Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf is one of the popular English modernist writers, whose works affect everybody. They do not leave the reader cold, may be it is because of her way of writing, as it is said:

“Mrs. Woolf has culture and intelligence, she writes from a strong and genuine productive impulse; her sensibility, when she does not force it, is fresh, individual and admirable in its kind, for its expression she has developed a fastidious and accomplished technique.” (F. R. Leauis “Towards Standards Criticism”, London, 1976, p.48)

I also think that her method of writing is poetic and has some sense of romance in it. One of the books that involve these characteristic features is her work “Mrs Dalloway.” This book is about life, flowers and love. The main character is Clarissa. At the beginning I would like to talk about action in this book.

The action of Mrs. Dalloway takes place on one day in June, and ends with the party at the end of novel. So, it may seem that in this novel there is depicted one day in people’s lives. No. On the contrary Virginia Woolf has revealed the whole life of Clarissa, her view of life and thoughts about other people. It is amazing how in one day she has managed to live through her life once more. Actually, I think that action as if goes on in two places: namely, in life and within the consciousness of characters. In fact, the unifying element of action is the consciousness of Clarissa, which is linked to consciousness of Peter Walsh, which reveals Clarissa and her life from different point of view. The main thing is that that occurs in characters` minds, not in surroundings. Virginia Woolf is interested in characters` mind, inner world. She depicts that through so called “stream of consciousness” or “interior monologue.” It means that “the thoughts, impressions, emotions, memories, mental images, speculations are recorded as they occur in the mind of character.” (Earnshow “Modern Writers”, London, 1968, p.161)

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