Mrs. Dalloway

Explore The Struggle Between Expression and Suppression with Virginia Woolf

Part of the Contested Classics series, this special edition of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway offers readers a unique opportunity to explore one of the 20th century’s most captivating and contested novels. Published in 1925, Woolf’s masterful narrative takes us through a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a high-society woman in post-World War I England, weaving a tapestry of thoughts, memories, and encounters.

With in-text annotations this edition identifies and explores which sections are reasons for this book being banned:

• Exploration of Mental Health: Mrs. Dalloway boldly delves into the complexities of mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder, especially in its portrayal of the character Septimus Warren Smith, a war veteran. This frank treatment of mental illness was pioneering for its time but has led to challenges in more conservative settings.
• Feminist Undertones: The novel is celebrated for its early feminist undertones, examining the roles and expectations of women in society. However, these themes have also sparked debate, particularly in more traditional communities.
• Suicidal Ideation: The depiction of suicidal thoughts and the eventual suicide of a character has been a point of controversy, raising concerns about its appropriateness for young readers.
• Stream-of-Consciousness Style: Woolf’s innovative narrative technique, while acclaimed, has also been critiqued for its complexity and perceived difficulty, leading some to challenge its inclusion in educational curricula.

In this edition of Mrs. Dalloway readers are invited not only to experience Woolf’s groundbreaking work but also to understand the controversies and discussions it has inspired over the years. This book is a must-read for those interested in literature that continues to challenge and provoke thought long after its publication.

Virginia Woolf is now recognized as a major twentieth-century author, a great novelist and essayist and a key figure in literary history as a feminist and a modernist. Born in 1882, she was the daughter of the editor and critic Leslie Stephen, and suffered a traumatic adolescence after the deaths of her mother, in 1895, and her step-sister Stella, in 1897, leaving her subject to breakdowns for the rest of her life. Her father died in 1904 and two years later her favorite brother Thoby died suddenly of typhoid.

Her major novels include Mrs. Dalloway (1925), the historical fantasy Orlando (1928), written for Vita Sackville-West, the extraordinarily poetic vision of The Waves (1931), the family saga of The Years (1937), and Between the Acts (1941).