Summary of Mrs Dalloway
On a single day in June 1923, Clarissa Dalloway, a 51-year-old upper-class woman in London, prepares for the evening-party she will give, inviting friends and acquaintances. Meanwhile, Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of the First World War, spends the day in Regent’s Park with his Italian wife, Rezia, troubled by memories of his fallen comrade Evans. Through flashbacks and streams of thought, we learn about Clarissa’s youth and present state of mind, alongside Septimus’ wartime experiences and his descent into mental illness.
Reasons to read Mrs Dalloway
“Mrs Dalloway” is a classic of 20th-century British literature and one of the first novels to use stream-of-consciousness techniques. The novel captures the workings of time, fate, and memory, unfolding the past and inner lives of its characters against the backdrop of a single June day in London. Themes range from the lack of treatment of mental illness, to the position of women in society, the constraints of social class, and suppressed homosexual desires. Other novels by English modernist writer Virginia Woolf include “To the Lighthouse”, “Orlando”, and “The Waves”.
Setting: London (England, UK)
The novel is set in several locations across London: Clarissa spends her day mostly in Mayfair, but she lives in Westminster, just off Victoria Street, within sight of Big Ben, Parliament, and the Thames. Septimus and Rezia are seated on a bench along the Broad Walk in Regent’s Park.
Original title: Mrs Dalloway
Year of publication: 1925
Nr of pages: 176
