One Name, Several (Wo)Men: Cultural Categories Of Identity In Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography

Abstract

This study discusses cultural categories of identity in the portrayal of Orlando in Virginia Woolf's novel, Orlando: A Biography. The analysis of the character in light of the intersections between nation, class, and gender, shows that there is a conflict in the novel as it presents at the same time a transgressive text and a normatizing subtext, a conflict that must be criticized for its implications in cultural studies regarding identity and emancipatory politics.

Keywords: Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, cultural categories of identity.