Mrs Dalloway - (Collins Classics) by Virginia Woolf (Paperback)

About the Book

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Book Synopsis

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Clarissa Dalloway is a woman of high-society - vivacious, hospitable and sociable on the surface, yet underneath troubled and dissatisfied with her life in post-war Britain. This disillusionment is an emotion that bubbles under the surface of all of Woolf's characters in Mrs Dalloway.

Centred around one day in June where Clarissa is preparing for and holding a party, her interior monologue mingles with those of the other central characters in a stream of consciousness, entwining, yet never actually overriding the pervading sense of isolation that haunts each person.

One of Virginia Woolf's most accomplished novels, Mrs Dalloway is widely regarded as one of the most revolutionary works of the 20th century in its style and the themes that it tackles. The sense that Clarissa has married the wrong person, her past love for another female friend and the death of an intended party guest all serve to amplify this stultifying existence.

From the Back Cover

Oh if she could have had her life over again! She thought.
High-society hostess Clarissa Dalloway is throwing a party. On the surface she is vivacious and sociable, yet her inner monologue reveals glimpses of a different reality: a woman isolated in love and dissatisfied with life. Clarissa's life is contrasted with that of an intended but ill-fated party guest, Septimus Warren Smith, for whom post-war life is a struggle. Both characters express a shared longing to find love and meaning - just as relevant a human experience when the novel was published in 1925 as it remains today.
Considered one of Virginia Woolf's most accomplished novels, Mrs Dalloway weaves in and out of the central characters' thoughts and lives and back and forth in time in a lyrical stream of consciousness. It remains a testament to Woolf's unique and timeless talent.

About the Author

Virginia Woolf was an English novelist, essayist, short-story writer, publisher, critic and member of the Bloomsbury group, as well as being regarded as both a hugely significant modernist and feminist figure. Her most famous works include Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and A Room of One's Own.