December 9th7pm
“Literature is open to everybody” wrote Virginia Woolf, one of the 20th century’s most lauded writers. Within her lifetime, Woolf penned nine novels, dozens of stories, and countless essays that blend the aesthetic pleasures of life with the sociological and psychological phenomena of the human experience. Existential dread never sounded so beautiful than in Woolf’s words. Join us on our voyage through Woolf’s oeuvre, in chronological order, as we examine the stylistic and philosophical elements of her fiction and essays.
This month we'll move on to Woolf's fantastical novel about an Elizabethan nobleman who lives for three centuries and transitions into a woman, Orlando.
The long-lived protagonist of Orlando begins as a passionate teenage aristocrat, whose days are spent in rowdy revelry at the colorful Tudor court of Queen Elizabeth and his nights in writing earnest poetry. A favorite of the elderly queen, he falls in love with and is jilted by a wayward Russian princess. Two kings later, now in his thirties, Orlando is sent to serve as ambassador to Constantinople, where he awakens one day to find himself in the body of a woman. The Lady Orlando takes this circumstance in stride. She returns to England, engages in love affairs with both men and women, consorts with the famous poets of each age, finds happiness with a gender-nonconforming husband, and at last achieves publication of her own epic poem in the year 1928. A playful and exuberant romp through history, Orlando is Woolf’s most lighthearted and unusual novel.
Reserve your place with a $5 voucher, redeemable on the night of the book club meeting on any product in store.