Reading the First World War through Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway

Mallika Singh

Abstract: The literature produced in every age becomes emblematic of its socio - cultural milieu. The literature produced in the twentieth century becomes more significant in this respect for the impactful bearing that the two World Wars have had on it. Addressing the first World War in particular, one can discern its influence on the works of Virginia Woolf vividly, that this paper aims to address. Jacob Flanders in 'Jacob's Room', Septimus Warren Smith in 'Mrs Dalloway', and Andrew Ramsay in 'To the Lighthouse' portray the telling influence of the first World War in the literary world of the time. This paper aims to explore the impact of the War in Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway' in particular. The intertwined lives of Mrs Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith whose shell - shock ultimately becomes suicidal project the War afflicted England of those times and Woolf captures the essence in her stream of consciousness. The methodology of qualitative analyses through close textual reading of the text has been employed for the purpose of the paper

Keywords: stream - of - consciousness, shell - shock, war - afflicted England, World War 1

How to Cite?: Mallika Singh, "Reading the First World War through Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway", Volume 14 Issue 1, January 2025, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 140-141, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR241230191904, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR241230191904