The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 5 March 1998
by Virginia Woolf
Woolf takes us on a witty phantasmic journey through four centuries of English social commentary with the extraordinary life of Lord/Lady Orlando. This book serves as a study on the art of literature as much as the strange tale of Orlando, who changes her sex from male to female 200 years into the story. This is not the sole device in the book, however, and is more likely just a subplot to the disillusioned life Orlando leads in high society and intellectual company. The change in her sex, though, enriches her view of the world about her, as Woolf seems to indicate that life is clearer when viewed by the mind that cultivates the best of both masculine and feminine.
Also by Virginia Woolf: [To the Lighthouse] [The London Scene] [Mrs. Dalloway]