 |
Woolf
in the World:
A Pen and a Press of Her Own
Mrs.
Dalloway
 Mrs.
Dalloway traces the thoughts, memories, and emotions of one character
through the course of a single day in the middle of June 1923. Woolf’s
fourth novel, originally entitled “The Hours,” is set in London.
The main character, Clarissa Dalloway, prepares for a party while in a
parallel narrative Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked soldier, commits
suicide. Mrs. Dalloway marks Woolf’s first attempt to center
an entire novel within the consciousnesses of its various characters.
In her introduction to the Modern Library edition, Woolf says that in
the first version “Mrs Dalloway was originally to kill herself,
or perhaps merely to die at the end of the party” and “Septimus,
who later is intended to be her double, had no existence.” Woolf
drew upon her own experiences with mental illness to write the so-called
“mad scenes” in the novel.
Virginia
Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway. London: Hogarth Press, 1925. Dust jacket
designed by Vanessa Bell.
 Woolf
first wrote about Mr. and Mrs. Dalloway in her novel The Voyage
Out (1915). Woolf continued her fascination with the society world
of the Dalloways in Mrs. Dalloway and in a series of short
stories, such as “The New Dress,” which was published in
the Forum (May 1927). Woolf’s self-consciousness about
her appearance and her fear of doctors—explored in the novel and
short stories—are illustrated in two letters to Margery Olivier
(1886-1974), who was the eldest daughter of the Fabian Socialist Sir
Sydney Olivier and his wife Margaret. The letters were written after
Woolf’s breakdown in 1915. Margery’s sister Noel was training
to be a doctor, a profession Margery was considering as well. Woolf
writes: “Even without hearts, you have appearances, and one can
get within speaking distance of you, which is quite impossible with
the ordinary male doctor.” In the later letter, Woolf thanks Margery
for a beautiful yellow evening jacket: “If you knew how I detest
facing the black satin women in shops you could judge of my gratitude.”
Virginia
Woolf. Mrs. Dalloway. New York: The Modern Library, 1928.
Virginia
Woolf. Letters to Margery Olivier, 13 & 21 January [1916].
Presented
by Frances Hooper ’14.
Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College
Click on each image to open it at full size in a new window.
next
case | return
home
Terms
of Use | Return
to Top
Home
| Research | Library Services
| General Information | Smith
Libraries & Collections | Need Help?
 |
Smith
College Libraries, Northampton, MA 01063 | [413] 585-2902
TheLibraries'Webmaster@smith.edu
Copyright © 2003 Smith College Libraries. All Rights Reserved.
Last
Updated:
November 20, 2006
|
|
|
