Virginia Woolf: Orlando – an audio guide by Oxford Academic (OUP)

In this Oxford World’s Classics audio guide, listen to Dr Michael Whitworth, editor of the Oxford edition of Virginia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’, introduce the novel, and discuss Woolf’s life and times.

'I feel the need of an escapade after these serious poetic experimental books...I want to kick up my heels and be off.’

‘Orlando’ tells the tale of an extraordinary individual who lives through history first as a man, then as a woman. At its heart is the figure of Woolf's friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West, and Knole, the historic home of the Sackvilles. ‘Orlando’ mocks the conventions of biography and history and wryly examines sexual double standards.

Listen to this audio guide to learn more about Virginia Woolf’s private life; her relationship with Vita Sackville-West, and mental health, her place in the modernist movement, and why writing ‘Orlando’ was so important to this pioneering author.

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Contains tracks

• Michael Whitworth summarizes the plot and themes of Virdinia Woolf’s ‘Orlando’ by Oxford Academic (OUP)
• Why is ‘Orlando’ considered the most accessible of Virginia Woolf’s works? by Oxford Academic (OUP)
• Find out about Virginia Woolf’s relationship with Vita Sackville-West by Oxford Academic (OUP)
• Woolf dedicated ‘Orlando’ to Virginia Sackville-West – but what did she think of the novel? by Oxford Academic (OUP)
• If Virginia Woolf had been born male, would she have been better known as an author? by Oxford Academic (OUP)