Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
10th International KTUDELL Conference: Language, Literature, and Translation , Trabzon, Türkiye, 29 - 30 Mayıs 2025, ss.298-306, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
Acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in feminist thought, Virginia Woolf challenges the
patriarchal structures and advocates for an equal society for men and women. Her writings reveal her
struggle against traditional gender identities and the exclusion of women from society, alongside the
struggles of women in a society shaped by men. Focusing on the binarities of gender identities, her
“Orlando: A Biography” (1928) is famous for its radical shift between genders, which embodies a revolt
against the period’s strict gender identity imposition, as well as its reflection on the period’s spirit of
transformation. Orlando’s journey through centuries and genders accentuates Woolf’s rejection of social
boundaries of gender identities and suggests gender performativity along with an androgynous gender
formation rather than an innatist perspective. Therefore, this paper, intending to contribute to ongoing
debates in feminist theory, aims to delineate how Woolf challenges fixed gender identities and explores
fluid gender roles and gender performativity by dwelling on the androgynous characteristics of Orlando
in “Orlando: A Biography”.