Orlando

Going into Woolf in Winter, my approach has been: read the book. Collect thoughts. Write blog post. Then go and read the other blog posts, but not before I've written my own, because it's fun to see what I gained from the reading versus what everyone else did.

Orlando nearly pushed me into a personal form of cheating.

Because when I got to the end of this book--no small feat; if it wasn't for the read-along, I would have abandoned ship long ago--all I could think was, WTF?

Reading Mrs. Dalloway and To The Lighthouse were such rewarding experiences, and I knew at the end of each of them that I most certainly hadn't gleaned everything possible from my reading. But I gleaned enough to be left stunned and wanting to read those books over and over, to get more and more from them.

Orlando, however--I don't get it. I just don't get it.

Well, I get little things. I get that this is supposed to be a love letter of sorts to Vita Sackville-West. I get that there's commentary on society, and women's roles:

"The man has his hand free to seize his sword; the woman must use hers to keep the satins from slipping from her shoulders. The man looks the world full in the face, as if it were made for his uses and fashioned to his liking. The woman takes a sidelong glance at it, full of subtlety, even of suspicion."

and the passion of art:

"The manuscript which reposed above her heart began shuffling and beating as if it were a living thing...It wanted to be read. It must be read. It would die in her bosom if it were not read. For the first time in her life she turned with violence against nature. Elk hounds and rose bushes were about her in profusion. But elk hounds and rose bushes can none of them read."

I get that there's some tongue-in-cheek humor operating. Woolf even mocks herself  with the repeated references to clocks chiming: "Eleven times she was violently assaulted," as opposed the the leaden circles dissolving in Mrs. Dalloway.

I get that one of Woolf's obsessions was how certain moments can strike a person with the seemingly unrelated memory of persons or events of another time. I certainly get that it's pretty damned hard to top Woolf's linguistic capabilities.

"That silence is more profound after noise still wants the confirmation of science. But that loneliness is more apparent directly after one has been made love to, many women would take oath."

So maybe I "get" more than I thought I did. :-) But: overall? Not so much. I don't get the man turning into woman thing, or the woman living for centuries thing. I felt more like this was a large-scale in-joke, and I didn't have access to the source. It may be partly due to the fact that I rarely like fantasy kinds of stories; it may be that I simply don't know enough about Woolf's life, particularly as it related to VSW, to understand the story. I do plan to read the Hermione Lee bio when we're done with this quartet, and maybe that will drive me back to Orlando.

I was severely tempted to go and read all your blogs before I posted, so I could be a poseur and "borrow" some insights and look all intellectual and stuff. But, apparently, I do have some integrity, and so, complete befuddled honesty instead.

Farewell, Orlando. It's doubtful that we'll meet again.

But oh, how I look forward to a non-Orlando reading weekend.

Comments

[Emily]

It sounds like you understood a lot, but that it just didn't click for you personally. I really love this novel, but, even more than with other Woolf works, I think it appeals to a limited demographic (interesting that it was her most popular book until The Years). Thanks for reading along, anyway!

And if it makes you feel any better, I read other peoples' posts before I write mine, if any are up yet. ;-)

[Frances]

You really appear to get a lot! :) Sorry this was a WTF proposition for you though, and I hope that non-Orlando reading weekend is superb. Hope to see you for The Waves in a couple of weeks, a novel that bears little resemblance to Orlando. :) Happy reading!

[Eva]

Really?! Wow! I love Orlando. :) But I wasn't the biggest fan of To the Lighthouse, so I guess to each their own, lol. Like you, I write my posts before reading anyone else's, and as soon as I start reading I want to go back and edit! lol

The Waves is my very fave Woolf (and it's not like Orlando), so I can't wait to see what you think about it. :)

[claire]

Yes, you did get more than you think you did. I really enjoyed this, but then I enjoy fantasy or any type of magical realism, or surrealism, that's written finely. TTL remains my fave at the moment but I liked Orlando over Mrs D, which I still really liked but didn't enjoy as much as this. See you with The Waves.. hope you click Woolf again, after this. :)c

[Richard Lopez]

Three cheers for more "non-Orlando reading weekends," Amy! I too completely DIDN'T CONNECT with Woolf's "humor" here, weird since I liked the previous two Woolf in Winter titles so much. P.S. I usually write my readalong posts before reading other people's, but I'll dip in here or there if I'm running behind or if the spirit moves me (the latter usually with my favorite bloggers). That you can joke about being a poseur proves you aren't one in my book, ha!

[Violet]

I think if you read a bit about VSW, Orlando will come alive. If I hadn't known the history of their love affair, and about Vita's extraordinary life and who she was, then Orlando would have been a mystery to me too. And the Sally Potter movie based on the book is gorgeous.