Book(s) - Mrs Dalloway

Book- the complete shorter fiction of Virginia Woolf / MRs Dalloway 
Author: Virginia Woolf (and edited by Susan Dick)

Scores ? and 9/10
Years:  Short from 1923  / Novel 1925.

Publications 1989 (my second edition) / 1992 
Publisher : Harvest  / Penguin classics 
ISBN : 0-15-621250-1 / 978-0-141-18249-0

pages :    7 (from 152-159)                    / 213* 

Language : English 

(note : my copy of the shorter fiction... has a similar cover but with Virginia's name in green font). 

As I've been reading Woolf's complete shorter fiction, and following it story after story, in their original chronological order as presented in my edition, I decided to read Mrs Dalloway in bond street, from 1923, and fast-forward a couple years to her longer version of the same story - Mrs Dalloway, from 1925. 


The short story seemed a jumble of words and sentences that was very hard for me to read and I'm afraid that it's either not very good, or holds too many unwritten messages between the lines. Perhaps reading again, with the help of a literary review of it would help me better access this seemingly inaccessible art. Hence, my "?" regarding my score for it. 

As for the novel : each sitting, I'd read a portion and took notes for this review. I'll let you read those further down. For those who don't have the patience, let me start with the end : my conclusions - The crux of the book : 

The difficulty, but also ingenuity of this novel, is that it innovates, as Woolf didn't divide it into chapters. It's a mix of a continuous story, as it covers about 12 hours, during a day in mid-June, 1923, while adding a series of internal dialogues characters have about their pasts, presents, and sometimes the future ; or what could have been, had they chosen and acted differently. 


There are a few points during the novel, where the real-time events are marked by the chimes of Big Ben, and as characters cross one another's path, the novel shifts from one person, or sets of persons, to another, and on each occasion, I loved how Woolf used different means for these shifts as we focus on someone else. Characters from previous novels also make apparences in this one - in a sort of cross-over, since Mrs Dalloway isn't a sequel to them.  

There is a lot of repetition in words, as if the characters lost their trains of thoughts. This is present in most of Woolf's writing, but here seems to take a life of its own - for ill or for good. 

Punctuation and lack of proper breaks in discussions between characters can confuse as to whom utters a specific phrase, and you must pay attention far more than most novels. 


I like the book's feminist aspects and Woolf's attention to details of women's activities,  and social comments on vapidity, people's adoration and yet ignorance of those 

around them - even of celebrities (in the form of those possible royal figures) and daring to break taboos. 

I like some of the existential and philosophical inner-debates. 


Mrs Dalloway also includes some autobiographical elements and though it's not the easier read, it grew on me and I really enjoyed it immensely. Thus, despite a slightly more strenuous reading process, my overall score is 9/10. 


Now, I'll let you discover, if you want to, the order of composition of my notes : 

My wife's telling me her own attempt to read this short story and giving up after 4 pages, didn't give me much hope as for the novel version, which I started reading yesterday (August 1st).

I noted that though the beginning was also a bit difficult to access, I found the language lighter than the shorter-version ; this helped to keep my pace and in my first two sittings, have read 31 & 28 pages, respectively. I further noted that the shorter version had only Mrs Dalloway's path through Bond street, her jumbled thoughts and going into a hats and gloves shop. 
There, she had requested a very specific pair of gloves, and whilst waiting for the shop owner, had mused as to her name - realising that she had known her many years prior. During this shop visit, Clarissa Dalloway doesn't seem at all likeable to me. She's an egotist, an elitist, and frankly rude as she keeps moaning and complaining at how long the owner takes to bring her the correct pair, and, oh, of all the extra wait she's going to have to go through to get her change. At that point, she also exclaims her eurka, as she recalls she shop owner's/ her old friend's name. 

Now, in the novel, thus far, Clarissa did pause in front of the same shop, but went on her way into a florist shop. This portion depicts a lot of vapidity in thoughts, not only Mrs Dalloway's, but all those she sees outside, on the street, as they notice a car, possibly with royalty in it - there are a lot of theories whose hand was seen out of the car-window, but, here Virginia Woolf veers fast and hard, to the same people, wondering what letters an airplane is writing in the sky... 
All this, in the first sitting, was quite difficult to follow and appreciate - and I may need clarification as to the nature and merits of this passage- especially the plane part. 

Today [august 2nd], I read my second portion and found it a lot more interesting - Clarissa receiving a visit from Peter Walsh, a man she might have had married, and during their conversation, there is a certain uneasiness and a lot of bitterness and confrontation, in a very "British" way, as they say  - all in the mind, and the few dialogues show us that the individuals involved here are each stuck in their own minds, wishes and projects. After this man leaves her home, and walks about the streets of London, I found that he is quite creepy, as he follows another woman in a very stalkerish manner - yet, not specifically said in this way. 

[[ added August 3]] : After Peter Walsh leaves Clarissa Dalloway's, he heads to Regent's Park. As he walks, his thoughts about his past relationship with her, the inner dialogue is interspersed by people he follows or notices in the park. Although this can be at first disconcerting, I find it exquisitely well written and I love how Virginia tells us that he is totally obsessed about his past, his dreams and his changes in life plans. He is so obsessed, that even though he witnesses someone else's emotional breakdown, or falls asleep on a bench.... each time, his attention goes back to Mrs Dalloway, and all that they had or could have had.
His repetitive handling of a pocket knife as he becomes excited or anxious is an interesting character trait which I see as an OCD. 

Now, if you don't know what that is : Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and I have to add here that as Virginia had suffered all her life from several mental illnesses, and like many novelists, transposes a character or several to portray these aspects of herself, in a very realistic manner throughout this novel, with the knowledge of the period. Indeed, there is a character who suffers from "shell shock" from World War 1 ; and manic-depressive (just like Woolf herself) which are now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the former, and Bipolar Disorder for the latter. 

Characterisation is gradual, and though I don't find Mrs Dalloway a likeable person, she is more interesting than her short-story counterpart. 

I also liked Virginia's daring to address the topics of sexuality, and pushed the boundaries, by discussing repressed homosexual and lesbian sexuality, and let me remind you, the novel was published in 1925!, a period where the British authorities were prosecuting such practices as immoral, and illegal - with dire consequences.

[ you see where I had gotten to ] The crux of the book : 

The difficulty, but also ingenuity of this novel, is that it innovates, as Woolf didn't divide it into chapters. It's a mix of a continuous story, as it covers about 12 hours, during a day in mid-June, 1923, while adding a series of internal dialogues characters have about their pasts, presents, and sometimes the future ; or what could have been, had they chosen and acted differently. 

There are a few points during the novel, where the real-time events are marked by the chimes of Big Ben, and as characters cross one another's path, the novel shifts from one person, or sets of persons, to another, and on each occasion, I loved how Woolf used different means for these shifts as we focus on someone else. Characters from previous novels also make apparences in this one - in a sort of cross-over, since Mrs Dalloway isn't a sequel to them.  

There is a lot of repetition in words, as if the characters lost their trains of thoughts. This is present in most of Woolf's writing, but here seems to take a life of its own - for ill or for good. 
Punctuation and lack of proper breaks in discussions between characters can confuse as to whom utters a specific phrase, and you must pay attention far more than most novels. 

I like the book's feminist aspects and Woolf's attention to details of women's activities,  and social comments on vapidity, people's adoration and yet ignorance of those 
around them - even of celebrities (in the form of those possible royal figures) and daring to break taboos. 

I like some of the existential and philosophical inner-debates. 

Mrs Dalloway also includes some autobiographical elements and though it's not the easier read, it grew on me and I really enjoyed it immensely. 

* Mrs Dalloway, the novel, starts at page 3 and ends up 213. However, my penguin classics includes 67 notes in pages 214-225, which I suggest reading only after you are done with the novel, as these will partially spoil details to come. 

After these notes, there is an appendice, regarding emendations for several editions which were used in choosing specific words and phrases, as there had been a few doubts and changes. These are at pages 227-232.

To finish my review, the book had started with a map of central London in the mid-1920's at page VI ; bibliographical notes IX ; Introduction XI ; further reading XLIX ; a note on the text LIII