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Orlanda

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One afternoon in a Paris train station, as 35-year-old literature professor Aline Berger struggles to re-read Virginia Woolf's Orlando, a novel she has never enjoyed, an odd feeling comes over her when a handsome but strange young man asks her for aspirin. Haunted by the harsh words of her domineering mother, who demanded that she suppress her tomboyish tendencies during her childhood, Aline has become a demure, passive, conventional woman. She fails to recognize the man standing before her, who the author names Orlanda. The body belongs to that of Lucien Lèfrene, a lithe 20-year-old rock journalist, but it is inhabited by her once silenced spirit, and possesses her knowledge, memories, and desires, including her love of men.
When the two meet again in Belgium, Aline subconsciously sheds her prim tendencies for more assertive behavior, as she begins to understand that the audacious and lively Orlanda was born from her psyche. The more time the two spend together, the less time they can stand to be apart.
Winner of the Prix Meacutedicis, this lyrical novel, which recalls the erudition and imagination of Michael Cunningham's The Hours, and Patricia Duncker's Hallucinating Foucault, is a stunning evocation of a woman who is forced to confront every part of her soul, and embrace herself whole.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

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About the author

Jacqueline Harpman

30books881followers
Jacqueline Harpman was born in Etterbeek, Belgium, in 1929. Being half Jewish, the family moved to Casablanca when the Nazis invaded, and returned home after the war. After studying French literature she started training to be a doctor, but could not complete her medical studies when she contracted tuberculosis. She turned to writing in 1954 and her first work was published in 1958. In 1980 she qualified as a psychoanalyst. She had given up writing after her fourth book was published, and resumed her career as a novelist only some twenty years later. She wrote twelve novels and won several literary prizes, most recently the Médicis for the present novel. She was married to an architect and had two children.

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5 stars
91 (24%)
4 stars
145 (39%)
3 stars
105 (28%)
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25 (6%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Profile Image for ro.
48 reviews2 followers
July 22, 2024
i now have to learn french so i can read the rest of jacqueline harpman's works
Profile Image for Steph Grey.
54 reviews365 followers
November 29, 2023
“For women devoted to the good of others never seem to worry about themselves. Their life is ascetic, their generosity boundless, day after day their altruism devours them and sometimes they succumb to depression. Then they are found dead holding an empty barbiturate bottle. They have missed out on life, events have passed them by, and one day the boredom that can blot out everything else gets the better of their heroism. It is dangerous to be good.

No such danger threatened Orlanda, that is certain.�
Profile Image for Marsha.
Author2 books38 followers
August 7, 2024
Translated from the French, this bold yet subtle probing into one woman’s psyche serves as allegory, satire and social critique. Aline has stifled the more irreverent and forceful parts of her nature all her life, conforming to the demands her kindly yet rigid mother and indifferent father have set upon her.

The author widens her net to show how many people smother parts of their inner selves to deal with demanding parents and the world at large. Aline’s situation is by no means unique or uniquely French. No doubt many women will nod to themselves as they read how she stopped behaving in a rough-and-tumble manner, shut off sharp opinions or placidly accepted dull company to please a stalwart boyfriend with whom she’s endured a ten-year-old affair.

The novel shuffles giddily among the viewpoints of three main characters: Aline who becomes more and more aware of a void opening in her mind; Lucien Leftène, his mind quickly snuffed out by the invading piece of Aline’s psyche and the narrator, whose vacillating POV shifts us between these two and the inner part of Lucien that calls itself Orlanda.

Throw in a nosy neighbor, a gay lover who fights against loving someone he fears is only a temporary fancy, a needy ex-girlfriend, an alcoholic mother, intensive students and a Chekhov’s gun and we see a complex web that would make this a fine French farce if it weren’t a sublime tracing of a woman coming to terms with the fiercely repressed parts of her soul. But perhaps it’s both?

This is a novel that can support multiple interpretations, making it something to savor, linger over and re-read.
Profile Image for Myriam.
492 reviews67 followers
January 27, 2013
A powerful novel, witty, wicked and teasing that pays tribute to Virgina Woolf, Proust and even Balzac (and Schrödinger's cat!) and explores the boundaries of identity, repressed desires and emotions. In a playful way the author herself is present as a reporter of the strange adventure of her main character(s). Harpman received for Orlanda the Prix Médicis in 1996. An interesting writer...
Profile Image for Magdalen.
221 reviews109 followers
August 31, 2024
Η Ζακλίν Αρπμάν είναι απ� τις πιο σπουδαίες και ταυτόχρονα underrated συγγραφείς που έχω διαβάσει, με μονάχα δυο βιβλία της να έχουν μεταφραστεί τόσο στα ελληνικά όσο και στα αγγλικά. Crime against humanity. Το αστείο είναι πως δεν είναι αρκετά γνωστή ούτε στη γενέτειρά της, το Βέλγιο.

Το Ορλάντα είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα που εξερευνά την ταυτότητα, το βιολογικό και ίσως εντονότερα, το κοινωνικό φύλο και τη ρευστότητα του εαυτού. Με χειρουργική ακρίβεια και διορατικότητα η Αρπμάν συνθέτει μια περίπλοκη αφήγηση αντικατοπτρίζοντας τη ρευστότητα των ταυτοτήτων των χαρακτήρων, την ελαστικότητα της ανθρώπινης ψυχής και των κοινωνικών ρόλων που στοχεύουν να την περιορίσουν. Η αφήγηση εναλλάσσεται αβίαστα μεταξύ των POV, θολώνοντας τα όρια μεταξύ του αρσενικού και του θηλυκού, του εαυτού και του άλλου. Τονίζει, έτσι, ότι η ταυτότητα δεν είναι σταθερή, αλλά εξελίσσεται και μεταβάλλεται συνεχώς καθώς δύναται να διαμορφωθεί τόσο από εσωτερικές συγκρούσεις, αλλά και απο εξωτερικές επιρροές.

Όσο η ιστορία ξεδιπλώνεται, διακρίνουμε το πόσο περιοριστικοί είναι οι κοινωνικοί κανόνες που επιβάλλονται στα άτομα, καθώς εξυπηρετούν τη φυλάκιση τους σε προκαθορισμένους ρόλους που ενδεχομένως να μην είναι ταυτόσημοι με τον αυθεντικό τους εαυτό. Βλέπουμε πως όταν ο Ορλάντα αποσχίζεται απ� την Αλίν αισθάνεται απελευθερωμένος και ευτυχής καθώς την ίδια στιγμή αποχωρίζεται τα όποια όρια της επιβαλλόμενης θηλυκότητας. Δεν είναι τυχαίο, εξάλλου, ότι ο Ορλάντα είναι το πιο confident κομμάτι της Αλίν, το πιο ματαιόδοξο και αλλαζονικό ενώ η εναπομείνασα Αλίν είναι ντροπαλή και καθωσπρέπει. Ενσωματώνει τους κοινωνικούς ρόλους περίτεχνα και subtly. Σημαντικό είναι επίσης ότι δεν προσεγγίζει τα ζητήματα φύλου με διδακτικό τόνο, αλλά με ενσυναίσθηση. Σχολιάζει και απογυμνώνει τα κοινωνικά φύλα με διακριτικότητα, δίχως να ενδίσει στα στερεότυπα. Απλώς τα τονίζει.

Το Ορλάντα δεν είναι απλώς μια ιστορία μεταμόρφωσης, αλλά ένα έντονα υπαρξιακό και φιλοσοφικό βιβλίο που καταπιάνεται με τα προβλήματα που παρουσιάζονται στην πορεία της ζωής. Η γραφή της Αρπμάν είναι άψογη, ειρωνική όπου χρειάζεται, με χιούμορ σε πιο ανάλαφρα σημεία, αλλά και με την απαραίτητη σοβαρότητα σε άλλα. Θα μπορούσαμε να χαρακτηρίσουμε το βιβλίο αληγορικό, συμβολικό.
Profile Image for P.S. MaryLou Scriptrix.
41 reviews3 followers
August 20, 2024
Πόσα καταπιεσμένα θέλω; Πόσα όνειρα;
Πόσες επιθυμίες φυλάκισα στο πίσω μέρος του μυαλού μου;
Πόσα πρέπει υπαγόρευσαν τις κινήσεις μου;
Πόση ορμή κατέστειλα;
Για το "τι θα πει ο κόσμος"

Τι κάνει κρακ και σπάει σε μια στιγμή;
Διαλύεται στον αέρα
Μεταφέρεται, ταξιδεύει
Από μένα, για μένα, αλλού.
Δραπετεύει και ζει

Πόσοι εαυτοί κάνουν την ύπαρξη του ενός;
Πόσες φωνές μιλούν, ουρλιάζουν, παλεύουν να ακουστούν πιο δυνατά και να υπερισχύσουν;
Πόσες ψυχές χωρούν σε ένα σώμα;

"animula vagula blandula..."
Profile Image for Federica Salzano.
16 reviews6 followers
January 17, 2023
Chiedo perdono ma per me la pesantezza della narrativa di questo libro ha reso la storia e le tematiche impossibili da affrontare.
Profile Image for Jacob.
37 reviews2 followers
January 13, 2025
If I had a nickel for every Virginia Woolf-inspired novel I’ve read in the last year� I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

This book seems so ahead of its time: speculative fiction about a(n arguably) gay body snatcher (or switcher) who tires of watching his former host of 20+ years, Aline, waste away her thirties in an emotionless relationship with a man, and one day ditches her for a sexy 20-year-old named Lucien, setting out to sleep with every refined elder gay in Brussels.

This is sort of like a platonic (wink wink) retelling of Plato’s two-halves soulmate theory, except with far more references to the gender- and time-bending escapades in and a few too many changes in POV.

At times “Orlanda� gets too bogged down in exploring the mechanics of the body switch to probe further into the characters� psyches. Another negative is the constant switching between POVs, including the omniscient narrator’s perspective, which glosses over the juiciest bits with a modest wink, ultimately coming off as lazy and/or prudish. We want to know what happened in the train bathroom!

That said, Jacqueline Harpman knows how to write an ending. The last ten pages were so good I'll forgive her for the other stuff.

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, rounded up for the ending
Profile Image for Zayn Singh.
63 reviews3 followers
January 8, 2025
Magical, funny, thoroughly insightful, and beautifully written. There was nothing that I didn’t love about it and I know I will find myself drawn to its story again and again in my mind.
Profile Image for nina .
14 reviews
May 21, 2024
Hilarious, life affirming, haunting, original, beautiful, witty, tender…truly perfect in prose, plot, and concept. Just wow
Profile Image for Jack Kennedy.
52 reviews1 follower
September 25, 2023
Salacious, silly, intelligent, suprisingly gripping and sometimes overwritten. Great fun. Please don't judge me by the books cover, I have a different copy. Really. Honest.
Profile Image for SJ.
65 reviews12 followers
October 5, 2024
One of the cleverest and most surprising novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading. After IWHNKM I wasn’t sure if that was just a one off work of genius, but reading this has confirmed Jacqueline Harpman as one of my favourite writers I’ve ever encountered.
35 reviews3 followers
November 21, 2020
Une superbe histoire de transfert de corps, avec l'exploration du personnage entre-deux Orlanda, inspiré de l'œuvre de Virginia Woolf. J'ai adoré les détails qu'Harpmann a pris plaisir à écrire concernant la vie des hommes, l'amant déboussolé, la version d'Aline libérée de ses contraintes éducatives. Et cet attachement maladif à la fin, somme nous tous pareils à se rejeter puis à se constituer un monde rien qu'à nous en méprisant nos proches qui n'en savent rien ? Jusqu'où est-il raisonnable d'aller pour son propre bonheur.
Profile Image for Marina Illaric.
47 reviews
July 13, 2024
Harpman is a brilliant writer, I wish more of her books were translated into English. This novel is superb, the prose is captivating, and the "sci-fi" bits are appropriate and sound. Orlanda tells the story of Aline, who is "split" into two halves of herself. I think the dynamic between the two is wonderfully entertaining, leading up to a satisfying ending.

Favorite quote: "I applied laws I didn't know existed, but the earth revolved around the sun well before we poor humans found equations to express gravity. I haven't accomplished the impossible, only the improbable." (p.154).
Profile Image for Pollapollina Books.
704 reviews67 followers
March 15, 2018
Capita a volte che romanzi piuttosto sconosciuti per qualche motivo mi attraggano. E di solito non ne resto delusa. Come in questo caso, in cui l'autrice, belga, costruisce una vicenda surreale, piena di tanti riferimenti letterari, ispirata da Virginia Woolf, una vicenda che ci racconta da narratore onnisciente, sviscerando, insieme ai suoi personaggi, tante debolezze, paure e passioni dell'animo umano.
6 reviews1 follower
February 24, 2010
I read it over and over and over. One of my favorites. It is truly one of the most inspired and clever novels out there.
50 reviews1 follower
Read
August 6, 2011
Thème fantastique traité avec humour: comment faire face à son double et à ses vices cachés? Autant j'ai détesté "La plage d'Ostende" d'Harpman, autant j'ai aimé "Orlanda" du même auteur.
Profile Image for L.
120 reviews
November 24, 2024
I started to miss this book as soon as I finished it. A weird and wonderful story about identity, transformation, and the parts of ourselves we repress.
Profile Image for Louise.
419 reviews43 followers
September 11, 2023
Je ne note pas la qualité d'une œuvre mais mon plaisir de lecture. J'ai 87 livres dans ma pile-à-lire, un moment ça commence à bien faire, faut que je mette sur pause mes névroses et que j'abandonne un livre qui me tombe des mains. Orlando terminé (non sans mal mais avec beaucoup de fascination pour la liberté de Virginia Woolf), j'ai voulu enchaîné avec son roman- miroir (toute proportion gardée), ayant toujours un super souvenir de Moi qui n'ai jamais connu les hommes de Jacqueline Harpman. Pourtant, j'avais ensuite buté sur La Plage d'Ostende, récit bourgeois et insipide qui m'avait déjà donné le courage de laisser tomber un bouquin. Ben rebelotte, Jacqueline ne fait SURTOUT PAS parler tes personnages, c'est insupportable. Toujours cette écriture maîtrisée mais très maniérée et ampoulée, à la limite du grand déballage stylistique. Une gestion narrative très paresseuse, avec des éléments d'intrigue qui se mettent en place à la vas-y-que-je-te-pousse. Des personnages à la psychologie sommaire, à la limite du ridicule. Des réflexions assez datées sur la place de l'homme et de la femme, tout ceci emballé dans un féminisme qui sent un peu la naphtaline, 30 ans plus tard... Et on est très loin de l'univers d'Orlando, qui transgresse et amuse et fascine. Retour sur le plancher des vaches, dans un prosaïsme ennuyant, qui n'a rien d'Orlandesque justement. J'ai pris sur moi, et j'ai abandonné au tiers. Beaucoup trop d'envies de lecture... et la comparaison avec Orlando est trop douloureuse.
Profile Image for Nicholas Whyte.
5,111 reviews198 followers
June 29, 2024


I’m always on the lookout for actual science fiction set in Belgium, and this is a really interesting example, a reaction to Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, which is repeatedly referenced in the text (though I don’t think you’d need to have read it to enjoy this).

Aline is a reserved and somewhat repressed Belgian literature lecturer, and one day waiting for her train home in Paris, the more liberated side of her personality splits off and takes over the body of Lucien, a cute young man who is taking the same train. The (short) book has Aline and Orlanda (as her incarnate other halfnames herself) navigating their identities and relationships through the streets of Brussels.

I really enjoyed this. Harpman writes herself into the book as a minor character, a science fiction-loving friend of Aline’s. The story ends a bit abruptly, but it’s tidy enough given the situation.
Profile Image for Igne.
334 reviews14 followers
Read
July 7, 2024
„Jai norėjosi patikti, o tai mergaitėje nužudo berniuką.�

„Ji savęs nepažįsta, bet kas gi save pažįsta? Ar mes visi neiname per gyvenimą nesuvokdami, kas esame, pasirengę įsikibti į kiekvieną mus apibūdinantį aprašymą, galintį suteikti palaimingą iliuziją, kad mūsų tapatybė paprasta, nusakoma keliais žodžiais?
Savaime suprantama, ji yra gimusi po Dvynių ženklu.�

--

Vieną dieną Alinos vyriškoji (sykiu spontaniškoji, erotiškoji, įžūlioji) pusė ima ir atsiskiria, ir apsigyvena simpatiško jaunuolio kūne. Taip prasideda istorija, kuria autorė atiduoda pagarbą Virginia’os Woolf „Orlandui�. Nors mintis apie tai, kad mergaitės dažnai auklėjamos gniaužti viską, kas stereotipiškai laikoma vyriška, man patiko, sunkiai pripratau prie vinklaus, pašaipaus autorės stiliaus. Knygoje smagiai žaidžiama įvardžiais ir lyties tapatybe, o laisvę gavęs Orlanda tikrai vertas visai atskiros istorijos.
Profile Image for Christine Bonheure.
743 reviews271 followers
October 31, 2024
Een tweede schrijfster als Jacqueline Harpman vind je niet. Dit is al het derde boek dat ik van haar lees en telkens verrast ze me met heel uiteenlopende thema’s en stijlen, en dat waardeer ik enorm. Ze schreef het mooie liefdesverhaal ‘Het strand van Oostende�, maar ook het futuristische ‘Ik die nooit een man heb gekend� dat in mijn toptien van favoriete boeken staat. Deze spiegelroman, geïnspireerd op ‘Orlando� van Virginia Woolf, is intrigerend en psychologisch scherpzinnig, maar toch niet helemaal mijn ding. Ik heb het nochtans met interesse uitgelezen. Misschien ligt het aan de soms bombastische stijl, of val ik over de geloofwaardigheid van wat wordt verteld? Het verhaal gaat kort gezegd over de mannelijke kant van Aline die na 35 jaar onderdrukking besluit over te stappen in het lichaam van een onbekende twintigjarige. Aline blijkt echter niet zonder hem verder te kunnen, en hij niet zonder haar. Apart.
Profile Image for Gita.
167 reviews
October 26, 2023
Žaklīna Hārpmena ir viena no labākajām beļģu rakstniecēm.
Nav tā ka esmu starā par grāmatu, bet nolikt malā arī nevarēju.
Spēcīgs romāns, asprātīgs, ļauns un ķircinošs, kas godina Virdžīnu Vulfu, Prustu un pat Balzaku (un Šrēdingera kaķi!) un pēta identitātes robežas, apspiestas vēlmes un emocijas.
Profile Image for Joel.
667 reviews15 followers
November 4, 2024
Gosh this was just fantastic. A wild concept executed brilliantly. It tells us so much about love, the self, the other� And the writing is lovely, too. I’m really glad I took the time to read it in French! Jacqueline Harpman is now a strong two for two in my book; I can’t wait to read the rest of her oeuvre.
Profile Image for Simona.
22 reviews
November 16, 2024
леко объркване в началото с местоименията, заради превода от френски на английски, но ouioui très magnifique.

започнах книгата с високи очаквани след i who have never known men и въпреки, че започна бавно, втората половина от книгата погълнах наведнъж.

жаклин харпман е най-близкия до мен автор, който съм чела и се чувствам късметлийка да имам щастието да открия книгите й :)))))
Profile Image for Robert Stevens.
208 reviews2 followers
March 21, 2024
What an interesting, quality read! I usually don’t like books that lean sci-fi, but this one is psychological, which makes it a nice read with plenty to think about while and after reading. This book is also ahead of its time, in my opinion.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews

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