EscapeGoat Reviews: Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf (Novel)

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Clarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Warren Smith is shell-shocked and on the brink of madness. Smith's day interweaves with Clarissa's, their lives converging as the party reaches its glittering climax.​

Title - Mrs Dalloway
Author - Virginia Woolf
First Published - 1925​

As I sit here at my keyboard, sometimes I wonder quite what to write about Mrs Dalloway. It is regarded by many (or rather, by the academics that decide these things) to be a masterpiece of feminist literature and one of the foremost and finest examples of free indirect discourse in the English literary canon. And yet, I cannot but help feel a tad dismayed with it; like meeting a celebrity you admire, only to find out they're vapid and self-centered. You feel disappointed, but you can't help but still see that spark of what you loved in them, despite their glaring flaws.

[sub]She had schemed, she had pilfered
[...]She once walked the terraces at Bourton
[...]She had never been so happy.[/sub]​

Woolf's Mrs Dalloway primarily follows a day in the life of the titular Clarissa Dalloway, a socialite and politician's wife living in London, 1923. She plans to hold a party to which political figures and people of importance are invited, and spends her day trying to organise it. During the day she meets with a long-lost friend, Peter Walsh, who has returned to London after spending several years in India and is invited to her party. However, this meeting with him stirs up old memories of Clarissa's youth with Peter before rejecting his marriage proposal; she is also reminded of Sally Seton, a feisty, well-to-do girl who shares with Clarissa her Liberal ideas, quite in contrast to her old-fashioned Conservative upbringing. Clarissa begins to question her current existence, coming to realise that she has lost the spark of life and energy that so infused her during her youth.

Alongside Clarissa, the story also follows a sickly young man named Septimus Smith, a veteran of the First World War who is suffering from an undiagnosed case of 'shell shock'. He is heavily damaged and quite out of touch with reality, seeing visions of his friend Evans, who died in the War; he also indulges in a form of God Complex within the confines of his own head. Meanwhile his wife, Lucrezia, worries about him constantly and tries to get him healed by one of the top physicians in London. Unfortunately for her, Septimus wishes to be rid of the doctor's meddling, while the doctor himself is cruel, oblivious and uncaring towards Septimus' struggles.

The story culminates in Clarissa's party, where she meets both Peter and Sally, and she finally sees the effect age has had on the trio. She also hears through party gossip about the plight of Septimus and muses on it. By any conventional novel standards we, as the reader and intended audience to Woolf's message (whatever you divine it to be; such is the nature of English analysis) must expect Clarissa to use these revelations, along with her own experiences, in order to confront them and better herself as a person. We want her to realise that yes, her life is meaningless and vapid, and that the longer she involves herself with the suffocating miasma of the upper-classes of post-Victorian England, the more of her old life and energy she will lose.

Or rather, we should want her to.

[sub]The whole world might have turned upside down!
The others disappeared; there she was alone with Sally. [/sub]​

Clarissa occupies an interesting position within the narrative. In my reading, I came to see her as neither hero nor villain - instead she became (to borrow a term from games) True Neutral, albeit rather than Order and Chaos on either side, there was instead the freedom-loving, life-embracing Liberal against the stuffy, pompous and old-fashioned Conservative. We learn in the novel that in her youth, Clarissa became interested in the emergent Liberal politics of the late 1800s. Alongside Sally, they both read pamphlets and notes on how 'perhaps it would be lovely if the lower classes had a few more rights, please?'. With Sally, Clarissa also develops a lesbian attraction - one which remains her happiest memory, even in later married life. This is the Liberal that Woolf surely wanted us to embrace - this novel was released, after all, during the big push for female rights in Britain, and feminist novels generally portrayed women who were pro-rights (and possibly, but not always, lesbian or harbouring secret lesbian attractions) as the heroine. On the other hand, Clarissa herself can be seen as already having began the long descent into the old-fashioned, joining the pompous, arrogant and self-absorbed aristocracy and nouveau riche. As much as she remembers her youth with fond memories, she is unwilling to leave her comfort and grandeur, and still behaves in her party as the perfect hostess with no real desire, it would seem, to abandon her wealth. By the end of the book, I admit I was unhappy with Clarissa and her decisions - but then again, I am a sissy Liberal boy who likes his heroes to be ready and willing to take up the torch and hearken to the clarion call and, unfortunately, Clarissa Dalloway is found wanting.

[sub]There was his hand; there the dead
White things were assembling behind the railings opposite.[/sub]​

The other issue I must take with the book is, I fear, the other thing for which is praised. Woolf utilises free indirect discourse, a form of narrative which relies on a rapidly-delivered internal monologue. It is a form of Stream of Consciousness narrative, albeit one which moves between several characters. However, innovative as it may be, it made the book a difficult read at points, and a dull read at worst. Clarissa and her peers are all upper-class, but also quite lazy; therefore their monologues quickly devolve into a slow-paced plod through the many vapid and inconsequential actions they take, languishing in the doldrums of narration. Septimus' sections are the sole highlight - the stream of consciousness lends itself particularly well to the mentally damaged veteran. Much like his thought processes, it leaps from sight to sight, rarely focusing on the dreary visuals of reality and instead whirling away into his own confused musings, before bursting into stop-start sentences that perfectly convey his fear when he sees the dead of the War rise in his mind's eye.

My copy of Mrs Dalloway quite proudly states that the New Yorker calls it a "genuine innovation [...] in the history of the novel". I quite agree, but I would certainly counsel caution. It is as innovative as it is impressive and thought-provoking. It is no cheap or trashy piece of pulp - it deserves its place amongst the greats of the literary canon. However, what it is not, is perfect. This novel is brilliant, of that I have no doubt, but not in the sense of a brilliant read. It is hard work and slow-going, and I found it required a hefty investment of time - it definitely required multiple readings, although whether that counts against it is up to you. For me, it suffers from frustrating characters, locked in their own humdrum little lives, well elevated above any real problems and quite content to ignore those who suffer beneath - and yet, characters who truly evoked passionate hate are always a sign of a good writer. I also disliked the narrative style - except for when Septimus' takes hold of the reins, where the free indirect style suits him perfectly. It must be noted that it has provoked a large amount of discussion from me, and for that it should be praised.

Pros: Septimus. Characters who evoke a response, albeit perhaps not for the right reasons. Very thought-provoking.

Cons: The narrative. Frustrating characters. Clarissa - I place her separate purely because she is a category all of her own.

Recommendation: If you wish to read a classic, well-entrenched within the established canon, then Mrs Dalloway is a fine read. If you prefer an easy read with a likeable cast - and I'll be honest, I do - then perhaps avoid this. Recommended for students of literature only..

Thanks for reading.