Orlando

   Literature means a lot in my life. It was a challenge for me to choose only one book to write an essay. That is why I decided to analyze one of the most interesting and daring novel of 20^th century. I am talking about «Orlando» by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

   She was an English author, essayist, publisher and well-known literary critic regarded as one of the famous modernist literary figure of 20^th century. During interwar period Virginia Woolf was a very influential member of Bloomsbury Group. The author is considered one of the greatest innovators in the English language. In her works she often experimented with stream-of-consciousness style to emphasize psychological and emotional motives of her characters. Personally I believe that «Orlando» is the most accessible and lightest novel written by the author. It is a semi-biographical work based in part on the life of Woolf’s close friend Vita Sackville-West. 

   I would like to tell a few words about the plot. The main character Orlando is a young nobleman born in England in the reign of Elizabeth I. He experiments fame and many, love and of course grief of a broken heart. But once he falls asleep for 7 days and upon awaking he finds unsurprised that he has turned into a young beautiful woman- the same person with the same personality and intellect, but in a female body. Lady Orlando lives more than 300 years trying to find her way. The novel ends in 1928 when Orlando publishes her work «The Oak Tree» and wins a prize for it.  

   The book is an example of Virginia Woolf’s writing and critical talent. Every person can understand «Orlando» in his or her own way. The author very nicely combined many historical and literary events in one book. Here she very bravely showed us duality of human nature using very expressive language. Talking about different stylistic devices the novel is full of them. For instance fresh and expressive metaphors and epithets help to intrigue a reader and wake his or her imagination up:  

«We must admit that he had eyes like drenched violets, so large that

the water seemed to have brimmed in them  and widened  them; and a brow like

the swelling of a marble dome pressed between the two blank medallions which were his temples»

    Another way of emphasizing authors’ ideas is using of syntactic stylistic devises such as repetition and parallel constructions: 

«Directly we glance at eyes and forehead, thus do we rhapsodize. Directly we glance at eyes and forehead…»

«From deed to deed, from glory to glory, from office to office he must go…» 

 We can find many exclamatory sentences expressing inner thoughts and emotions of the character. It is typically for Woolf’s writing style called stream-of-consciousness: 

«Confound it all!»

«Ecstasy! Ecstasy!»  
 

    Also I would like to mention that the novelist used enumeration to depict quick-change actions:

  «…he would steal away from his mother and the peacocks in the garden and go to his attic room and there lunge and plunge and slice the air with his blade.» 
 

  To sum up I could compare the book and the film adaptation. Personally I believe that despite the perfect performing and costumes the novel is profounder than the film. When you read you should use your imagination to create the main events and characters that is why I recommend to read this book to people who find a food for thought   and may get pleasure of meditation, who want to think about the subject matter and consider the author’s views and ideas.