Orlando - Discussions on Chapters 1 & 2

Orlando by Virginia Woolf - Chapters one & two

Orlando was written at the height of Woolf's career. It was an extremely popular book when it was published. In the first six months after publication it sold over eight thousand copies, whereas To the Lighthouse sold less than half that amount. Woolf's income from book sales nearly tripled with the publication of Orlando.

The book starts out with a very interesting first sentence:
He - for there could be no doubt of his sex, though the fashion of the time did something to disguise it - was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters.

I am enjoying this so far. Part of the enjoyment is my sense that Woolf was herself having big fun. It feels playful and funny in a wry smile kind of way, not LOL. I find, however, that I am more focused on the satire, the word play and the conversation(s) about being a writer than I am with the character as a person.

I am too enjoying the playful, poetic nature of this book.

Virginia's father, Leslie Stephen wrote official biographies about the lives of important English people. In Orlando, I think Virginia scoffs at the traditional biography. I think she likes people for their true being, their human qualities, interested in their basic character, not just the external data about the person.

That "wry smile kind of way" exactly describes how I think of the following bit that has been rambling around my brain for three days now.

"But alas, that these catalogues of youthful beauty cannot end without mentioning forehead and eyes. Alas, that people are seldom born devoid of all three;"

It seems to me like a gentile, kinder satire than I’m used to encountering.

Yes, very wry and whimsical. The irony is handled with a airiness that suits the prose style. There's a word I want to use to describe the style, but it's just not popping into my head at the moment. I'm reminded of fables, especially with the way the Virtues are used. I also like how she casually but deftly handles the passage of time.

#5 I agree with the airiness of her style at the beginning. I read into the lightness as if the narrator viewed the 'boy' in child's play. He was not yet old enough, not allowed into a more adult world even though he was in his teens. He was playing at seriously practicing for when he was called upon to go on an expedition with adults. I could imagine the conversations he was making in his mind that weren't written, when we were just watching the scene.

I forgot to ask some questions earlier. So... in chapter one, do you think Orlando is betrayed by Love or Lust? In chapter two, is he a victim of Ambition, or betrayed by the Muse? (I kinda see Nicholas Greene as the manifestation of the Muse in this one, and it's rather tongue-in-cheek). Orlando says, "I have done with men," or something to that effect, after the betrayal. Is this a commentary that men don't make good muses? We often see women playing the role of the Muse for men, but we don't often see the reverse.

I finished ch. 2 yesterday, and I really love Woolf's style and humour.
I read it in Norwegian, consulting the Gutenberg site now and then. It seems like the Norwegian version follows the English one almost "word by word". Well, at least "sentence by sentence".

Does anybody know if there was a really hard winter in London at the time described in chapter 1? It wasn't so cold that birds froze to death and fell to the ground like stones, I do understand, but...? A very funny paragraph, I think.

I guess Orlando may be a kind of Virginia's alter ego (is this term used in English?). They both struggle with their literary ambitions, and at least one of them wins.

Ready for chapter 3.

#8 Hi Kjellika--I was unaware of the Great Frost, too. Apparently there really was such a thing: http://www.londononline.co.uk/history/thames/4/ No birds freezing midair, though.

Thanks theaelizabet!

I, too, wondered about that great frost. Unfortunately my edition is not annotated and has no "extra" information. Sometimes I'm aware of a reference in the reading but I'm wondering if those with annotate editions are getting explanations of actual events being referred to in the novel. I'm loving the humor, satire, and irony--but often I wonder if VW had a specific "target" in English history in mind for some of these.

#3> I very much agree that she is scoffing at traditional biographies. I noticed as I read chapter one that her explicit references to being a biographer often come after points in the narrative where she writes something that no biographer could know. For instance, the metaphors in Orlando's mind when he first sees Sasha, where Woolf parenthetically notes that these were all simple, but then they were all based on tastes he enjoyed as a child. Something no true biographer would ever know! As you say, the emphasis is on the human character. Very tongue-in-cheek, very funny.

#8 > I thought the great frost was marvelous! I liked the bit where the country woman was walking across the road and simply turned to powder and was blown away when the cold gusts of air hit her (appeals to my sometimes morbid sense of humor).

This was the first Woolf novel I read, and I'm re-reading it now to join in the discussion, but the episode from the book I remembered best, before starting to read again, was the great frost. I think everything about this section is superbly crafted, but in particular, the imagery is amazing. The chaos as the river is broken open and floods out has been ingrained on my mind.

I remember that Woolf's descriptive powers just blew me away when I first read Orlando. She can make such beautiful and elaborate metaphors, and at other times, hits you with concise yet lovely phrases.

Still working through chapter two.

Just finished Chapter 2. This is a re-read for me and I am enjoying it as much as I did first time. I agree that this was written tongue-in-cheek as a satire on biographical writing in general. I too enjoyed the descriptions of the Great Frost, and her references to historical characters. This book is a joy to read and I am off to read Chapter 3.

As I mentioned when I joined, the only Woolf I had read prior was A Room of One's Own. So, while I'm enjoying this encounter with her as a story teller, (I agree nmhale, everything about this section is superbly crafted) I am mostly struck by her as a wordsmith.

Her creative and repeated use of lists is so effective. With them, she adds such variety to the text, especially in terms of rhythm.

"He lay as if in a trance, without perceptible breathing; and though dogs were set to bark under his window; cymbals, drums, bones beaten perpetually in his room; a gorse bush put under his pillow; and mustard plasters applied to his feet, still he did not wake; take food, or show any sign of life for seven whole days."

"Violence was all. The flower boomed and faded. The sun rose and sank. The lover loved and went."

Just a couple of very small examples. So hard to do well. She had a quite an ear!

I finished chap. 2 a few days ago, but haven't had time to post my thoughts yet. (Sorry I'm so slow, but I'm reading several other books at the same time).

#7 > I thought your questions were intriguing. Orlando certainly does suffer a series of betrayals in these first chapters.

In the first chapter, he is betrayed by his love for the Russian princess, but to me it seems that she herself is a symbol of lust. What I mean is, Orlando was certainly in love, but the Russian was clearly using him, her intentions to him were purely physical, and there is that scene in the ship where she is having amorous interactions with the sailor. Everything about her is lusty and violent. She loves her homeland and tells stories of men who slash open other mens' throats. What is Orlando in love with, then? Some ideal of the girl that doesn't really exist.

Then this betrayal triggers the other betrayals in the second chapter. More, I think, than just ambition. His poetry is a huge portion of himself, and after the Nicholas Greene incident he burns it all. As if, after love failed him, he turns to another mainstay of his identity, his writing, and all the ambition and fame and posterity that goes along with it. He's seeking something that can establish him securely in this fickle life, first love, then poetry. Both are stripped away from him, and he falls into a tailspin of mental confusion.

Writing this suddenly helps me get a clearer idea of the lust bird that comes at the end of the chapter. Orlando's ideals have become perverted: his love turns into foul lust, and his ambition and poetry into the mean and contemptible Nicholas Greene (I really like the idea of Greene being a subpar muse). Everything he thought was pure and true is turning a different face to him. What does he do? Flee.

I agree that Woolf's use of lists is highly effective, theaelizabet. Sometimes dramatic, sometimes satirical, and always lyrical.

Every single thing, once he tried to dislodge it from its place in his mind, he found thus cumbered with other matter like the lump of glass which, after a year at the bottom of the sea, is grown about wih bones and dragonflies, and coins and the tresses of drowned women.

What a metaphor! This one has stuck in my mind as one of the best uses of figurative language that I've ever read.