Mrs Dalloway

Book Description :

Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. For Lucy had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges; Rumpelmayer's men were coming. And then, thought Clarissa Dalloway, what a morning--fresh as if issued to children on a beach.

Book Description :

Virginia Woolf’s groundbreaking novel, in a lushly illustrated hardcover edition with illuminating commentary from a brilliant young Oxford scholar and critic. “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” So begins Virginia Woolf’s much-beloved fourth novel. First published in 1925, Mrs. Dalloway has long been viewed not only as Woolf’s masterpiece, but as a pivotal work of literary modernism and one of the most significant and influential novels of the twentieth century. In this visually powerful annotated edition, acclaimed Oxford don and literary critic Merve Emre gives us an authoritative version of this landmark novel, supporting it with generous commentary that reveals Woolf’s aesthetic and political ambitions—in Mrs. Dalloway and beyond—as never before. Mrs. Dalloway famously takes place over the course of a single day in late June, its plot centering on the upper-class Londoner Clarissa Dalloway, who is preparing to throw a party that evening for the nation’s elite. But the novel is complicated by Woolf’s satire of the English social system, and by her groundbreaking representation of consciousness. The events of the novel flow through the minds and thoughts of Clarissa and her former lover Peter Walsh and others in their circle, but also through shopkeepers and servants, among others. Together Woolf’s characters—each a jumble of memories and perceptions—create a broad portrait of a city and society transformed by the Great War in ways subtle but profound ways. No figure has been more directly shaped by the conflict than the disturbed veteran Septimus Smith, who is plagued by hallucinations of a friend who died in battle, and who becomes the unexpected second hinge of the novel, alongside Clarissa, even though—in one of Woolf’s many radical decisions—the two never meet. Emre’s extensive introduction and annotations follow the evolution of Clarissa Dalloway—based on an apparently conventional but actually quite complex acquaintance of Woolf’s—and Septimus Smith from earlier short stories and drafts of Mrs. Dalloway to their emergence into the distinctive forms devoted readers of the novel know so well. For Clarissa, Septimus, and her other creations, Woolf relied on the skill of “character reading,” her technique for bridging the gap between life and fiction, reality and representation. As Emre writes, Woolf’s “approach to representing character involved burrowing deep into the processes of consciousness, and, so submerged, illuminating the infinite variety of sensation and perception concealed therein. From these depths, she extracted an unlimited capacity for life.” It is in Woolf’s characters, fundamentally unknowable but fundamentally alive, that the enduring achievement of her art is most apparent. For decades, Woolf’s rapturous style and vision of individual consciousness have challenged and inspired readers, novelists, and scholars alike. The Annotated Mrs. Dalloway, featuring 150 illustrations, draws on decades of Woolf scholarship as well as countless primary sources, including Woolf’s private diaries and notes on writing. The result is not only a transporting edition of Mrs. Dalloway, but an essential volume for Woolf devotees and an incomparable gift to all lovers of literature.

Book Description :

Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf's fourth novel, offers the reader an impression of a single June day in London in 1923. Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of a Conservative member of parliament, is preparing to give an evening party, while the shell-shocked Septimus Warren Smith hears the birds in Regent's Park chattering in Greek. There seems to be nothing, except perhaps London, to link Clarissa and Septimus. She is middle-aged and prosperous, with a sheltered happy life behind her; Smith is young, poor, and driven to hatred of himself and the whole human race. Yet both share a terror of existence, and sense the pull of death. The world of Mrs Dalloway is evoked in Woolf's famous stream of consciousness style, in a lyrical and haunting language which has made this, from its publication in 1925, one of her most popular novels.

Book Description :

This first volume of its kind contains the complete text of and guide to Virginia Woolf's masterpiece, plus Mrs. Dalloway's Party and numerous journal entries and letters by Virginia Woolf relating to the book's genesis and writing. The distinguished novelist Francine Prose has selected these pieces as well as essays and appreciations, critical views, and commentary by writers famous and unknown. Now with additional scholarly commentary by Mark Hussey, professor of English at Pace University, this complete volume illuminates the creation of a celebrated story and the genius of its author. Includes essays and commentary from: Michael Cunningham E. M. Forster Margo Jefferson James Wood Mary Gordon Elaine Showalter Daniel Mendelsohn Sigrid Nunez Deborah Eisenberg Elissa Schappell

Book Description :

Mrs. Dalloway (1925) is a novel by Virginia Woolf. Adapted from two short stories, “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street” and “The Prime Minister,” Mrs. Dalloway is a moving portrait of a day in the life of one woman, her thoughts and perceptions, and the influence of war on the human psyche. Recognized as one of Woolf’s most important works, Mrs. Dalloway is often considered one of the greatest English language novels of the twentieth century. In the aftermath of the Great War, two Londoners lead vastly different lives. Each of them, in their own way, has been impacted by violence—one, Clarissa Dalloway, has had her aristocratic lifestyle interrupted and struggles to reconcile her idyllic past with a present reeling from conflict; the other, Septimus Warren Smith, is a wounded veteran left to fend for himself on the streets of England’s capital. Throughout the day, as Mrs. Dalloway readies herself and her home for a party in the evening, she muses on her youth in the countryside and fantasizes about leaving her husband Richard. Across the city, Septimus lives in a park with his estranged Italian wife, Lucrezia. Suffering from a mental breakdown, he is struck with a series of powerful hallucinations and ultimately taken to a nearby psychiatric hospital. Well educated and decorated in battle, he has been left behind by the society he fought to protect, the very society gathering that night at Mrs. Dalloway’s opulent home. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is a classic work of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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"One of her greatest achievements." — The Guardian. Revolutionary in its psychological realism, this modernist masterpiece chronicles a day in the life of an upper-class Englishwoman by employing a stream-of-consciousness narrative that portrays the fragmented yet fluid nature of time.

Book Description :

Mrs. Dalloway takes place on one day in the middle of June 1923. Its plot is seemingly thin: a middle-aged society hostess is having a party; she hopes the Prime Minister will attend; she reconnects with old friends from her youth. From these slimmest of premises a whole world unfolds. Of all of Virginia Woolf’s novels, it is Mrs. Dalloway that appears to speak most intimately to our own time. Selected contemporary reviews, both positive and negative, are included in the appendices of this edition, as are materials on the literary, political, medical, and educational contexts of the novel.

Book Description :

In The Hours, Michael Cunningham—widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation—draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf ’s last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Richard, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers and family. Passionate, profound and deeply moving, The Hours is Cunningham’s most remarkable achievement to date.

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“She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day.”

Book Description :

Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of a Conservative member of parliament, is preparing to give an evening party, while the shell-shocked Septimus Warren Smith hears the birds in Regent's Park chattering in Greek. There seems to be nothing, except perhaps London, to link Clarissa and Septimus. She is middle-aged and prosperous, with a sheltered happy life behind her; Smith is young, poor, and driven to hatred of himself and the whole human race. Yet both share a terror of existence, and sense the pull of death. The world of Mrs Dalloway is evoked in Woolf's famous stream of consciousness style, in a lyrical and haunting language which has made this, from its publication in 1925, one of her most popular novels.

Book Description :

Probably Virginia Woolf’s best-known novel, Mrs. Dalloway, originally published in 1925, is a glorious, ground-breaking text. On the surface, it follows Clarissa Dalloway, an Englishwoman in her fifties, minute by minute through the June day on which she is having a party. At a deeper level, however, the novel demonstrates, through an effortless stream of consciousness, the connections formed in human interaction—whether these interactions are fleeting, or persist through decades. This is a novel to read and cherish, if only to marvel at Woolf’s linguistic acrobatics. Words and phrases swoop and soar like swallows. Woolf’s sentences are magnificent: sinuous, whirling, impeccably detailed. As narrative perspective shifts from character to character—sometimes within a single sentence—readers come to understand the oh-so-permeable barrier between self and other. Through Clarissa we meet Septimus Warren Smith, his wife Rezia, and a cast of dozens more, all connected by the “leaden circles” of Big Ben marking the passage of every hour, by the pavements of Bloomsbury that lead everywhere and nowhere. Modernist London has never been portrayed more sublimely: replete with birdsong and flowers, resplendent in sunshine, youthful yet eternal—and even in the aftermath of war and pandemic, resilient. Mrs. Dalloway is Woolf’s attempt to express that which may be inexpressible. It offers a close examination of how difficult it is, even when our hearts are brimming, to say what we really feel; and it examines the damage we inflict through our reticence with words, our withholding of love. It is a novel of the soul, and a work of immense beauty. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

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The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format. In CliffsNotes on Mrs. Dalloway, you explore one of Virginia Woolf’s greatest works, which is about life, love, friendship, and acceptance. Here, you meet Clarissa Dalloway as she’s preparing for a party she will host that evening; and Septimus Smith, a shell-shocked war veteran struggling with the aftereffects of going to battle. This study guide carefully walks you through every step of a day in the life of Clarissa and Septimus by providing summaries and critical analyses of each chapter of the novel. You'll also explore the life and background of the author, Virginia Woolf, and gain insight into how she came to write Mrs. Dalloway. Other features that help you study include A list of characters Character analyses of Clarissa and Septimus A review section that tests your knowledge A bibliography for more study Classic literature or modern-day treasure—you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Book Description :

Written in the same period as Mrs Dalloway these seven short stories show the author's fascination with parties and with all the excitement, the fluctuations of mood and temper and the heightened emotions which surround these social occasions. Mrs Dalloway's Party is enchanting piece of work by one of our most acclaimed twentieth-century writers.

Book Description :

Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway (1925) has long been recognised as one of her outstanding achievements and one of the canonical works of modernist fiction. Each generation of readers has found something new within its pages, which is reflected in its varying critical reception over the last ninety years. As the novel concerns itself with women's place in society, war and madness, it was naturally interpreted differently in the ages of second wave feminism, the Vietnam War and the anti-psychiatry movement. This has, of course, created a rather daunting number of different readings. Michael H. Whitworth contextualizes the most important critical work and draws attention to the distinctive discourses of critical schools, noting their endurance and interplay. Whitworth also examines how adaptations, such as Michael Cunningham's The Hours, can act as critical works in themselves, creating an invaluable guide to Mrs Dalloway.

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This collection is intended as a useful introduction to Virginia Woolf's celebrated and often misunderstood novel, designed for both teachers and students. It is hoped it will lead to a deep understanding of Mrs. Dalloway and Woolf's method in general.

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"A revolutionary novel of profound scope and depth, about a day in the life of a woman who runs a few errands, sees an old suitor and gives a dull party. It's a masterpiece created out of the humblest narrative materials. . . . Woolf was one of the first writers to understand there are no insignificant lives, only inadequate ways of looking at them." —The New York Times The story follows one day of upper-class housewife Clarissa Dalloway's life as she plans and hosts a dinner party at her house. Along the way she meets with people from both her past—a former suitor whose proposal she rejected and whom she no longer gets along with—and her present—her distant husband, Richard; her daughter, Elizabeth; and her daughter's teacher, Miss Kilman, whom she despises (and who feels the same towards Clarissa). Proving herself a master and innovator of the parallel narrative, Woolf separately introduces reader to another storyline about a young veteran who was once a poet and a romantic before experiencing the horrors of war and becoming suicidal. He is diagnosed with mental illness and is being forced to separate from his wife and go to a mental asylum. Written one of the most prolific female authors of the twentieth century, this stunning novel is often considered Woolf's magnum opus. Enjoy this beautifully rejuvenated edition of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

Book Description :

The book explores the influence of painting on the narrative style of Virginia Woolf, especially in two of her most famous novels, "Mrs Dalloway" and "To the Lighthouse". Woolf was known for her experimental approach to storytelling. The text argues that her interest in the visual arts, particularly painting, significantly shaped her writing style. The author discusses how Woolf's use of stream of consciousness and how she weaves multiple perspectives together can be seen as analogous to the techniques used by painters to create a cohesive image out of multiple perspectives. The book also examines specific examples from the novels where Woolf's writing is directly influenced by visual art, such as her use of the symbol of the lighthouse in "To the Lighthouse". Overall, the essay demonstrates how Virginia Woolf's love of painting and visual art shaped her unique narrative style and how her writing can be read in dialogue with the visual arts of her time.

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Gale Researcher Guide for: Mrs. Dalloway: Virginia Woolf's Modernist Breakthrough is selected from Gale's academic platform Gale Researcher. These study guides provide peer-reviewed articles that allow students early success in finding scholarly materials and to gain the confidence and vocabulary needed to pursue deeper research.

Book Description :

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Virginia Woolf’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Woolf includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Woolf’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

Book Description :

A Study Guide for Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.