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“Orlando had become a woman”: trans embodiment and temporality in Virginia Woolf's Orlando
(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020) Beers, Morgan Danielle; Deutsch, David; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
The protagonist in Virginia Woolf’s fifth novel, Orlando, has continually drawn the attention of feminist and queer theorists as a model for the subversive role androgyny and transsexuality can play regarding dominant heterosexual hierarchies of power. Many of these theorists discuss Orlando’s transformation in terms of a heteronormative gender binary, viewing his/her transition from man to woman as a single crossing, therefore reinforcing the transsexual trope of linear progression. I argue, however, that Woolf’s descriptions of Orlando, at times both masculine and feminine despite his/her designated sex, fit more accurately into contemporary discussions of transfeminism in which trans individuals embody a space “in between” or, rather, outside of a strict gender binary. Examining the ways in which Orlando’s gender embodiment and Woolf’s unique presentation of temporality aligns with those described in transgender autobiographies and other trans texts, I attempt to reveal the truly subversive nature of Woolf’s work, as throughout the novel the main character often abandons the gender binary altogether and embodies a fluctuating and unique gender presentation.