Mrs. Dalloway: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Sydney M. Williams Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf February 12, 2022 “She felt very young; at the same time unspeakably aged. She sliced like a knife through everything; at the same time was outside, looking on.” Mrs. Dalloway, 1925 Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) In this short novel – 166 pages in my edition – Virginia Woolf provided vignettes and flashbacks, in kaleidoscopic fashion, to tell the story of one day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway: “She was not old yet. She had just broken into her fifty-second year.” We learn that she is preparing for a party that evening. The novel’s opening sentence – “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself” – is almost as well-known as that of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice – “It is a truth universally acknowledged…” The story takes place on a June day in London, in 1923. The Great War has been over for five years, except for those who suffered. A reminder of its devastation is Septimus Warren Smith and his Italian wife Rezia: “he had gone to France to save England.” Now home, his mood – a consequence of “shell shock” – swings from mourning his friend Evans, who was killed in Italy a few days before the Armistice, to febrile joy. His suicide serves as contrast to the gala of Mrs. Dalloway’s party. Mrs. Dalloway’s home was near Westminster Bridge where she lived with her MP husband Richard and seventeen-year-old daughter. Richard: “…he liked continuity, and the sense of handing on the traditions of the past.” Elizabeth: “…charming to look at,” but “she never seemed excited.” We hear Clarissa reminisce, as she crosses Green Park to Piccadilly, walks past Hatchards to Mulberry’s florist on Bond Street. It is the passage of time – punctuated by Big Ben’s chimes – that dominate the story. Earlier, Clarissa received Peter Walsh, a beau from her youth who had spent the intervening years in India. She invites him to her party. Separately, an old friend Sally Seaton, now Lady Rosseter comes by and is also invited to the party. These visits and the memories they evoke provide flashbacks to the turn of the Century when as young people they gathered at Clarissa’s family’s country home, Bourton, for parties and games. The party includes old friends and Parliamentary acquaintances of Richard, including the Prime Minister: “He looked so ordinary. You might have stood behind him and bought biscuits…” Peter Walsh observes that no one looked at him, yet they “felt to the marrow…this symbol of what they all stood for, English society.” Others at the party are described, in Virginia Woolf’s inimical voice: Sir Harry, “…who had produced more bad pictures than any other two Academicians in the whole of St. John’s Wood.” Professor Brierly, “…his innocence blent with snobbery.” Lord Gayton, “Ponies mouths quivered at the end of his reins.” Clarissa, according to Richard, was criticized unfairly for her parties, though he thought they were foolish, as excitement was bad for her heart. Her childhood friends thought she enjoyed having famous people about. But they were wrong; her parties were celebrations of life: “What she liked was simply life. ‘That’s what I do it for,’ she said, speaking aloud, to life.” This is a short novel, providing the reader vivid images and witty commentary on an age and time gone by.

Now I understand why British Punk Rock was born, this posh, status worrying, conformism was painful to read. This has a very similar underlying theme as the Great Gatsby. It's okay, just ponderous.

Clarissa Dalliway is the orb around which a slice of English society turns. On one day, lives cross paths, in Regents Park, on the trains, in the halls of society wealth. Peter loves Clarissa although she chose another to marry. Should he go to her soiree or mot, having returned from a post in India. And should Septimus have not committed suicide, if the renowned doctors had not interfered? What of Elizabeth, the daughter of the Dalloways, do about her severe teacher, who despised her mother? And then Sally, who had kissed Clarissa on the lips all those years ago, and still stirred Clarissa with that single instance all these years? Life unfolds in Worlds lyric prose like a flood of time across the English countryside, and with the clocks of London.

Mrs. Dalloway follows her for one day in her life as she prepares for a dinner party in London. One of the classics.

I love this glimpse of old life in London after WWII through the eyes of a woman whose dreams, fears, joy, vulnerability, insecurity, and confidence are ageless things. The longing for a past life, the acceptance that life goes on, is universal. Woolf's stream-of-consciousness writing style keeps me coming back to this novel. Both she and Wharton greatly influenced my writing style. I've always believed magic happens in the streams of thought when you must write them down quickly before they vanish forever. Woolf's novel captures a woman with countless thoughts that spill onto the page, revealing poetry and truth in every word page. I give this one five stars because of the unique writing style and the fact that it stays with you long after you finish it.

Really good book and a really pretty cover design.

Virginia Wolf takes you on a voyage through the consciousness of several people as they walk about London, and Clarissa prepares for her party. It took me a moment to catch the rhythm because I was distracted by the beauty of the language and imagery.

A good, quick read, at least for me it was. A story of love lost, of growing old, memories and much more.

Perfect

Loved this snapshot of a day in London carrying a meditation on relationships and life and where they lead you.

No tiene formato alguno. Está de corrido sin puntos o terminación de párrafos haciendo difícil de entender la historia porque no se entiende dónde inicia o termina una sección o "capitulo" Es muy común encontrar errores gramaticales en libros kindle aún de ediciones en idioma Español, pero esto está terrible.

Meu primeiro livro dessa editora. Simplesmente decepcionada. Acho que nem uma produção de fundo de quintal é tão ruim como essa. Páginas mal cortadas, capa esfolada e páginas amassadas. Só o que salvará o livro é a história mesmo.

I'm so happy to include the book on my bookshelf the only complaint is that the pages are cutting badly.