Mrs. Dalloway and Me

It is the second week of August and the strange summer of 2019 is slowly converging towards my favourite transition of the year; from summer to autumn; from pure enjoyment and going out, to introspective, even poignant, musings; from gallivanting around in light summer clothing to wrapping up indoors in woollen sweaters with hot chocolate and books. 

Does this transition, I wonder, mirror our own transition through life? It is not just Mrs. Dalloway and her contemporaries; young and old alike, we all go through phases. We may look back at the times which have passed – a lovely summer or a bygone youth – with joy, with longing; so often the past is considered with (unjust?) nostalgia. But the arrow of time points forward, autumn will arrive, some doors may close, some choices cannot be undone. Naturally, we may ponder about that and yet we must remember to live in the present. Just like Mrs. Dalloway.

The sound of an aeroplane bored ominously into the ears of the crowd. There it was coming over the trees, letting out white smoke from behind, which curled and twisted, actually writing something! Making letters in the sky! Everyone looked up.

Royal Air Force, flypast over London, 2018

I remember last summer, when Royal Air Force celebrated their 100 year anniversary with a flypast over central London. I wondered why London had stopped. Everyone was just standing there, frozen. Then a distant roar could be heard from above, and I understood. Like everyone else, I looked up and saw formations of military aircrafts appearing out of the sky like big, predatory, human-made birds accompanied by a thundering noise. For one brief moment we all stopped, interrupted our busy lives and felt united in this momentaneous wonder and excitement.    

Virginia Woolf

After a few false starts, I finally made it through Mrs. Dalloway. My first impression was not as favourable as it might have been. I struggled with Woolf’s prose and the complete absence of a plot did not exactly make for a page-turner.  

Slowly, but surely, the story made its way under my skin. I started to enjoy walking around in London with Mrs. Dalloway. Gradually, I got into the ‘stream of consciousness’ writing style, which flickered between the associative thoughts of a character and even flickered between different characters without any noticeable transitions or chapters. One minute we were in the mind of Mrs. Dalloway, the next in the mind of Peter Walsh, seeing Mrs. Dalloway’s character through Peter’s eyes; one minute we were in the present, the next minute we were back in the characters’ youth. 

London in the 1920’s

Mrs. Dalloway was published in 1925. I can easily see why it has become a classic. The prose is beautiful, the writing style is innovative and once I got used to it, I found it such a profound way of getting into the core of the characters. Furthermore, Woolf wrote about normal people with normal problems; real, easy to identify with, thinking about aspects of life which are universal across time and space. Our society has changed a lot since 1925, but modern versions of Mrs. Dalloway, Peter Walsh and Septimus Warren Smith are still around.

I am not sure, I liked Mrs. Dalloway, certainly her snobbery did not appeal, but I felt, I understood her. And as it turned out, we do have something in common:     

In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June. 

Yes, Mrs. Dalloway, or may I call you Clarissa, I couldn’t agree more.

Rating: 5 out of 5.
Title: Mrs. Dalloway [1925]
Author: Virginia Woolf
Format: e-book 

Genre: Literary Fiction, Impressionism

14 comments

  1. This is magical. You are a skilled writer. Do you ever write fiction?

    I read Mrs. Dalloway when I was too young to make enough sense of it, and like you, I remember feeling empathy towards her and also wondering where the plot was. Since then, I’ve become a much bigger fan of character-driven stories, so I think I should revisit Mrs. Dalloway. Glorious review.

    • Aww, thanks! Unfortunately, I don’t have it in me to write fiction. I used to think, the ideal job would be to travel the world and write travel reports, but realistically I am going to stick to book reviews. Which I enjoy!

      I doubt, I would have made much sense of Mrs. Dalloway, if I had read it as a youngster. It even required some determination to get into it now, but I am pleased I made the effort.😀

  2. You got on much better with Mrs Dalloway than I did, I fear. I found her (and Woolf’s) snobbishness unbearable and the writing style didn’t work for me at all. I did enjoy Septimus’ story though – that’s the bit that has stayed with me most. In truth, I enjoyed your beautifully written review far more than I enjoyed the book! 😀

    • I am glad you enjoyed the review, if not the actual book! 😀

      I agree, Septimus’ story was impactful and I guess Woolf’s take on PTSD and mental illness was quite progressive for her time. Of course she had her own experiences to draw on.

  3. Lovely review, beautifully written and poignant with much to ponder on 🙂 Mrs Dalloway was the first Woolf I read and I probably need to read her again (think that will be my 3rd effort). She and Woolf have stayed with me but only now do I feel I might properly appreciate them both.

    • Thanks Sandra! I could imagine that Mrs Dalloway is the first Woolf for many people. And I am sure I would enjoy a reread and perhaps discover new nuances at a later stage. For now I am going to take a Woolf break, but I am keen to try To the Lighthouse, now I know I can get on with Woolf’s writing.

      • The Lighthouse! I have tried many times with an audobook and never get to the end. I wish I knew why; it’s certainly not the book itself. I can only assume that it doesn’t work on audio for me and one day – eventually – I’ll read a paper copy 🙂

        • Oh no, that is discouraging. I normally prefer to listen to books on audio, but there is a higher risk of my concentration slipping. If I really need to focus (which I had to when reading Mrs Dalloway), paper copies or e-books work better.

  4. I think that’s exactly the problem – To the LIghthouse has Woolf’s lengthy sentences and long streams of thought and I struggled to maintain focus. The action is slow – no surprise with all that thinking going on – but it became hard to keep track. Did you listen to Mrs Dalloway or read it?

    • I read Mrs Dalloway. Especially in the beginning, I regularly had to reread sentences to make sense of them, so audio wouldn’t have worked. I will get To the Lighthouse in paper format (or e-book) as well, especially after hearing about your experience with the audiobook.

  5. I think walking around London with Mrs Dalloway is exactly what we are meant to do, we don’t need to like her but at certain moments all of us will be her. A really lovely review!

    • Thanks Jane! 😀 Yes, I agree about walking around London with Mrs Dalloway and I came to appreciate it highly, despite of my struggles in the beginning.

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