Orlando Famoso: Obscurity, Fame and History in Orlando

The spectres of past and future imagined literary spaces pervade Angeliki Spiropoulou’s chapter. Drawing on classical and Renaissance constructions of the hero and the poet, Spiropoulou addresses ideas of literary fame and immortality in Orlando. From the caricatured writer Nick Greene, who extols ‘La Gloire’ above material gain while simultaneously seeking patronage, to the gender politics of anonymity and obscurity, Spiropoulou interrogates the traditional ways in which biography builds fame. Her chapter explores the historically bound nuances of writing for glory, and considers Woolf’s own complex relationship to fame in light of Orlando’s popular success.