Mrs. Dalloway (annotated): The Virginia Woolf Library Annotated Edition

This is a fine edition and value, including a helpful preface introducing the author and novel as well as an appendix (the "annotated" part) with explanations of terms, places, and designations for non-Londoners along with identifications of literary, political and historical allusions for readers who could use a little extra help.Anyone who has read James Joyce's "The Dead" will recognize some of the same themes and preoccupations in "Mrs. Dalloway," which in addition evokes numerous English "comedies of manners" as well as satirical narratives about a straight-laced Victorian culture that has become an anachronism in the 1920s. The story at times resembles a Jane Austen novel, except for the absence of a "fixed" point-of-view or reliable standard by which to measure the characters, each of which has, to lesser or greater degrees, sympathetic and unsympathetic qualities and is shown from the "inside" as a mind-in-process, a consciousness-in-flux (consequently, a reader needs to be careful not to apply an overly "logical" approach, insistent upon hanging on to a single point or statement as "the truth" about a character, who is more likely to try one possibility, then another, leaving it up to the reader to infer a character's essence through careful consideration of the important meanings derived from multiple impressions).This is not a novel for the impatient or tone-deaf. Woolf creates a character's interior life through a virtuosic, highly mobile third-person narrator, who might be thought of as the character's "persona," not merely "expressing" the character's thoughts but "mirroring" how the character perceives him or herself as seen by others. Moreover, the indefinite pronouns can shift unexpectedly or occur in too close proximity to make identification easy or even definite. As a result, the reader has to work overtime to achieve entrance into the mind of the "right" character while simultaneously sensing the liquid, interpenetrating and shared qualities of human identity itself. And finally there's that tone, now soft, next loud, and never to be trusted to be without irony.Woolf makes it fairly easy on the reader with the broad, sardonic strokes she uses to paint the practically villainous Sir William Bradshaw, the eminent psychiatrist viewed by many (especially himself) as the scientific high priest of this cross-section of deluded London luminaries; and she's equally nasty to her other "villain," Miss Kilman, a repressed and embittered born-again Christian who, like Sir William, lives by the code of "conversion," Woolf's euphemism for those powerful personalities who are bent upon breaking, controlling and dominating the will of anyone not strong enough to resist them. The other portraits are more subtle, requiring the reader either to hear the soft, nuanced ironical tones or risk missing both the social satire and the character. Woolf's targets range, perhaps not surprisingly, from the pretense, pride, and hypocrisy of an out-of-touch social stratum that clings to the "orderly" past; to the arrogance of modern medical "science"; to, more surprisingly, the suffocating alternatives offered by both religion and love.Readers lured to this novel because of Cunningham's "The Hours" (novel or film) may be disappointed or quickly frustrated. Moving from Cunningham to Woolf is a bit like going from Fitzgerald to Faulkner, or from Austen to Shakespeare. What you immediately notice is, despite Woolf's limiting her story to a single day (compared to Cunningham's three-generation setting), the far greater range and more inclusive thematic focus and, most importantly, the sheer power and vitality of the prose (from fluid motion to dynamic rush). Woolf--like Joyce, Faulkner, and Shakespeare--employs a syntax that can cause the earth to move from under a reader's feet: she's a writer who represents not merely individual characters but captures the world whole not to mention the life of language itself.The greatest challenge "Mrs. Dalloway" presents to a first-time reader is never to let up. It's essential to stay with Clarissa throughout her entire day, finally becoming a fully engaged participant in the party itself--the final thirty pages of the novel, which contain some of Woolf's best writing. Especially critical is the extended moment, almost 20 pages into the party scene, when Clarissa, like Septimus, walks to the window and has her epiphany. At that moment, one character chooses death; the other, life. But Woolf enables us to see these apparently opposite choices as "existential" cognates: both characters make choices that enable them to save their souls.Cunningham is a first-rate stylist and craftsman who can tell a story that's moving and evocative, a narrative, moreover, that connects with today's readers by affirming the choices available to the self. But it inevitably pales alongside the vibrant novel and microcosm of life that is its source and inspiration. Virginia, like her character Clarissa, knows how to throw a party.

I’ve always wanted to read some Virginia Woolf and finally decided that now is the time. Her writing is unorthodox to say the least and takes some getting used to, but once you do, you can enjoy the story.

Mrs. Dalloway is, of course, a classic novel and a great read. But enough time has passed that an annotated edition is useful. The annotations in this edition are well selected and generally non-controversial. My only quibble is that they would have been more convenient at the bottom of the page. I would also like to see a good edition like this available for the Kindle.

Mrs. Dalloway is not on my list of favorite books. That is not to say that it is poorly written; to the contrary, Woolf does have a writing style worthy of merit. It's just not my cup of tea.Mrs. Dalloway was written in the beginnings of the modernistic movement in art and Woolf was writing in a style called "state-of-consciousness." This style was revolutionary in it's day, and many readers have embraced it. I however did not. State-of-consciousness takes the reader on a meandering journey through the thoughts of the characters as the story progresses. What we get, for example, are the thoughts of Mrs. Dalloway as she goes down the street to buy flowers. As she walks down the street, we learn about the task at hand, then her mind goes to an interesting sight that she sees, then she sees someone that she knows and her thoughts go to that person. We then jump into the thoughts of that person for a period and get their perspective on things and back to the original person or to someone else.I found this style to be very confusing at first and it took me a good portion of the novel before I was comfortable with it.Overall, Mrs. Dalloway felt too abstract and odd to my way of reading. The story itself is not bad, although a bit depressing. The language and amount of detail do an admirable job of creating beautiful images in one's head and is the main reason that I did not rate the novel lower than what I rated it.

As advertised. Very happy.

This is an important modernist novel. Woolf's prose and her ability to move the narrative focus from one mind to the next are innovative and skilled. Her portrayal of the characters, their memories and feelings, and their thoughts about each other is sensitive and moving.

I finally got around to reading this book after many years of reading about it. Mrs. Dalloway was difficult to read with long, convoluted sentences where one lost the impetus, and finally, lost interest. The characters were underdeveloped and, for some, found themselves deserted half way through the novel. Disappointed. I expected more.

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