Virginia Woolf is an iconic figure of literature. Her body of work includes Orlando: The Biography, Women and Writing, and A Room of One’s Own. One of her popular novels is Mrs. Dalloway, which is my latest retro review.
Mrs. Dalloway is a story about a single day in the life of a middle-aged woman named Clarissa Dalloway. Mrs. Dalloway is planning a party and wrapped in finalizing the details-shopping for flowers, decorations, and a new frock.
While busy with preparations, Mrs. Dalloway’s mind is flooded with memories of her youth, a much simpler time. And though comfortably married, she can’t help but think of the love of her younger days, Peter Walsh. Is her true love? And why is he back in her life?
But this is not only Mrs. Dalloway’s story. It is also the story of the people who orbit her life, including her husband, daughter, and various friends and acquaintances.
Mrs. Dalloway is also the tale of a young World War 1 veteran named Septimus Smith and his Italian wife Lucrezia. Smith is suffering from shell shock, which is now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And it affecting his marriage.
Mrs. Dalloway envisions a more genteel time in post-war Britain when troubles were brewing below the surface. In a few years the planet would be dealing with the Great Depression and later World War 2.
Mrs. Dalloway fully describes the details that make up one’s life, both the great and the small.
*My copy of Mrs. Dalloway has a forward by author Maureen Howard and provides thoughtful questions for book discussion groups and individual readers.
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