Mrs. Dalloway

A detailed Summary of Mrs. Dalloway

14 October 1922--Mrs. Dalloway has branched into a book; and I adumbrate

here a study of insanity and suicide; the world seen by the sane and the

insane side by side--something like that. Septimus Smith? is that a good

30 August 1923--I have no time to describe my plans. I should say a good

deal about The Hours [which became Mrs. Dalloway], and my discovery: how

I dig out beautiful caves behind my characters: I think that gives

exactly what I want; humanity, humor, depth. The idea is that the caves

shall connect and each come to daylight at the present moment.

15 October 1923-I am stuffed with ideas for it. I feel I can use up

everything I've ever thought. Certainly, I'm less coerced than I've yet

been. The doubtful point is, I think, the character of Mrs. Dalloway.

It may be too stiff, too glittering and tinselly. But then I can bring

innumerable other characters to her support. I wrote the 100th page

today. Of course, I've only been feeling my way into it--up fill last

August anyhow. It took me a year's groping to discover what I call my

tunnelling process, by which I tell the past by installments, as I have

need of it. This is my prime discovery so far.

19 June 1923--I want to give life and

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Start with the general introduction, then return to this summary and site-guide.

shreds now; the old post-Dostoievsky argument. I daresay it's true,

Her life and illness accords with recent work on creativity and psychiatric disorder. Research shows that manic-depressive illnesses, especially bipolar ones, are common among writers, and that schizophrenia is entirely absent. It has also been shown that creativity, not necessarily literary, is common in the relatives of writers. Like the writers in these studies, Virginia Woolf created little or nothing while unwell, and was productive between attacks. Her detailed analysis of her own creativity over the years shows that her illnesses - the manic periods or their immediate hypomanic aftermath - were the source of material for her novels for many years to come. Measuring the variations in her literary output shows the effects of health and ill-health.

Her personality was a mixture of shyness and ebullience. She was remembered by friends not as a gloomy depressed person but as a brilliant conversationalist, laughing, joking, gossiping, and often indulging in malicious flights of fantasy at the expense of her friends. She was loved by children, given to interrogating others in her search for material, and often rude and snobbish. She was awkward out of her social class, and had an odd eccentric appearance which made people stare at her in the street.

characters. People, like Arnold Bennett say I can't create, or didn't in

I the power of conveying the true reality? Or do I write essays about

A successful suicide cannot be gainsaid, but does not of itself furnish proof of mental illness. In the case of Virginia Woolf, the accounts available of her last months, together with her suicide notes, would convince most psychiatrists, coroners, and their juries that she was suffering from a severe depressive illness.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Virginia Woolf, George Duckworth, Carlyle Virginia, I've I'm, Virginia Woolf's, Arnold Bennett, Septimus Smith, , National Biography, family history, SITE GUIDE, mood swings, virginia woolf, literary output, depression father, creativity psychiatric, life illness, sexually abused, psychiatric disorder, creativity psychiatric disorder,

Approximate Word count = 1578
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science