Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel of feminism, existentialism, and self-realization is an essential read for all lovers of classic literature.

Virginia Woolf’s classic novel centers around Clarissa Dalloway, a married high-society woman in post–World War I London who is preparing for a party at her home in the evening. Acutely aware of her standing among other members of her elite social class but yearning to find her true self, Clarissa embodies the internal and external conflicts of women in the early twentieth century. As she makes her way about London, Clarissa’s stream of consciousness is constantly interrupted by memories of her past, giving the reader a keen insight into the mind of a woman undergoing an existential crisis. Beloved by generations of readers, Mrs. Dalloway is a landmark novel that explores themes of feminism, mental illness, and self-realization.

A pioneer of stream of consciousness narrative, Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) is considered one of the most important modernist writers of the twentieth century. After primary tutoring at home, she attended the Ladies’ Department of Kings College London, where she was introduced to a handful of feminists and became involved in the women’s movement. Later, she joined the Bloomsbury Group, where she met her husband, Leonard Woolf. Together, they founded Hogarth Press, under which they published most of her work. Also a brilliant essayist, intellectual, and critic, she remains one of the most influential authors of all time.