Orlando: A Graphic Novel Adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Queer Classic

German artist Kuhlendahl’s graceful debut adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s 1928 novel illuminates its insight that “often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness.” Kuhlendahl depicts Woolf at her desk creating her hero(ine), who starts out as a young Elizabethan nobleman. Over the course of centuries, Orlando ages at a glacial pace, as do England’s opinions on gender roles. After living in Constantinople as an ambassador and getting married, he slips into a “trance“ and awakens as a woman. At first Orlando lives as an androgynous “gypsy,” but upon returning to Queen Anne’s England, she realizes the “penalties and privileges of womanhood,” noting that “nothing is more heavenly than to resist and to yield” to her suitors. Kuhlendahl’s whimsical drawings offer gently progressive touches, such as when Orlando is serenaded by a trio of trumpeters drawn as ranging from femme to butch. Kuhlendahl depicts Orlando nude with female body parts, but the character’s primary concern is not with those new parts, but rather how a dress impacts her reception, compared to breeches and a tricornered hat. Ultimately, Orlando is most free when toggling between genders—both how she presents and whom she loves. It’s a fittingly innovative and playful take on the original. (Mar.)