1925 novel by Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925. It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England. 
The working title of "Mrs Dalloway" was "The Hours". The novel originated from two short stories, "Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street" and the unfinished "The Prime Minister". In autumn 1922, Woolf began to think of the "Mrs Dalloway" short story as the first chapter of her new novel, and she completed the manuscript in late autumn 1924.
The book describes Clarissa's preparations for a party she will host in the evening and the ensuing party. With an interior perspective, the story travels forwards and backwards in time to construct an image of Clarissa's life and the inter-war social structure. The novel addresses the nature of time in personal experience through multiple interwoven stories.
In October 2005, "Mrs Dalloway" was included on "TIME Magazine"'s list of the 100 best English-language novels written since its first issue in 1923.
On January 1, 2021, "Mrs Dalloway" entered the public domain in the United States.
Plot summary.
Clarissa Dalloway goes around London in the morning, getting ready to host a party that evening. The nice day reminds her of her youth spent in the countryside in Bourton and makes her wonder about her choice of husband; she had married the reliable, successful, Richard Dalloway instead of the enigmatic and demanding Peter Walsh, and she "had not the option" to be with a female romantic interest, Sally Seton. Peter reintroduces these conflicts by paying a visit that morning. Peter's visit made it clear that he was still in love with Clarissa (despite mention of his new love interest, Daisy), and Clarissa expressed her desire for Peter to take her away. Clarissa additionally invites Peter to her party that evening. 
Septimus Warren Smith, a First World War veteran suffering from deferred traumatic stress, spends his day in the park with his Italian-born wife Lucrezia, who experiences major loneliness as a result of her husband's isolating illness. His going to war affected not only his ability to function, but Lucrezia's as well. Septimus is now visited by frequent and indecipherable hallucinations, mostly concerning his dear friend Evans, whom he had unresolved unrequited sexual feelings towards, and who died in the war; otherwise Septimus seems to be unable to feel emotions for anyone, even his wife. Septimus's relationship with his physicians, Sir William Bradshaw and Dr Holmes, is extremely poor. He fears for his safety in the presence of both doctors and often questions human nature after their interactions. As a result of his involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital he takes his own life by jumping out of a window.
Clarissa's party in the evening is a slow success. It is attended by most of the characters she has met throughout the book, including Sally, Peter and others from her past. Clarissa discovers that Sally, whom she has not seen for several decades, and who used to be a free-spirited tomboy, has become a respectable, matronly mother to five boys. 
The novel ends with Clarissa hearing about Septimus's suicide at the party and gradually coming to admire this stranger's act, which she considers an effort to preserve the purity of his happiness. Clarissa also acknowledges her ability to relate to Septimus regardless of her limited knowledge of him.
A famous psychiatrist to whom Septimus' physician, Dr. Holmes, refers Septimus. Bradshaw notes that Septimus has had a complete nervous breakdown and suggests spending time in the country as a cure.
The 51-year-old protagonist of the novel. She is Richard's wife and Elizabeth's mother, and, while reminiscing about her past, spends the day organising a party that will be held that night. She is self-conscious about her role in London's high society. The character was based on Kitty Lushington.
Clarissa and Richard's 17-year-old daughter. She is said to look "oriental" and has great composure. Compared to her mother, she takes great pleasure in politics and modern history, hoping to be either a doctor or farmer in the future. She would rather spend time in the country with her father than attend her mother's party. 
Clarissa's practical, "simple" husband, who feels disconnected from his wife. He is immersed in his work in government.
Miss Doris Kilman, originally "Kiehlman", is Elizabeth's schoolmistress for history and is a born-again Christian. She has a degree in history and during the Great War was dismissed from her teaching job because "Miss Dolby thought she would be happier with people who shared her views about the Germans". She has a German ancestry and wears an unattractive mackintosh coat because she is uninterested in dressing to please others. She dislikes Clarissa intensely but loves to spend time with Elizabeth.
A love interest of Clarissa's, with whom she shared a kiss, who is now married to Lord Rosseter and has five boys. Sally had a strained relationship with her family and spent substantial time with Clarissa's family in her youth. She once could be described as feisty, as well as a youthful ragamuffin, although she has become more conventional with age.
Septimus' Italian wife. She is burdened by his mental illness and believes she is judged because of it. During most of the novel, she is homesick for her family and country, which she left to marry Septimus after the Armistice.
A World War I veteran who suffers from "shell shock" and hallucinations of his deceased friend, Evans. Educated and decorated in the war, he is detached from society and believes himself to be unable to feel. He is married to Lucrezia, from whom he has grown distant.
An old friend of Clarissa's who has failed at most of his ventures in life. In the past, Clarissa rejected his marriage proposal. Now he has returned to England from India and is one of Clarissa's party guests. He plans to marry Daisy, a married woman in India, and has returned to try to arrange a divorce from his current wife.
A pompous friend of Clarissa's, who holds an unspecified position in the British Royal household. Like Clarissa, he places great importance on his place in society. Although he believes he is an essential member of the British aristocracy, Lady Bruton, Clarissa, Richard, and Peter find him obnoxious.
Style.
In "Mrs Dalloway", all of the action, aside from the flashbacks, takes place on a day in "the middle of June" of 1923. It is an example of stream of consciousness storytelling: every scene closely tracks the momentary thoughts of a particular character. Woolf blurs the distinction between direct and indirect speech throughout the novel, freely alternating her mode of narration between omniscient description, indirect interior monologue, and soliloquy. The narration follows at least twenty characters in this way, but the bulk of the novel is spent with Clarissa Dalloway, Peter Walsh, and Septimus Smith.
Woolf laid out some of her literary goals with the characters of "Mrs Dalloway" while still working on the novel. A year before its publication, she gave a talk at Cambridge University called "Character in Fiction", revised and retitled later that year as "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown".
Comparisons with Joyce's "Ulysses".
"Mrs Dalloway" is commonly thought to be a response to James Joyce's "Ulysses". Both novels use the stream of consciousness technique to follow the thoughts of two characters, one older and one younger, during one day in a bustling city. Woolf herself, writing in 1928, denied any deliberate "method" to the book, saying instead that the structure came about "without any conscious direction". In her essay "Modern Fiction", Woolf praised "Ulysses", writing of the chapter set at the cemetery ("Hades") that, "on a first reading at any rate, it is difficult not to acclaim a masterpiece". However, Woolf's private writings throughout her first reading of "Ulysses" abound in hostile criticisms, as in this passage: 
"I... have been amused, stimulated, charmed interested by the first 2 or 3 chapters—to the end of the Cemetery scene; &amp; then puzzled, bored, irritated, &amp; disillusioned as by a queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples. And Tom, great Tom, thinks this on a par with "War &amp; Peace"! An illiterate, underbred book it seems to me: the book of a self-taught working man, &amp; we all know how distressing they are, how egotistic, insistent, raw, striking, &amp; ultimately nauseating. When one can have cooked flesh, why have the raw? But I think if you are anaemic, as Tom is, there is glory in blood. Being fairly normal myself I am soon ready for the classics again. I may revise this later. I do not compromise my critical sagacity. I plant a stick in the ground to mark page 200"
 —"D" 2: 188–89
Woolf's disdain for Joyce's book only solidified after she finished reading it. She summed up her thoughts on the work as a whole:
"I finished "Ulysses", &amp; think it is a mis-fire. Genius it has I think; but of the inferior water. The book is diffuse. It is brackish. It is pretentious. It is underbred, not only in the obvious sense, but in the literary sense. A first rate writer, I mean, respects writing too much to be tricky; startling; doing stunts. I'm reminded all the time of some callow board schoolboy, say like Henry Lamb, full of wits &amp; powers, but so self-conscious and egotistical that he loses his head, becomes extravagant, mannered, uproarious, ill at ease, makes kindly people feel sorry for him, &amp; stern ones merely annoyed; &amp; one hopes he'll grow out of it; but as Joyce is 40 this scarcely seems likely. I have not read it carefully; &amp; only once; &amp; it is very obscure; so no doubt I have scamped the virtue of it more than is fair. I feel that myriads of tiny bullets pepper one &amp; spatter one; but one does not get one deadly wound straight in the face—as from Tolstoy, for instance; but it is entirely absurd to compare him with Tolstoy."
 —"D" 2: 199–200.
The Hogarth Press, run by her and her husband Leonard, had to turn down the chance to publish "Ulysses" in 1919 because of the obscenity law in England, as well as the practical issues regarding publishing such a substantial text.
Themes.
The novel has two main narrative lines involving two separate characters (Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith); within each narrative there is a particular time and place in the past that the main characters keep returning to in their minds. For Clarissa, her charmed youth at Bourton keeps intruding into her thoughts on this day in London. For Septimus, his time as a soldier during the "Great War" keeps intruding, especially in the form of Evans, his fallen comrade. Other characters, such as Peter Walsh, also find themselves returning to moments in their past. 
Time and secular living.
Time plays an integral role in the theme of faith and doubt in Mrs Dalloway. The overwhelming presence of the passing of time and the impending fate of death for each of the characters is felt throughout the novel. As Big Ben towers over the city of London and rings for each half-hour, characters cannot help but stop and notice the loss of life to time in regular intervals throughout the story. For Septimus, who has experienced the vicious war, the notion of death constantly floats in his mind as he continues to see his friend Evans talking of such things. The constant stream of consciousness perspective of the characters, especially Clarissa, serves as a distraction from this passing of time and the ultimate march towards death, but each character is constantly reminded of the inevitability of these facts. Further emphasizing the passage of time is the time-frame of the novel, which takes place in the course of a single day, like Joyce's "Ulysses".
The idea that there can be meaning in every detail of life, and a deeper appreciation of life as a result, is emphasized by the constant connection of characters to memories and to simple ideas and things. Clarissa even feels that her job (throwing her parties) is to offer "the gift" of connectedness to the inhabitants of London. Woolf's writing style crosses the boundaries of the past, present and future, emphasizing her idea of time as a constant flow, connected only by some force (or divinity) within each person. An evident contrast can be found between the constant