Tuesday, November 24, 2015

"Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf

I read this book for my course on hysteria at Carleton. I think it's my first time reading in the stream of consciousness style. At first I hated the book because I thought it was dominated by the boring musings of a middle aged woman, and why should I care about her musings when I have my own. But about half way through, the book suddenly became more meaningful, and I appreciated how the writing style mimicked consciousness. It allowed you to truly get into someone's head.

I have a love hate relationship because I think that Woolf sometimes overdid it stylistically. But I was glad I had read the book when I finished, and hearing a partial analysis from my lecturer showed me just how amazing the book is. It has so very many levels of meaning!! .... Society forcing men after WWl to conform so they can start producing babies..... Shell shock is the male equivalent of hysteria and "real" men weren't affected....  Our lecturer quotes philosophers and mentions that sex therapists arose then. It is amazing how all encompassing a good knowledge of literature has to be. This course is almost tempting me to study literature.


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