A break with the past

Book Review -  Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

A break with the past, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf, is a modern novel set in just one day of June 1923.

It reflects the society during the first postwar period and it is one of the best examples of a new technique: the ‘stream of consciousness’, also used by James Joyce in his ‘Ulysses’.

An upper class society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party at her house. Her destiny crosses paths with Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of World War I who saw his best friend dying and now suffering from depression that will draw him towards suicide. The reader will assist Clarissa’s long day while she is giving the party and Septimus’s tragedy at the same time.  

Let me suggest you to read this classical novel for the following reasons :

² Originality of the plot;

² Humour and wit;

² A genuine prose;

² Careful description of modern society;

² Feminism;

² The disclosure of the characters’ thoughts;

² A well mixed range of feelings, from despair to happiness;

² An interesting psychological development;

² Brevity.

‘Mrs Dalloway’ will leave you with a true sense of warmth and life worthy living!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Chiara De Stefano