Virginia Woolf Reading and Writing Classes start November 14

Mrs. Dalloway

…through the Streets of the City, the Mind, and the Heart with Virginia Woolf

8 PM Tuesday, Nov. 14, 21, 28, Dec. 5, 12, 19 

8 PM Thursday, Nov. 16, 23, 30, Dec. 7, 14, 21

6 weeks/1125 RMB

The last class of 2023 will be a 6-week reading and writing class with the longest and most impractical title. (I hope you like it.) I present: Mrs. Dalloway - Through the Streets of the City, the Mind, and the Heart with Virginia Woolf. 

Mrs. Dalloway brings together so many of my literary interests. The city, memory, mental illness, and love all meet in the same book. Woolf takes us through the streets of the city, the mind, and the heart with artfully constructed, sensual, and sensitive sentences, letting the narrative flow and arrive at profound revelations. As we superimpose the maps of London and the inner worlds of the characters, we receive a chance to do the same for ourselves. 

Scholars say Mrs. Dalloway is where Virginia Woolf found her voice. It is indeed a pleasure to read this witty voice when it is in its element, when it moves with great artistic capability, when with its poetry it says and reveals what is often neglected, dismissed, or lost. 

In Dalloway, Woolf weaves together the stories of Clarissa Dalloway, Septimus Smith, Richard Dalloway, and Peter Walsh by going in and out of their perspectives and establishing the connections among all that they see, think, remember, and feel. You already know this is stream-of-consciousness, but did you know Woolf’s style of stream-of-consciousness creates a feeling of mental peace by showing where the ideas come from, how they relate to each other, and where they may take us?

Just as she invented a new writing style, Woolf unlocked the mystery behind what gave us a feeling of peace. It is argued that Virginia Woolf created a cure for her depression through her writing, something her doctors were not able to provide. I contend this is true. I have felt reading her books helped me with my depression and gave me moments of peace flanked by poetry and imagination.

Naturally, I want to read Mrs. Dalloway with an additional focus on psychology and the mind. I pulled complementary readings from The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud and The Principles of Psychology by William James to learn about psychology and stream-of-consciousness (and to read what Virginia Woolf was reading), from Wonderworks by Angus Fletcher and Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer to learn about how the mind works, and last but not least from “The Four Quartets” by T. S. Eliot to learn about poetry, presence, and time.

Not to worry, I also made sure that the readings are at a reasonable length. I know everybody is busy, and I am continually impressed with all the time and effort you put into our classes together. Please know that if and when you have the time, you may read all of the books I mentioned above, but that is not in my expectations, nor is it on my syllabus for the Mrs. Dalloway classes. I will show you how little and how much you can do to prepare for the classes week by week so that you can adjust according to what’s going on in your lives, and leave the classes having learned everything Virginia Woolf offers us through her writing.

Mrs. Dalloway is a great book if you're new to Virginia Woolf and it is a great book if you have been a long time fan. So put away any hesitation, if there was any, about the novel or its writer, or about finding the time to read and write. I invite you to join me and to go on this reading and writing journey together. You may sign up for Tuesday or Thursday sections. Don't wait! We start November 14.

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