Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf's short novel from 1925 depicts the course of a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. It is comparable to Joyce's "Ulysses," but much more accessible. On a warm June day in 1923, Mrs. Dalloway leaves her house early in the morning to buy flowers for the evening party she will host that day. The narrative is punctuated by the chimes of Big Ben. Alongside the external events, the thoughts, feelings, and memories of the often loosely connected characters play a significant role. Through the use of new narrative techniques such as stream of consciousness and inner monologue, Woolf succeeds in portraying these mental processes with great immediacy and intensity. This is also achieved in the new translation by Hans-Christian Oeser.