Nicholas Whyte's Reviews > Orlanda
Orlanda
by
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.
by

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.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
June 29, 2024
– Shelved