Study Questions and Essay Topics
What is the relationship between fact and imagination in Orlando?
How does the concept of time function in the novel?
Why is the spirit of the nineteenth century so "antipathetic" to Orlando?
Suggested Essay Topics
What different types of literature does Woolf parody in Orlando? How does her writing style change to fit each age?
What does the novel say about English values? What does Orlando learn about herself while she is in Turkey?
How, according to Woolf, do men and women experience the world differently? Are these differences the result of biology or social practice?
Describe the scene in which Orlando changes sex from a male to a female. Explain why Woolf chooses such specific imagery (and the characters of Purity, Chastity, and Modesty) to describe the sex change.
Discuss the idea of writing in the novel. Are certain styles of literature held to be better or worse than other kinds? What does the novel have to say about the fame of writers?
