VIRGINIA WOOLF

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was a prominent British writer and one of the
foremost modernist authors of the 20th century. She was born Adeline Virginia
Stephen on January 25, 1882, in London, England, into a privileged and
intellectually inclined family. Her father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was a prominent
editor, essayist, and critic, and her mother, Julia Prinsep Stephen, was a well-
known model for Pre-Raphaelite painters.

Woolf was raised in a literary and artistic environment and received a strong
education at home, which nurtured her love for literature. Her family's frequent
gatherings of intellectuals and artists played a significant role in shaping her
worldview and literary sensibilities.

In 1912, Virginia Woolf married Leonard Woolf, a writer and political theorist, and
together, they established the Hogarth Press, a small publishing house. This
venture allowed her greater control over her work and the works of other authors.
She produced many of her most important works through the Hogarth Press.

Woolf's writing is characterized by its experimental narrative techniques and a

deep exploration of the inner lives of her characters. Her most famous works
include "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925), "To the Lighthouse" (1927), "Orlando" (1928),
and "The Waves" (1931). These novels are celebrated for their stream-of-
consciousness style and their exploration of themes like the passage of time,
the nature of consciousness, and the roles of women in society.

She was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, a circle of intellectuals and
artists who profoundly influenced British culture during the early 20th century.
Her friendships and associations with fellow writers and artists, including T.S.
Eliot and E.M. Forster, enriched her creative life.

Virginia Woolf's career was marked by both critical acclaim and periods of
personal struggle. She suffered from mental health issues throughout her life and
tragically took her own life in 1941. Her legacy endures through her pioneering
contributions to the literary world, as her works continue to be widely read and
studied, and her impact on the development of modernist literature remains
profound.

MRS DALLOWAY 1925

Woolf’s first modernist novel
13 june 1923
Preoccupation with gender issues

The novel progresses through two apparently unrelated plots –one concerning
Septimus illness and eventual suicide, the other concerning Mrs Dalloway’s
preparation for a party, which the primer minister will attend. Although
characters related to each of the plots pass each other through the streets of
London, the novel achieves its real unity when Mrs D learns of Septimus’s death
from his psychiatrist (one of the guest at the party) and feels strange sympathy
form him.

What is the connection between the two plots? Mrs D seems to suggest that
the death and suffering of the poor solider redeems the apparently trivial life of
the hostess, who entertains nobility and politicians, the “old men” that postwar
society held responsible for the war. One key word in the novel is civilization.
Peter Walsh admires British civilization. They on living and they must recognize
that the civilization that permits them to do so is the same one that allowed
millions to die in the war.

Narrative technique
Mrs Dalloway is best understood in terms of Free Indirect Style
An omniscient narrator takes on the words and/or thoughts of the character in
focus
This allows the author to gather a different narrative perspectives and draw
together a group of characters in a single day

The party
Party as topos
Narratological advantages: it enables authors to gather characters together,
provides anticipation, climas and aftermath, gives scope for descriptive detail,
gives a change of polophony (opposed to omniscient narrative)

Space and time

Mrs Dalloway is set in a single day in June five years after the end of WWI
It takes place in London, the capital of the british Empire, the centre of
industralization
Many places in london are mentioned, they provide a connecting thread
between the characters in the two plots – mrs dalloway’s and desptimus warren
smith’s
Constant references to the big ben and other clocks, signalling the passing of
time
The war: the old men had sent the young men to be slaughtered like cattle (“Myth
of the War”, Hyne) – Crisis of civilization

Gender
Clarissa seems to exemplify the lack of serious change in geneder roles – she is
concerned about parties and dressing up
However, she has to suffer the disadvantages of being a woman: no formal
education
Economically vulnerable: limited income and no possibility to work
Sometimes feels that she is invisible, that she has no identity of her own, just
being mrs. Richard Dalloway
Yet, a woman like doris kilman, had had her degree and has made her way in
the world” (112) and speaks about “new opportunities for the women of her
generation” (115)

The novel includes members of all social classes, fom the lowest to the highest
– prime minister, aristocracy, university professors, doctors, artist, british middle
classes, servants

Feminism
Mrs Dalloway is a typically female text as one that expresses and hides its
subversive impulses

Homoerotic love –
She and Sally fell a little behind. Then came the most exquisite moment of
her whole life passing a stone urn with flowers in it. Sally stopped; picked a
flower; kissed her on the lips. The whole world might have turned upside down!

Clarissa and Sally spoke of marriage practically as a catastrophe

Characters

1. Clarissa Dalloway: The novel's central character, Clarissa is a middle-aged

woman married to Richard Dalloway. She is a complex character who struggles
with her past, societal expectations, and her own identity. Throughout the day,
she reflects on her life, her choices, and the choices of those around her.

2. Septimus Warren Smith: Septimus is a World War I veteran suffering from

severe shell shock and mental trauma. His experiences in the war have left him
deeply disturbed, and he serves as a parallel character to Clarissa, as both
grapple with the effects of their respective pasts.

3. Peter Walsh: A former suitor of Clarissa and an old friend, Peter returns to
London from India. He reflects on his past relationship with Clarissa and
contemplates the choices he has made in life.

4. Richard Dalloway: Clarissa's husband, a Conservative Member of Parliament.

He cares for Clarissa but is somewhat conventional in his thinking and doesn't
fully understand her complex inner world.

5. Sally Seton: A childhood friend of Clarissa, Sally represents a more free-

spirited and unconventional lifestyle. She had a significant influence on Clarissa
during their youth.
6. Elizabeth Dalloway: Clarissa and Richard's daughter, Elizabeth is a thoughtful
and introspective young woman. Her thoughts and actions also provide insight
into the generational differences and changing societal norms.

7. Dr. Bradshaw: A renowned physician who treats Septimus, Dr. Bradshaw

represents the medical establishment of the time and is somewhat clinical in his
approach to mental illness.

8. Sir William Bradshaw: The husband of Dr. Bradshaw, Sir William is a

prominent figure in the medical profession and serves as a symbol of the
establishment.

First paragraphs
Opening sentence/first paragraph: unremarkable. Similar to the beginning of
may realist novels. Only its immediacy is striking. As the following paragraphs
make clear, there is not going to be any conventional description of Mrs
Dalloway: who she is, her family, her house, what she wants the flowers for.
Second paragraph: Lucy is mentioned but not introduced. Why are doors going
to be taken off their hinges? The reader immediately has several questions which
will be answered later in the book. The reader gathers information by moving in
and out of the mind of Clarissa and other characters. Woolf chooses to ‘plunge’
the reader into the novel just as Mrs Dalloway ‘plunged’ into the open air at
Bourton. As happens in life, the primary subject of the novel, readers have to
orient themselves.
Third paragraph: The past at Bourton. How is this association made? The
hinges. A confirmation that from the second paragraph on the narrator has been
mediating the thoughts of Mrs Dalloway: Free indirect style + interior monologue
(“What a lark!”). But the thoughts are usually still presented in the third person,
mediated by the narrator.
Fourth paragraph: the narrator moves away from Clarissa’s thoughts and
focalises the narrative through the mind of one of her neighbours, Scrope Purvis,
who views her across the street. ‘Perched’: like a bird, one of the key images
associated with her. Upright, light, vivacious.
Fifth paragraph: Clarissa’s thoughts. It brings to the fore several of the central
preoccupations of the novel. Notice the long snaking first sentence that enacts
its own subject. A progression towards the moment when Big Ben strikes. The
clock ‘booms’ out, ‘first a warning’, then the hour ‘irrevocable’. The suggestion
of a gun or cannon having fired is underlined by the following sentence: ‘The
leaden circles dissolved in the air’. The war. The striking of Big Ben is a device
to move the narrator from the thoughts of one character to the other, since they
both hear the sound wherever they are in central London.
The rest of the paragraph is about life, which surrounds the individual’s senses.
Everyone of us is ‘building it’, ‘tumbling it’, ‘creating it every moment afresh’. Life
is dynamic, exciting, a constant bombardment of sensations.