This is my first VW novel. It took me a bit to adjust to the writing style and the rapid tense changes, but then I understood the flow and dove in. I did print a summary of characters to help sort the rapid introductions in the first few pages. I think my biggest takeaway at this point is how much our perceptions differ from the very people we are interacting with. Peter’s and Clarissa’s internal monologues show how much they don’t know one another nor do they understand how the other feels.
Long time follower, first time commenter. This is, technically, my second read of Mrs. Dalloway, although my first go-around with it was in undergrad, and I can’t say with any confidence that I was able to fully appreciate, or grok it. Yikes! because I had to write an essay imitating Woolf’s style. On a personal note; I’m in my early thirties and was only, just a few years ago, diagnosed with Dyslexia, so it’s been kinda neat to sit with this text again and reflect back on the reader I was then, and now truly enjoy Woolf’s writing in all its richness.
Among other things, the first 42 pages has me thinking a lot about 19th century women’s literature (Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, etc) and the sort of quiet resignation that comes from accepting a life that doesn’t fulfill one’s own desires but instead societal or familial expectations. Jared, your phrasing “empty vessel,” really brought this to mind and I thought that such interesting verbiage. Obviously class is a huge part in influencing those expectations, but what strikes me is the unique way this applies to women at this time; early twentieth century when the vestiges of women’s roles from the previous century linger but women are also entering an intellectual space with men that was previously guarded; there’s an interesting struggle there that I feel is reflected through Clarissa’s character, and the women of the novel generally. Clarissa reads like a clinically depressed person. The overarching question that arises at this juncture for me is (and this isn’t completely developed) ‘who are we when we deny ourselves the life we want to live.’ “Want,” being something central to us as individuals, that originates from an inner knowing about ourselves. Which brings to mind Jared’s last YouTube video about “bullshit jobs.”
This is all probably way off the mark! Neurons are firing near each other and I don’t know that they’re connecting. But, that’s the cool thing about art, it strikes a different match in everyone.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I post my first comment.
To start I have wanted to join a book club of some kind for some time and this seems like it will be a perfect community to join. I believe my writing skills are lack luster at best so I hope to improve as time goes on and I love the idea of being exposed to a more philosophical literature.
This book has been challenging to start. It is complicated and extremely verbose which are two things that I have not challenged myself with very often in written formats (I mostly listen to audiobooks). The complicated elements for me include jumping into other peoples memories randomly or into another persons narrative seemingly out of nowhere. This truly confused me for the first 12 pages or so. The other challenge I faced was attempting to read this at a normal pace and I very quickly learned that this is a book that you need to take your time on and really feel the settings that VW paints for you.
Content wise, I have never read any of VW's books before and I want to start out and say that I am very new to reading literature. There seems to me to be a theme of people being stuck in a way or mode of thinking or existing in the world that leaves them to complacency. To me Clarrisa and Septimus both seem to be a little slow to the uptake being in their own world with septimus being the more interesting version of what I see as a "disorder". These two also have interesting love lives in both cases they seem to be either married or in a complicated relationship to people that are very active in the world and in their community. This seems like an interesting parallel that I hope uncovers itself later on in the book. I am curious if Clarrisa is questioning her sexuality after reminiscing of her exchanges with Sally. There seems to be an extreme infatuation with her. Lastly, I thought it rather odd that the people on the street were so shocked to see a car with the shades rolled down driving through the streets. I assume the timeline of the story has a lot to do with it.
I may have written too much but I look forward to more discussion.
Hello! I find it helpful to read a novel piece by piece and to share eventually some thoughts and impressions, thats why I am here.
Its also my first novel by VW, and as a non native speaker I find it difficult to understand. In Order to find a better Access I started listening to the translated audiobook and reread the text. I think beneath the interpersonal and innerpersonal aspects, time, represented by Big Ben, is also an important subject. How does time influence our memories and inner representations ? How does time change a person? It is Not always clear if the descriptions are new or memorized impressions. The present is influenced by the past (and perhaps vice versa?). I hope I have expressed myself clearly enough;)
I am mostly finished with Mrs Dalloway. I have read "Flush" before, which is quite delightful. I have also read To The Lighthouse.
This intro posting has made me think that, unlike non-fiction, it makes little sense to discuss fiction without having read the work in its entirety first. You don't embrace a piece of art piece by piece, deconstructing it before you know what it is about. It is like only looking at a piece of a painting without seeing the whole first. This is art, not logical argument.
In school, this all alleviated by the teacher - they have read the work, likely multiple times, and are guiding the discussion, identifying important themes and drawing attention to them, noting foreshadowing, calling out particularly important style elements, etc.
I am still planning on enjoying our discussion, but it will be a bit weird.
You raise some interesting points that I had not considered. I believe stylistically the book was cutting edge in how it switches points of view. I also am struck by how set in place and time (London, 1920s) it is. Class is also a big theme.
I've so far loved how the narrative flows from one of our titular characters to the next, making stops along the way, all the while making a seamless almost unnoticeably transition. Its as if the book itself is thinking, going off on tangents, before settling in on things it finds important. Day dreaming to me feels the same. I start off thinking of one thing and make pit stops along the way to my next destination. This style lends itself to feel very atmospheric. As if the book and myself both have our head in the clouds going from one thing to the next. There is a destination in mind but we aren't in any rush to get there.
This is my first VW novel. It took me a bit to adjust to the writing style and the rapid tense changes, but then I understood the flow and dove in. I did print a summary of characters to help sort the rapid introductions in the first few pages. I think my biggest takeaway at this point is how much our perceptions differ from the very people we are interacting with. Peter’s and Clarissa’s internal monologues show how much they don’t know one another nor do they understand how the other feels.
Printing a summary of characters would have helped me - great idea. I read, re-read and then re-read again the beginning paragraphs to get oriented.
Hi all,
Long time follower, first time commenter. This is, technically, my second read of Mrs. Dalloway, although my first go-around with it was in undergrad, and I can’t say with any confidence that I was able to fully appreciate, or grok it. Yikes! because I had to write an essay imitating Woolf’s style. On a personal note; I’m in my early thirties and was only, just a few years ago, diagnosed with Dyslexia, so it’s been kinda neat to sit with this text again and reflect back on the reader I was then, and now truly enjoy Woolf’s writing in all its richness.
Among other things, the first 42 pages has me thinking a lot about 19th century women’s literature (Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, etc) and the sort of quiet resignation that comes from accepting a life that doesn’t fulfill one’s own desires but instead societal or familial expectations. Jared, your phrasing “empty vessel,” really brought this to mind and I thought that such interesting verbiage. Obviously class is a huge part in influencing those expectations, but what strikes me is the unique way this applies to women at this time; early twentieth century when the vestiges of women’s roles from the previous century linger but women are also entering an intellectual space with men that was previously guarded; there’s an interesting struggle there that I feel is reflected through Clarissa’s character, and the women of the novel generally. Clarissa reads like a clinically depressed person. The overarching question that arises at this juncture for me is (and this isn’t completely developed) ‘who are we when we deny ourselves the life we want to live.’ “Want,” being something central to us as individuals, that originates from an inner knowing about ourselves. Which brings to mind Jared’s last YouTube video about “bullshit jobs.”
This is all probably way off the mark! Neurons are firing near each other and I don’t know that they’re connecting. But, that’s the cool thing about art, it strikes a different match in everyone.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I post my first comment.
Cheers!
To start I have wanted to join a book club of some kind for some time and this seems like it will be a perfect community to join. I believe my writing skills are lack luster at best so I hope to improve as time goes on and I love the idea of being exposed to a more philosophical literature.
This book has been challenging to start. It is complicated and extremely verbose which are two things that I have not challenged myself with very often in written formats (I mostly listen to audiobooks). The complicated elements for me include jumping into other peoples memories randomly or into another persons narrative seemingly out of nowhere. This truly confused me for the first 12 pages or so. The other challenge I faced was attempting to read this at a normal pace and I very quickly learned that this is a book that you need to take your time on and really feel the settings that VW paints for you.
Content wise, I have never read any of VW's books before and I want to start out and say that I am very new to reading literature. There seems to me to be a theme of people being stuck in a way or mode of thinking or existing in the world that leaves them to complacency. To me Clarrisa and Septimus both seem to be a little slow to the uptake being in their own world with septimus being the more interesting version of what I see as a "disorder". These two also have interesting love lives in both cases they seem to be either married or in a complicated relationship to people that are very active in the world and in their community. This seems like an interesting parallel that I hope uncovers itself later on in the book. I am curious if Clarrisa is questioning her sexuality after reminiscing of her exchanges with Sally. There seems to be an extreme infatuation with her. Lastly, I thought it rather odd that the people on the street were so shocked to see a car with the shades rolled down driving through the streets. I assume the timeline of the story has a lot to do with it.
I may have written too much but I look forward to more discussion.
Hello! I find it helpful to read a novel piece by piece and to share eventually some thoughts and impressions, thats why I am here.
Its also my first novel by VW, and as a non native speaker I find it difficult to understand. In Order to find a better Access I started listening to the translated audiobook and reread the text. I think beneath the interpersonal and innerpersonal aspects, time, represented by Big Ben, is also an important subject. How does time influence our memories and inner representations ? How does time change a person? It is Not always clear if the descriptions are new or memorized impressions. The present is influenced by the past (and perhaps vice versa?). I hope I have expressed myself clearly enough;)
I am mostly finished with Mrs Dalloway. I have read "Flush" before, which is quite delightful. I have also read To The Lighthouse.
This intro posting has made me think that, unlike non-fiction, it makes little sense to discuss fiction without having read the work in its entirety first. You don't embrace a piece of art piece by piece, deconstructing it before you know what it is about. It is like only looking at a piece of a painting without seeing the whole first. This is art, not logical argument.
In school, this all alleviated by the teacher - they have read the work, likely multiple times, and are guiding the discussion, identifying important themes and drawing attention to them, noting foreshadowing, calling out particularly important style elements, etc.
I am still planning on enjoying our discussion, but it will be a bit weird.
You raise some interesting points that I had not considered. I believe stylistically the book was cutting edge in how it switches points of view. I also am struck by how set in place and time (London, 1920s) it is. Class is also a big theme.
Cheers,
David
I've so far loved how the narrative flows from one of our titular characters to the next, making stops along the way, all the while making a seamless almost unnoticeably transition. Its as if the book itself is thinking, going off on tangents, before settling in on things it finds important. Day dreaming to me feels the same. I start off thinking of one thing and make pit stops along the way to my next destination. This style lends itself to feel very atmospheric. As if the book and myself both have our head in the clouds going from one thing to the next. There is a destination in mind but we aren't in any rush to get there.