for its time; I can’t even imagine how impactful it must have been almost 100 years ago. I recognize the author’s originality, but the novel still doesn’t fully satisfy me.
I don’t love Wolf's writing style; I find that the narration borders on pretentiousness, and while her reflections are among the most interesting, I feel she doesn’t give the reader the freedom to think for themselves. Additionally, there are moments where she goes on too long with details that are quite insignificant, like decoration. And not to mention the writing, which truly frustrated me; I felt that the topic was touched on very superficially, as she should have delved deeper into what Orlando felt about her own writings and what she did with them.
I quite liked that the author explored gender, showing the differences of both in society, but without needing to pigeonhole Orlando into one of them. I liked her reflections.
To be honest, I didn’t fully understand the ending; it also seemed confusing how the author played with time, although I admit that it's a detail I appreciated.
I applaud the author for her originality; her reflections amazed me, but I still found the novel quite boring at times, somewhat confusing and not very gripping. (Translated from Spanish)

[GustavoIGG · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I fall more in love with Virginia Woolf each time, a woman so ahead of her time. Written in 1928, it already dealt with themes of homosexuality, sexuality, and the treatment of women in that era, not just as a reflection but as a critique. Moreover, she mocks Victorian novels where the male protagonist predominated. In Orlando, it begins with a wealthy young man who suddenly wakes up as a woman (this is the device used for Orlando to firsthand experience what it meant to be a woman at the time). Not only this, but he lives for 5 centuries to show us the social changes. It's a very dense read because Virginia Woolf is characterized by streams of consciousness; in fact, on multiple occasions, I had to go back. (Translated from Spanish)

[Un gaucho entre libros · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Because it would seem that we write, not with our fingers, but with our entire being. The nerve that controls the pen winds around every fiber of our being, threads the heart, pierces the liver." I believe this phrase encapsulates the writing of Virginia Woolf. This is the sixth book I read by her, and a feeling of freedom overwhelms me. In an era when women were so limited in their actions, Woolf publishes this novel where she questions everything; she does not beat around the bush, she describes the role of women, the value of sexuality, terribly feminist, with a unique and brilliant language and form. Starting from a supposed biography, the author elaborates through four centuries of English history. It begins in the Elizabethan period where we find the first Orlando, a young nobleman and passionate, a favorite of the court with several loves who will fall in love with a Russian princess. The heartbreak this entails will make him withdraw to the family home. From here, Orlando will begin to live different lives throughout the centuries, always being the same. He will attempt writing, be an ambassador in Constantinople, change sex, live among gypsies, return to England. Yes, one day he wakes up and realizes that his sex has changed; he is a woman, yet the person remains the same. From here, he will have to endure social conventions, he will lose many rights, must tolerate corsets and petticoats, and will also understand the power of his body over men (it will be enough to show an ankle to drive them mad). He also discovers that men live constrained by conventions; they must always appear tough, without tears. Orlando will come to understand that time passes quickly, that fashions fade, what matters is living life according to oneself, based on how one feels. And he will fight for this until the end of the novel. It’s impossible to summarize; I have more to say, only to mention that I find myself in front of one of the most fascinating and courageous writers of the first half of the twentieth century. Both in story and form, she exudes freedom from her very first line, does what she wants, uses the fantastic genre, and I would even dare to say that she anticipates magical realism. She touched on the most unsettling themes of the time, which are now terribly relevant. All that remains to be said is that I loved every line of this novel. (Translated from Spanish)

[Ceci Damiani ✨ · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a beautiful novel!

I can't stop being amazed by Virginia Woolf's writing: original, highly reflective, and above all, so visionary. It seems as if the girl traveled through time to "snoop" on 2022 and returned to her newly begun 20th century to write this novel.

In Orlando, she narrates the life of a very peculiar character, taking all the liberties that she is clearly allowed, such as the fantastic, touches of magical realism, hyperboles, anachronisms, and many other things.

A beautiful novel where Virginia makes us reflect on women's roles in that era, provides insights on literature, love, social mandates, and freedom, which, I must reiterate, feel so current. Woolf creates such a cheerful and profound atmosphere that it has the power to leave you in a coma for a while... Once again, it's a beauty to read this woman ? (Translated from Spanish)

[Carmelele · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

~ O R L A N D O ~

The sixth novel by British writer Virginia Woolf, published in 1928, is inspired by the life of her lover, poet Vita Sackville-West.

Over the course of five centuries, we will follow the adventures of Orlando, as well as witness his change of sex.

The protagonist, who begins as a young aristocrat at the Elizabethan court, awakens one day transformed into a woman.

As the reader bears witness to Orlando's true sexual identity, we experience a journey through five centuries of history, from the Elizabethan period to the time when the novel was written, 1928.

Orlando is a complex, introspective novel, in which the author's way of explaining and exposing gender inequalities throughout the centuries in which it unfolds deserves special mention.

"Clothes are nothing but symbols of something hidden deep inside." (Translated from Spanish)

[LauGM1980 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

ORLANDO. A BIOGRAPHY.
By the British writer Virginia Woolf, published in 1928, translated by Jorge Luis Borges.

This story of fantastic literature takes us on a temporal journey of 400 years, narrating the life of Orlando, a young aristocrat. The tale begins with his childhood, passing through his sex change, a theme that is addressed in such a subtle way that it allows the reader to imagine and establish their own criteria regarding the subject presented in the novel, and reaching his adulthood. This book is based on fragments of the life of Woolf's lover, Vita Sackville-West.

If you are one of those people who enjoy rethinking what they read and questioning it, this is an option. This novel has a film that carries the same name.
Have you read it? ... ❤️? (Translated from Spanish)

[Moradorasdelibros · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Of Virginia Woolf's books, it is undoubtedly one of the ones I have enjoyed the most. It has everything; it can be fun, critical, reflective. I will definitely recommend it to everyone who wants to start with the author's texts. (Translated from Spanish)

[paula1970 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the fourth book I've read by Virginia, hoping to fall in love with this renowned writer, since I had read that this is the least tragic book of her novels and that it features a character who manages to overcome life. While it is an interesting book with some reflective passages about what gender is, it ultimately feels like an uphill battle, and I ended up reading it because I am stubborn, but it drags on, and one has to keep trusting that the story will finally come together. Well, I must be missing something that prevents me from appreciating what makes others love this writer. List 2021 October: Authors I don’t want to stop reading this year. (Translated from Spanish)

[ValentinaHZ · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cult Novel, narrated as a biography, from the early 20th century. The author introduces us to the Gender Transition of a young aristocrat, how his life as a man unfolds, giving clues to his femininity that is so hidden even from himself; Virginia Wolf hints at what we now call Fluid Gender and Transsexuality, while also exploring love experienced in a trans couple or what we would today call Queer. It's complex to read, as it relies heavily on metaphors within metaphors, however, it is 100% recommended. (Translated from Spanish)

[amelish · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I didn't really feel this book until I saw the movie (with Tilda Swinton). Not my favorite V. Woolf, but possibly more interesting.

[Esparterina · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I found it a complicated read. Sometimes I lost the thread and struggled to continue. The best part has been discovering and researching some details of Vita's life. (Translated from Spanish)

[Sol1967 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Woolf takes us through five centuries of English history, through her character Orlando, a young aristocrat who one day wakes up as a woman.

A fantastic novel, with poetic prose (it gets lost in exhaustive and extensive descriptions), not lacking in surrealism, feminist, where it is noted that time is relative and that the era in which we are born conditions our life and way of thinking.

Reading Orlando is not easy; its prose is dense and somewhat dark. Thoughts and reflections, now real, now fantastic, come and go, contributing to the loss of the thread of the narrative itself and a certain disorientation. Despite this, it remains an ingenious and original novel that does not leave one indifferent. (Translated from Spanish)

[Karenbooknerd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very beautiful writing, but suddenly it was very VERY strange. (Translated from Spanish)

[olayaphdz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes it becomes difficult to understand, but it is an extraordinary story and completely different from everything I had read before. Moreover, the author's reflections are wonderful, and she explores the mysteries of life with very careful prose. (Translated from Spanish)

[Maribel Calle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent exercise in "putting yourself in someone else's shoes." (Translated from Spanish)

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A surreal novel, unmoored from conventional time framework, centred on an immortal, sometimes male and sometimes female. Woolf was a highly skilled writer, and though the work is sometimes entertaining, overall, I found this exercise dull.

[Maave · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ORLANDO - Virginia Woolf (1928)

A complex work that spans from the Elizabethan era to October 11, 1928, featuring an Orlando who will transmute from man to woman throughout History. It is a work about the philosophy of life and the search for its meaning, where the grandeur of existence becomes insignificant and the small things become great. With a certain taste for Magical Realism and Woolf's inclination to investigate and innovate in the field of writing, using as axes Orlando's sexual identity, a tree, a book, a child, and love.
By the way, make sure, if you take on this challenge, not lacking in complexity, that the translation is the one by José Luis Borges, for only a master can extract like no one else this text. (Translated from Spanish)

[margaretfield · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

about a person that changes genders and lives over several centuries

[delightedlibrarian · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Possibly one of the strangest novels I've ever read. So... flexible (for lack of a better term) in time and gender, not to mention the legality of identity. I finished it thinking how the story worked which was amazing because logically it doesn't work what so ever.

[tgamble54 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not what I like about VW's writing. Didn't finish.

[brokentune · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Are we so made that we have to take death in small doses daily or we could not go on with the business of living? And then what strange powers are these that penetrate our most secret ways and change our most treasured possessions without our willing it ? Had Orlando, worn out by the extremity of his suffering, died for a week, and then come to life again? And if so, of what nature is death and of what nature life? Having waited well over half an hour for an answer to these questions, and none coming, let us get on with the story."

What a ride! Virginia Woolf and I don't often get on. At all. I usually despair over her stream-of-consciousness style of writing and her characters. So, I approached Orlando with some trepidation. And what happens? Woolf pulls this masterpiece of a romp out of the hat which shows not only that she was a very clever writer but that she also had a delicious sense of humor.

Of course, it may be that that side of hers does only show in Orlando because it is a mock biography of and a tribute to Vita Sackville-West. One review I read even described the book as one of the most marvelous of love letters ever written - though both Virginia and Vita might have disagreed.

According to Nigel Nicolson, both Vita and Virginia denied rumors spread by Vita's mother that their liaison was a serious one:
"She told me that everything was true except the part about Virginia endangering their marriage, but none of it mattered a hoot because the love they bore each other was so powerful that it could withstand anything. ‘My diary entry for Sunday, 28 May, three weeks later, reads: Virginia and Leonard came to lunch . Virginia looking well and happy after her Italian trip. She listened to the whole story of my visit to Brighton with her head bowed. Then she said: “The old woman ought to be shot”."
(Nigel Nicolson - Portrait Of A Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson)

Apart from the biographical aspect of Orlando being the fictionalised account of Vita's life, the book also amazes in that it dares to address the issues of identity and gender-bending or rather gender-switching - making it one of the most outspoken works of literature of its time to criticise a society that would condemn people to distinct roles based on their gender.

"And she fell to thinking what an odd pass we have come to when all a woman’s beauty has to be kept covered lest a sailor may fall from a mast-head. ‘A pox on them!’ she said, realizing for the first time what, in other circumstances, she would have been taught as a child, that is to say, the sacred responsibilities of womanhood."

Of course there are many other topics that Woolf takes up in Orlando, such as the nature of time, the vanity of poets, the nostalgia for things in the past which blinds us from an appreciation of the present, etc. but I have to admit that most of my admiration for Orlando is based on how Woolf reflects some of Vita's convictions in her fictionalised account and how to the point Orlando seems as a character who is at home in his/her identity.
Having read Nigel Nicolson's biography of Vita, his mother, at the same time asOrlando, it was delightful to see the links between the two accounts of someone who possessed a rather unconventional outlook for her time:

"I hold the conviction that as centuries go on, and the sexes become more nearly merged on account of their increasing resemblances, I hold the conviction that such connections will to a very large extent cease to be regarded as merely unnatural, and will be understood far better, at least in their intellectual if not in their physical aspect. (Such is already the case in Russia.) I believe that then the psychology of people like myself will be a matter of interest, and I believe it will be recognized that many more people of my type do exist than under the present-day system of hypocrisy is commonly admitted."
(Nigel Nicolson - Portrait Of A Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson)

[scolgo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Surreal and eclectic. As a piece of allegory, this was an interesting book. A bit long-winded in places but still mostly entertaining.

[aine.fin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I struggled with this. I always expect to love Virginia Woolf's novels but the stream of consciousness style is a bit of a chore for me, ashamed as I am to admit it. There were a lot of in-jokes in this and I felt a very strong sense of nudging or smirking from the author, which I tired of. It seems like she wrote it for her inner circle and I consequently felt excluded from full enjoyment of it. That said, it is a cleverly crafted farce with exploration of gender roles which would have been ground-breaking at the time.

[bayardus-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Orlando features less of the beautiful prose passages that I associate with Woolf's writing than her other works, which leaves the story to carry much of the burden. Unlike Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse (and I suspect The Waves, which I shall read shortly), there is an actual story here focusing on the life of the titular Orlando. Orlando occupies a strange semi-supernatural role where both sex and gender shift and the years pass without leaving much trace. It's an interesting center for the story in theory, though in practice I found Orlando to be a rather uninteresting character who goes from a pining youth to a married woman without inspiring much interest or sympathy from me. The character exists in different time periods more than s/he lives in them, making the different ages mere window dressing. Eventually the book ends, though it doesn't feel so much like the story has concluded as it does that Woolf thought she had written enough.

Decidedly different from most Woolf in both style and substance, I thought this one was alright.