A more interesting read than Orlando
I purchased Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman on a whim while visiting my father in Romania. The first book I had read by Harpman was her acclaimed, I Who Have Never Known Man (I’ll unpack this book in a later post). Although I didn’t like I Who Have Never Known Man, nor the portrayal of sapphic relationships through the main character’s perspective, I was drawn to Orlanda because of Harpman’s writing style and the mixed feelings I have on the book’s groundwork: Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Orlando and Orlanda are books that discuss gender and womanhood. I hope to create a post about Orlanda one day; however, it is dense material, and I do not like Woolf’s writing style.
A Brief Introduction
The protagonist, Aline, is a literature professor at a university in Belgium. On her train ride back from France, Aline is struggling with her understanding of Orlando when a young man, Lucien Lefrène, asks for some aspirin. A repressed part of Aline’s psyche leaves Aline and joins Lucien Lefrène, overriding his entire personality and his life. This new and improved version of Lucien names themself Orlanda. Throughout the book, Aline and Orlanda (and occasionally the narrator) discuss gender roles, who imposes said gender roles, and who is allowed to break them. The story is told by a critical narrator who often underestimates Aline and tells the reader not to trust Aline nor Orlanda.
Regarding Gender
Orlanda is often heralded as a “gender swap”; however, it is a psychoanalysis of the effects of repression on an individual, and how gender and gender-based privilege are largely dependent on society.
Children first begin to acknowledge gender differences between 3 and 5 years of age, even though biological sex differences are largely negotiable until year 10. Gender roles are dependent on the culture in which the person was born and the effects of colonialism, if the area is a post-colonial state. For instance, some indigenous nations recognize five genders. In some pre-colonial parts of Nigeria, women were hired as bodyguards. Contrastingly, Aline is in Belgium in the 1970s (I’m assuming, as it is never written in the text). During that time, 21.9%** of women were in the workforce.
As Aline reads Orlando, she reflects on her own childhood. Her gender and its expression, forced upon her, were dictated by her mother and policed by her boyfriend, society, and especially, herself. Before Orlanda, Aline is emotionally withdrawn, hardly saying what she feels. She continues her work as a literature professor, but does not write a book herself despite her desire to write.
‘Those are the times when, for the sake of our friends, I bless your mother and the impeccable upbringing she inflicted on you!’
page 89, Albert (Aline’s boyfriend) to her after she was blatantly honest with one of their friends at a dinner party
‘Each time you sensed her disapproval, you were afraid and gave up, you wanted to remove whatever displeased her from yourself.’
Page 112, Orlanda speaking to Aline about their mother.
‘I know myself, I don’t find myself exciting, and besides, I’m a woman and women don’t get excited.’
Page 154, Aline is thinking to herself about her physical appearance and sexuality.
In contrast, Orlanda is the 12-year-old repressed part of Aline who reacts more often than not to their* pleasure. Orlanda, now in a white man’s body, moves freely throughout society. They “cruise” looking for men. They quit Lucien Lefrène’s writing job. They decided to study maths (something Aline had given up) and began reviewing textbooks in preparation for entrance exams.
They still express some of Aline’s mannerisms, which are described as feminine, and they retain all of her knowledge. Overall, the life that they lead is free and unfettered compared to Aline’s life. Though some of Orlanda’s behavior can be attributed to the maturity of a 12-year-old child, much of it rings true to some men in society today.
In the end, I am left wondering whether Aline’s actions, which ultimately led to Lucien Lefrène’s death, were based in her happiness but ultimate discomfort with the unknown – what her life would be if she gave up Albert and lived with Orlanda. Was Aline comfortable with her unhappiness? Or was she tired of needing someone and the sense of calm she got when she was with Orlanda? Was she tired of needing to rotate her relatively independent life around her and Orlanda’s interdependence?
*In this part of my summary, I will refer to Orlanda as they/them/their as their true gender is up for debate. Orlanda is in a male body, but is also a part of Aline, who identifies as a woman. Throughout the text, Harpman uses he/him/his pronouns for Orlanda because of Harpman’s ideas on gender and sex, which could be interpreted as biological essentialism despite exploring how gender is enforced and controlled.
**There is some debate on the statistics as they are often skewed because men recording history tend to only focus on men
On diction:
Harpman adopts Woolf’s writing style throughout the entire story, and (I’d wager) gives her perspective on Woolf’s Orlando as well as on other literary works. Reading her perspective through Aline’s eyes encouraged me to revisit Orlando to see if I have a better grasp on the content. Admittedly, the first time I read Orlando, I was bogged down by Woolf’s writing style — I’m not a fan of stream of consciousness. Similar to Woolf, Harpman writes her own character into the book as a psychologist named Jacqueline who is friends with Aline.
Here is the text that made me want to revisit Orlando:
“And then the bells started clanging in Aline’s head: ‘But he never was a boy!’ She exclaimed. The seven days in bed…were puberty! It’s all allegorical, and Virginia is telling her own story. As a child, she was strong and passionate, she waged war against the Moors in the attic, she had a girlfriend whom she adored and who began to ignore her, preferring boys, so she withdrew to study…”
Page 48
“Childhood is when the years pass, and you don’t grow any older! And then the moment for the big transformation came, and she had to change from being an asexual child into a woman, and Truth forced itself on the reluctant little girl. She would no longer climb trees, she’d no longer be a warrior, she would wear skirts and become coy. Poor Woolf is trying to protect her character from the fate that she herself suffered.”
Page 49
How Orlanda Measures Up
| Tests | Pass | Fail | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bechdel-Wallace Test | X | There are at least four women characters who talk about various subjects like physics, paranormal experiences, and relationship troubles with each other. | |
| POC! Bechdel-Wallace | X | Although there were (and are) Black populations from post-colonial nations like the Democratic Republic of Congo in Belgium, Harpman does not include them in her book. | |
| Native Test | Not applicable. | ||
| DuVernay Test | Not applicable as there are no People of Color in the book. | ||
| Mako Mori Test | X | Aline’s agency is independent from Albert’s. She debates leaving Albert so that she does not need to hide her relationship with Orlanda. Orlanda often points out how unhappy Aline was before they left her psyche and inhabited Luciene. | |
| Raleigh Beckett Test | X | Men characters in this book are fleshed out. Charles, a friend of Albert’s, often debates Aline on literature preferences and themes. Throughout the book, the reader knows what Albert is doing, what he does for work, what he thinks of his friends, and where he is going. | |
| Vito Russo Test | X | If we are to go based on the text and assume Orlanda’s gender as Harpman has us do, then Orlanda is gay. Their entire personality is not based around this fact thought. More often than not, Orlanda discusses their shared upbringing and identity with Aline. They discuss literature and music with Paul (a man they are seeing), and they have goals separate from Aline’s goals and separate from their identity as a gay man. | |
| Ritz Test | X | There are no Muslim characters within this book. | |
| Sexy Lamp Test | X | All of the characters are fleshed out and easily introduced within the text. |
Sources:
- Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman.
- “The era of the housewife? The construction of ‘work’ and the ‘active’ population in the Belgian population census.” Van Molle, Leen; Vandebroek, Hannelore. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282054110_The_era_of_the_housewife_The_construction_of_’work’_and_the_’active’_population_in_the_Belgian_population_census_1947_1961_1970
- Encyclopedia African History, DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.274.