Orlando in On Paths Unknown

Aug 03, 2008 Cecily rated it it was amazing

Shelves: miscellaneous-fiction, class-etiquette, historical-fict-pre-20th-c, magical-realism, identity, film-good-or-better-than-book, sexuality-gender-lgbtqi

Orlando. or-LAN-do. Wrap your tongue around it, and whisper it. There’s a luscious, syrupy, sensual, mysterious feel. Much like the eponymous hero(ine), and the sumptuously described natural and man-made world Orlando inhabits.

The name conjures cross-dressing disguises in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, a Marmalade Cat, maybe Tilda Swinton or Legolas, and, for Google, theme parks in Florida. If you know the novel’s USP and Greek mythology, you may also think of Tiresias and Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Im ...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Paul rated it it was amazing

Shelves: english-novels, bloomsbury

I first read this many years ago; before I knew very much about Virginia Woolf and her relationship with Vita Sackville-West, to whom this is dedicated. The background is vital because it adds so much and because it helps the reader to reach an understanding of Woolf’s generosity. It is as ever, beautifully written and drifts splendidly through the centuries and the key is Vita and their circle.
As Woolf was writing this her affair with Vita was beginning to wane as Vita was moving on to other l I first read this many years ago; before I knew very much about Virginia Woolf and her relationship with Vita Sackville-West, to whom this is dedicated. The background is vital because it adds so much and because it helps the reader to reach an understanding of Woolf’s generosity. It is as ever, beautifully written and drifts splendidly through the centuries and the key is Vita and their circle.
As Woolf was writing this her affair with Vita was beginning to wane as Vita was moving on to other lovers. The two women were very different and Vita was much more sexually active and interested in a variety of people. For Vita the thrill of the new was important. Woolf recognised this.
One of the keys to the book is Vita’s ancestral home, Knole. It is faithfully represented as Orlando’s home estate in the book, down to the heraldic leopards and the visit of Queen Elizabeth the First. Vita had lost Knole because a woman could not inherit; here Woolf gives her it back.
Many of the characters represent people both knew. The Russian princess Sasha is Violet Trefusis, Nicholas Greene is Gosse, Archduchess Harriet/Archduke Henry was Lord Lascelles (one of Vita’s many admirers), Shelmerdine is Vita’s husband Harold Nicholson. Orlando’s poetic work The Oak Tree is equivalent to Vita’s poetic work The Land.
There is a great deal of imagery here; some of it in the form of private jokes/codes. The “porpoise in a fishmonger’s shop” is one such (no idea what that one means). The imagery around the goose that crops up a couple of times even confused Vita (Vita was much more literal than Woolf)! It is interesting to consider that originally Woolf had conceived it as an illustrated book with photographs and pictures. Woolf’s portrayal was an accurate one. Harold Nicholson found it difficult to conceive that anyone else could know the private Vita that he knew and thought it was a lucky accident (it wasn’t, Woolf was very perceptive). Mary Campbell (another of Vita’s lovers) was also surprised how accurately the private Vita was portrayed.
On top of this being a love letter to Vita, it is so much more besides. The nature of gender and biography are explored. It is also interesting to note that Woolf was also writing the lectures that became A Room of One’s Own. Orlando is part of the train of thought Woolf had about the revolutionary potential of women’s friendship. A new world opens when like each other and are no longer seen as rival’s for men’s affection/approval.
It is a tender and humorous love story/letter, almost a faitytale, not meant to be taken in the same vein as more serious work (To The Lighthouse), but it captures the imagination and sold much more than anything Woolf had written previously. It is a work of brilliance with a lightness of touch.
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Sep 01, 2013 mark monday rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: masterpiece-theatre, into-the-past, alpha-team, these-fragile-lives

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Jan 05, 2015 Russell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: surfeit-2015, woolf, yorw

Ms Woolf and I got off to a rather indifferent start many years ago. Thankfully, we are fairing much better this time around.

I actually got into a very lovely conversation on the bus today with an elder lady who noticed me reading this. She spoke so feverishly about Orlando and Woolf in general; her writing styles, her life, and how, as a young woman, she felt like no other author could quite speak to her in the same quiet, beautiful tone as Woolf could. The most interesting part however, was w ...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Ellen rated it it was amazing

Just finished "Orlando" a day ago. I adored it as much as I did the first time I read it twenty years go. It's a fabulous romp through English history, Vita Sackville-West's family history and life story, and much, much more! This is the most lighthearted of Woolf's novels, and is an amazing fantasy that truly displays her imagination and her creativity. I can't recommend this book enough!! ...more

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Nov 29, 2020 Chinook rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbtq, europe, audiobook

This Woold didn’t, for whatever reason, move me quite as much as To the Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway. That said, I did really like parts of it. I loved the concept of the sleeping instead of death and moving through the centuries. I found the details about the Great Frost fascinating - that may have been my favourite part. And I liked how after Orlando becomes a woman she spends more time having to make concessions to how a woman must act, where as a he Orlando was able to break conventions more e ...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Magdelanye rated it liked it

hard to believe I gave this a 2 when posting this early on after joining GR. Perhaps to indicate it was my least favourite of VW's fiction. I am sure that I will read it differently next time. ...more

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