Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is
considered to be a classic of English literature. Woolf seeks to explore the
meaning of life and death through the thoughts and activities of a few people,
in particularly one Mrs. Dalloway, during one day and one night in post World
War I London.

Mrs. Dalloway is set during one
June day (and night) in London during the year 1923. 52-year-old Clarissa Dalloway
is the wife of Richard Dalloway, a government employee. As the novel opens,
Clarissa is running errands for the party she will be hosting that evening.
While at the florist, a royally appointed car containing a secretive passenger
backfires startling her and attracting people’s attention. This simple event
sparks the suicidal thoughts of Septimus Smith, a depressed war veteran who is
sitting in a nearby park with his adoring Italian war-bride wife Lucrezia.
"Rezia" is beside herself trying to cope with his suicidal depression
and psychotic ramblings without the help of physician who reject her pleas for
help. Meanwhile, Clarissa blissfully strolls through her day. Her headstrong
daughter, her daughter’s overly pious and possessive tutor Miss Kilman, and
even a visit from her former beau, Peter Walsh, can only cause a slight ripple
in her well-planned socially dictated life.

I had a very hard time identifying with the novel Mrs. Dalloway. It is so completely outside my realm of experience that I can almost
label it fantasy or science fiction. Raised at the end of the 20^th
century as opposed to its beginning, I can not envision a world in which women
do not work, do not speed through their day at a break neck pace, or have the
leisure to spend their time (and money) obsessing about clothes, food, and
parties. I must admit that I do agree with Woolf that Clarissa
for all her reflectiveness has a truly empty and meaningless life. Woolf had
initially intended to end the book with Clarissa’s suicide, but decided to not
go that route. I wonder if some one with so little substance in their life
would even consider suicide. The depressive nature of Septimus seems so much
more in character. The contrast between the two characters in terms of their
lifestyles, thoughts, and outcomes represents the real tragedy of the novel.

Virginia
Woolf (1882-1941) is "one of the major literary figures of the twentieth century, transformed the art of
the novel." Woolf published her first novel at the age of 27 years. Her
other novels included: Night
and Day (1919); Monday or Tuesday
(1921); Jacob’s Room (1922); Mrs. Dalloway (1925); To the Lighthouse (1927); Orlando: a Biography (1928); The Waves (1931); Flush: a Biography (1933); The
Years (1937); and Between the Acts
(1941). Woolf was an admired
literary critic and a master of the essay form. Her essays included: The Common Reader: First Series (1925); A Room of One’s Own (1929); The Common Reader: Second Series (1932);
Three Guineas (1938); and Roger Fry: a Biography (1940). Posthumously
numerous collections of her
letters and journals were published. Woolf committed suicide by
drowning herself in a river in 1941.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is
considered to be a 20^th century classic. While I can claim this book
is one of the slowest paced and boring novels I have ever read, I must it admit
it opened my eyes to an era before women’s liberation when meaning or lack
there of, must have been an important issue for women. While it is not MY cup
of tea, it is not a classic without reason. Deep meaning at grass growing pace.

© 2003 Su Terry