Jul 23, 2024
Woolf ranked
Virginia, not Leonard
7 comments
literati
3 months ago
Orlando is my favorite novel of any author, but The Waves is her best work. Interesting list though.
yarb
3 months ago
It’s been a long time since I read those two so I expect this ranking would change on a reread. Interesting that you distinguish “favorite” from “best”. For me they’re pretty much always the same thing, because I struggle to evaluate art in any way other than “how much it pleased me” (with the very broad definition of “please” to include interest, intrigue, resonate with, and a million other things).
literati
3 months ago
Favorite indicates Orlando resonated with me the most. The Waves, my second favorite, is more ambitious, more interesting to analyze, and wholly unique. By an accident or two of life, I happpen to have more things in common with Orlando than any of the protagonists of the latter, either by themselves or as a gestalt. Were I to have the experiences of a randomly selected person I know, ceterus paribus, I'd almost certainly prefer The Waves. For most authors, I have no such distinction since my experiences as they compare to their ouevre line up with that of the majority. Woolf's the exception, not the rule.
yarb
3 months ago
The Waves is more ambitiously formally, I think, but I think Orlando has more life in it. It stands out from the rest of her work. Actually it's high time I reread that one. The movie's great too, you seen it?
meinkafka
3 months ago
thank you, this will get me through the summer