Orlando
Virginia Woolf
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
A biography
Why do you think Woolf calls the novel a biography, and what game is she playing?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of the biographer's narrator?
- Is this a book about Vita Sackville-West, or about something larger?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
Why do you think Woolf calls the novel a biography, and what game is she playing?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of the biographer's narrator?
- Is this a book about Vita Sackville-West, or about something larger?
What do Orlando's early years at Elizabeth's court tell you about him?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of the old queen's favour?
- What does he want most?
How did the love affair with Sasha during the Great Frost affect Orlando?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does she leave him?
- How does that loss shape the rest of the book?
How did you feel when Orlando wakes up a woman?
Keep the conversation going
- Why does it change so little, and so much?
- What does the novel say about gender?
What does the poem The Oak Tree mean to Orlando across the centuries?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of the critic Nick Greene, then and later?
- What does the book say about fame and literature?
How does each century change Orlando, especially the nineteenth?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of the damp and the crinoline?
- Why does Orlando need a husband?
What does Orlando find in her marriage to Shelmerdine?
Keep the conversation going
- Why is their understanding of each other so quick?
- Is this a modern marriage?
How did you feel about the ending in 1928, at the stroke of midnight?
Keep the conversation going
- What does it mean to finally live in the present?
- What did the novel make you think about identity?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.