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Orlando: A Biography (Wordsworth Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Virginia Woolf
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £1.99
Buy New: £0.01
You Save: £1.98 (99%)
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 2398
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 1853262390
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781853262395
ASIN: 1853262390
Publication Date: February 1, 1995
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW and IN STOCK - dispatched within 48 hours from the UK
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 A funny fictional biography June 23, 2008
Nat (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had to study this book in the first year of my degree. I am very glad of this, as I might not have encountered this amusing and original work of Woolf's otherwise. The tone of 'Orlando' is quite different to that of her other well-known novels such as 'To The Lighthouse' and 'Mrs Dalloway' - I would say that it is more 'accessible'. Despite its somewhat surreal plot (a sixteenth-century nobleman ends up as a twentieth-century female writer), the historical periods are described with realistic detail, and the reader's perceptions are challenged throughout. The themes of gender, race, truth, art and freedom, which are prevalent in the book, are still as relevant today as they were in 1928.
The Oxford World's Classics edition is well worth buying over cheaper ones; not only is the cover pleasant to look at, but there is a wealth of extra material in the form of notes, a pictorial insert, a lengthy bibliography, and an interesting and useful introduction. Highly recommended!
Milord! Milady! January 2, 2008
Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This `roman à clés' is very original. The hero continues to live in different historical periods and undergoes a sex change.
However, it is written in an emotional, sentimental, superlative style: `society in the reign of Queen Anne was of unparalleled brilliance. The graces were supreme.'
Except for the first period, there are no conflicts, only rather superficial descriptions of the mood and spirits of the times. For V. Woolf, `to give a truthful account of society ... only those who have little need of the truth, and no respect for it - the poets and novelists - can be trusted to do it, for this is one of the causes where the truth does not exist.'
`Orlando' is a perfect flight from reality: `But let other pens treat of sex and sexuality; we quit such odious subjects as soon as we can.' `Whigs and Tories, Liberal party and Labour party ... should be left to the historian.'
This book is a clean, introvert, aristocratic, long ode to pure Beauty.
Only for Virginia Woolf fans.
 Without doubt the very worst book I have ever had the displeasure of reading. September 5, 2007
Mr. A. Gale (Worcester, UK)
1 out of 9 found this review helpful
I MUST be missing something. I am widely read, am in the middle of a degree in literature, and all of a sudden as part of my studies I have to read this mindless drivel. I can only guess that it is a kind of Emperors New Clothes test, where they see if you just blindly agree that because a famous author(es) wrote it, it must be good.
The plot, if you call it such, is of a man who lives the first half of his life courting women and having numerous affairs, with very little else happening, aside from a continuing struggle to write a poem. Suddenly he wakes up one morning with the body and mind of a woman. She then survives for many hundreds of years, yet is only around 35 years old herself. She marries, the husband instantly leaving to sail to the Horn, and well over a year later she suddenly gives birth to a child whilst looking out of the window. Bored yet? You will be.
Had it not been a requirement of my next course to study this utter rubbish, I would have put it down unfinished a long time ago. All I am left with now is the feeling of having been cheated out of several hours of my life, and the hope that I will be able to avoid having to study it in any greater detail when that part of the course comes round.
Without doubt the very worst book I have ever had the displeasure of reading.
 Messy and sprawling October 14, 2005
Depressaholic (London, UK)
6 out of 14 found this review helpful
'Orlando' is a sprawling fantasy, in which the title character survives for 400 years, during which time he is transformed from a man to a woman. The book examines the changing roles of women over the historical eras it spans, notably Elizabethan, Stuart and Victorian England, and also examines the role of gender in relationships, as both Orlando and his/her lovers are frequently portrayed as being of ambiguous sex. The book was apparently written to commemorate Woolf's own desire for her close friend Vita Sackville-West, and the themes of love and gender crop up repeatedly.
Unfortunately, I just didn't enjoy reading 'Orlando' at all. The story sprawls and meanders, whimsically changing scene and settings throughout, without any real structure emerging. This (for me) obscured any points that she was trying to make and, although I think that I understood the themes she was writing about, I still wasn't clear how she felt about them. The story was horribly put together and this made reading a bit of a chore. In addition, the writing was very simplistic, resulting in incredibly boring prose and a story that was far too fast paced to get my teeth into. I found this hard work for a short book. On top of all that, Woolf's style has some of the things that irritate me most about some writers, not least the constant asides to the reader or referrals to herself as the author, informing us about what we should all be thinking about the events in the book at a particular point. All this made 'Orlando' a book that I won't be picking up again in a hurry.
 A writer's holiday December 7, 2002
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
A writer's holiday is what Virginia Woolf called this novel. It was more fun and less compulsive writing for her than her previous and later novels. Orlando is a fantastical novel which begins somewhere in 1500 and ends in 1928. The main character is Orlando who lives for this long period of time and also morphs from man into women. Woolf wrote this novel for her friend (lover) Vita Sackville-West and is one of the best love letters ever. it's written as a biography and the author often directs herself at the readers. There are also a lot of gender issues which are touched upon in the book and it's great to read the subtility with which she handels these things.
Although Orlando is one big fantasy I think it's the most accesible novel Woolf has written. It still has her distinct style. But the changes of scenery and times are very entertaining. It's such a nice idea to have a couple of centuries encapsulated in one book.A must read (even if you think Woolf is to difficult.or boring!..she isn't!!)
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