Well... I'm currently reading Mrs Dalloway which is my first experience with Virginia Woolf. I'm half way through the book and I'm expecting to finish it soon since I have the feeling I'd get a better understanding of the story and her stream of conscience way of writing if I read it over a short period of time.
As I said, I know very little about Woolf and I'm not sure what I think of this book. Does she write all her novel that way? Perhaps I should read To The Lighthouse too...

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Hey! I'm trying to read Mrs Dalloway too! For many months...! The way she writes is really complicated and I don't think this is because I'm not a native speaker because I 've read many English books!! I decided to read it when I saw The Hours but it's very difficult and I'm reading it in parts! I haven't read any other book of Woolf to answer your question... But I read her mini biography because I'm interested on her mental/phychological illness and her suicide.

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Yeah, it took me a while to figure out the writing style when I started the book. But it's a lot easier to read the story for the story once you get further into it and get used to it. For me it got easier and also a lot more interesting when Peter Walsh enters the story.

I liked the movie The Hours and that might also be a reason why I want to read the book!

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[very late response]

I was just about to start a thread on Mrs Dalloway, but I found yours Ea.

I read it for my English class this year, and I may have to talk about it for my upcoming exam. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Her writing style is hard to get used to. It's very dense, and there is a lot to say about even just a small passage in the novel. But...it's rather difficult to understand and explain it well. I would say that this is the hardest book I've had to study yet. The book is short, but I could not read it quickly - I wouldn't have understood anything First of all, she writes ridiculously long sentences. Second of all, she's jumping from one person's mind to the next all the time. That's not to say I don't like it...I do. Once I got through the beginning (like you said Ea, Peter Walsh made it more interesting and easier), I did start to enjoy it.

I find Virginia Woolf's story extremely interesting. But I'm afraid to do too much research on her because our teacher keeps warning us to not talk about Virginia Woolf during our exam. So I only know the basics. Afterwards, I'm definitely going to do some reading on Woolf and I also want to see The Hours.

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I did eventually finish the book. Like Adanedhel said, this was one of the most difficult books I've read and i'm not even sure I like it. But I feel I can't just dismiss her whole authorship based on one book so I'm gonna read To The Lighthouse too.. some day... before I can safely say I don't like her writings!

I have seen The Hours a long time ago and Nicole Kidman is great.. but that's the only thing I remember from that movie. True, Virginia Woolf's life was fascinating... and sad.

Good luck. Let us know how your exam went!

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I tried to read it, but it was really confusing.

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I read this book my senior year of high school for my AP Humanities class (basically the AP level of senior English).

I thought it was pretty good. Once I got through it. Getting all the way through it was the hard part. Ha ha ha ha. Of course, most of the stuff we read in that class was hard to read. And understand.
The stream of consiousness was probably what made it so difficult. It was just trying to sort everything out, you know? I finally got a grasp on the whole thing when my teacher would explain what we'd just read. When we'd have discussions and what not. That really helped me. Having someone basically regurgitate it for me...then I'd reread the chapter and it'd make some sense.
But, it's a really good story. I enjoyed it.
We watched The Hours after we read it in that class. Which was fun.

As for her other work, I'm not sure. I can't really remember. I think so, but I'm not sure. One stream of consiousness novel is enough for me.

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oh dear, i said ages ago that i'd discuss virginia woolf with you, didn't i eä? i completely forgot to look for the thread, and i've just stumbled across it while browsing through the literaure forum. sorry it's taken me so long.

well, i studied mrs dalloway during my first year at uni, and i still haven't decided how i feel about it. there were some exquisite passages in there, but at times it was so difficult to read that it felt like wading through treacle. i intend on reading it again soon - i might enjoy it better on a second reading as i'll be more used to her style. i have to say though, i do like the stream of conciousness technique - you really felt like you were inside the characters' heads, even more so than in traditional first person narratives.

mrs dalloway is the only one of woolf's novels that i've read, but i have also read several sections from a room of one's own, woolf's extended essay on women and literature, which i found really interesting. i'm a feminist to the extent that i believe women are equal to men, but i often take issue with feminist writers as some of them have some very peculiar ideas. however, what virigina woolf says in that essay makes a lot of sense. i don't agree entirely, and i think most of her arguments are a little too one-sided (for example, she says that women are only seen in relation to men in male fiction, which is a fair point, but she neglects to mention that men are only seen in relation to women in a great deal of female literature) but the essay certainly got me thinking.

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No worries, it's good to have you here ethelfleda, better late than never!
I still haven't changed my mind about Mrs Dalloway, but my friend who studies English Lit. might convince me to read some more Woolf later on. I am very critical towards feminism as there are so many different branches and feminism is often misinterpreted into opposite sexism. However, the essays you mention sounds interesting and I always like recommandations. I might look for it.

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^ back

i feel the same way about feminism. as i said, i'm a feminist in as much as i believe in gender equality (the ultimate aim of true feminism), but i am still very critical of feminist ideology. as you pointed out, feminism too often turns into anti-male sexism, which is all the worse for being hypocritical as well as discriminative. give a room of one's own a try though. it's pretty interesting, and far more readable (and reasonable) than most feminist essays.

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A readable and reasonable text from Ms. Woolf's hand sounds very attractive. I should definitely look into that. I'll look for it, but since I'm going to Spain soon it'll have to wait. I'm not so daring that I'm going to read Woolf in Spanish yet!

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