奥兰多 (1928)

《奥兰多》（Orlando），是英国女作家弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫的一部的意识流小说，于1928年11月发表，其被认为是伍尔芙作品中最易阅读的一篇。该小说同时也是一部半自传故事，主要建构于伍尔芙密友和同性恋人薇塔·萨克维尔-韦斯特（Vita Sackville-West）的生活背景。其风格具有相当的影响力，对文学界尤其是女性写作与性别研究的历史中极为重要。

这部小说被改编成电影《美丽佳人欧兰朵》，时空从1600年的男性奥兰多横跨至1992年的现代女性欧兰朵，由蒂尔达·斯温顿演出此一横跨时空及雌雄转换的角色。

Orlando: A Biography is a novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928, inspired by the tumultuous family history of the aristocratic poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, Woolf's lover and close friend. It is a history of English literature in satiric form. The book describes the adventures of a poet who changes from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. Considered a feminist classic, the book has been written about extensively by scholars of women's writing and gender and transgender studies.

The novel has been adapted a number of times. In 1981, Ulrike Ottinger adapted it for her film Freak Orlando, with Magdalena Montezuma in the title role. In 1989, director Robert Wilson and writer Darryl Pinckney collaborated on a single-actor theatrical production. This had its British premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996, with Miranda Richardson playing the title role; Isabelle Huppert performed in the version in French, which opened at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1993. A film adaptation by Sally Potter, simply titled Orlando, was released in 1992, starring Tilda Swinton in the title role. A stage adaption by Sarah Ruhl premiered in New York City in 2010, with another version adapted by Neil Bartlett premiering at the Garrick Theatre, London in 2022 starring Emma Corrin and directed by Michael Grandage. The novel has also been adapted into operatic works.

The novel entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.

Plot

The eponymous hero is born as a male nobleman in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. He lives for centuries, meeting some of the literary luminaries of English literature, into modern times, without aging perceptibly. At one point the author notes he has reached the age of 30, though it is about a 100 years since birth. The character undergoes a change of sex after about 100 years and spends the remainder of the narrative as a woman.

Chapter One

As a teenage boy, the handsome Orlando serves as a page at the Elizabethan court and becomes the "favourite" of the elderly queen. After Elizabeth's death, he falls deeply in love with Sasha, an elusive and somewhat feral princess in the entourage of the Russian embassy. This episode, of love and ice skating against the background of the celebrated Frost Fair held on the frozen Thames River during the Great Frost of 1608, when "birds froze in mid air and fell like stones to the ground", inspired some of Virginia Woolf's most bravura writing:Great statesmen, in their beards and ruffs, despatched affairs of state under the crimson awning of the Royal Pagoda ... Frozen roses fell in showers when the Queen and her ladies walked abroad ... Near London Bridge, where the river had frozen to a depth of some twenty fathoms, a wrecked wherry boat was plainly visible, lying on the bed of the river where it had sunk last autumn, overladen with apples. The old bumboat woman, who was carrying her fruit to market on the Surrey side, sat there in her plaids and farthingales with her lap full of apples, for all the world as if she were about to serve a customer, though a certain blueness about the lips hinted the truth.

The melting of the ice coincides with Sasha's unfaithfulness and sudden departure for Russia.

Chapter Two

The desolate Orlando returns to writing The Oak Tree, a long poem started and abandoned in his youth. He meets and hospitably entertains an invidious poetaster, Nicholas Greene, who proceeds to find fault with Orlando's writing. Later Orlando feels betrayed on learning that he has been lampooned in one of Greene's subsequent works. A period of contemplating love and life leads Orlando to appreciate the value of his ancestral stately home, which he proceeds to furnish lavishly. There he plays host to the populace.

Ennui sets in and Orlando feels harassed by a persistent suitor, the tall and somewhat androgynous Archduchess Harriet, leading Orlando to look for a way to leave the country.