Orlando, a Biography: The Virginia Woolf Library Annotated Edition - Paperback

by Virginia Woolf (Author), Mark Hussey (Author), Maria DiBattista (Introduction by)

"Come, come! I'm sick to death of this particular self. I want another."

As this centuries-spanning tale begins, Orlando is a passionate sixteen-year-old nobleman whose days are spent in rowdy revelry, filled with the colorful delights of Queen Elizabeth I's court. By the close, three centuries have passed, and he will have transformed into a thirty-six-year-old woman in the year 1928. Orlando's journey is also an internal one--he is an impulsive poet who learns patience in matters of the heart, and a woman who knows what it is to be a man.

Virginia Woolf's most unusual creation, this classic of feminist literature is a fantastical mock biography--a funny, exuberant romp through history that examines the true nature of love and gender identity.

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Undoubtedly Virginia Woolf s most intense and one of the most singular (novels) of our era.--Jorge Luis Borges
Begun as a "joke," "Orlando" is Virginia Woolf's fantastical biography of a poet who first appears as a sixteen-year-old boy at the court of Elizabeth I, and is left at the novel's end a married woman in the year 1928. Part love letter to Vita Sackville-West, part exploration of the art of biography, "Orlando" is one of Woolf's most popular and entertaining works. This new annotated edition will deepen readers' understanding of Woolf's brilliant creation.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), one of the major literary figures of the twentieth century, transformed the art of the novel. The author of numerous novels, collections of letters, journals, and short stories, she was an admired literary critic and a master of the essay form.
Mark Hussey, general editor of Harcourt's annotated Woolf series, is professor of English at Pace University in New York City and editor of the Woolf Studies Annual.
Maria DiBattista, professor of English and comparative literature at Princeton University, has written numerous articles on modern literature and film. Her books include "Virginia Woolf: The Fables of Anon, First Love: The Affections of Modern Fiction," and, as coeditor and contributor, " High and Low Moderns: British Literature and Culture 1889-1939." Her most recent book is "Fast Talking Dames."
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