Virginia Woolf

Woolf: Mrs Dalloway

In this course, Dr Madeleine Davies (University of Reading) explores Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel, Mrs Dalloway. In the first three modules, we outline some of the key contexts for the novel, including: (i) the life and career of Virginia Woolf; (ii) Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries; and (iii) literary modernism. After that we turn to the novel itself, focusing in particular on its form and structure, the figure of Clarissa Dalloway, and the themes of connection and isolation, sexuality, war, insanity, and female creativity. We end with some tips for reading Virginia Woolf in general and Mrs Dalloway in particular.

Virginia Woolf

In this module, we provide an overview of Virginia Woolf’s life, thinking in particular about: (i) her early childhood, especially the influence of her parents on her later life; (ii) her beginnings as a writer and literary critic as part of the Bloomsbury Group; (iii) her success with novels such as Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To The Lighthouse (1927); and (iv) her mental issues that led to her untimely death in 1941.