Beyond all myths HUM 3285: British and American Literature Spring 2012 Dr. Perdigao March 13-20, 2013

Trespassing and Permissions

Thematic Elements Leaden circles—interlocking storylines (3, 9, 29, 37) As literary criticism Biography of Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown reading Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Vaughan (“Mrs. Dalloway”) throwing a party Sense of time: 1941, 1923, 1949, 1998 Sense of place: Sussex, Richmond, Los Angeles, New York City Writing, reading, revision Death wish and Eros

Recasting Septimus Warren Smith Evans Peter Walsh Richard Dalloway Clarissa Dalloway Elizabeth Sally Seton

A shopping list Prologue: 1941 Bombers in sky Body surfacing (8): oeuvre? NYC at end of 20 th century “There she is” (13) World as “rude and indestructible” (14) World of objects, place of books (22) Meryl Streep as queen (27, 95); will be immortal, as text (51) Struggling with writing (29), another way to begin: “Mrs. Dalloway said something (what?), and got the flowers herself. It is a suburb of London. It is Virginia awakens. This might be another way to begin, certainly; with Clarissa going on an errand on a day in June, instead of soldiers marching off to lay the wreath in Whitehall. But is it the right beginning? It is a little too ordinary?” (29)

A shopping list Mirrors—Woolf, Dalloway, both ignore (57); “through the looking glass” (56) As fictional characters (61) “there’s time. And place. And there’s you, Mrs. D. I wanted to tell part of the story of part of you” (66). Dan Brown—WWII survivor (39) “She will rise and be cheerful” (41) Her “art and duty” (42) 1950s world, with shelves stocked (45)

Simulacra Clarissa Dalloway will die (69) Place of metafiction Cake as work of art (76), as text Mrs. Dalloway Gendered space—battlefield vs. domestic: Woolf’s sense of the world and the way that Laura’s space is defined (84) As observer, flaneuse (92) Clarissa: “She could live a life as potent and dangerous as literature itself” (97); Laura, learning of Kitty’s illness: the “quick unraveling of her life” (108) Kitty as movie star (105) Kitty’s life with Ray, as “Laura’s cake, writ large” (105) As POW in the Philippines; works at Department of Water and Power In contrast, Dan as “war hero,” and Laura joins the “aristocracy” by marrying him (104)

(Re)placing Literature Clarissa: “She will try to create something temporal, even trivial, but perfect in its way” (123). Clarissa and Sally as fictions, dead in photos (128)

(Re)placing Literature Louis as literary critic (132), future of the theatre; his exotic lover (134) Room of one’s own—Laura? (145) The Normandy hotel Room 19 Laura: “It would be as simple, she thinks, as checking into a hotel” (152). Julia and Mary (158) On death, the funeral (165) Going to London, as lark and plunge (167); Woolf’s story mixes with Dalloway’s Fleeing for a few hours shared by Laura, Virginia

Revelations Laura, state of “unbeing” (188) Richie “devoted, entirely, to the observation and deciphering of her, because without her there is no world at all” (192). Hours not as freeing, but confining, for Richard (198) “‘Remember her? Your alter ego? Whatever became of her?’” (198) “‘This is her. I’m her. In need you to come inside. Will you, please?’” (198). “‘I don’t think two people could have been happier than we’ve been’” (200). Richard Worthington Brown (203) Connections, failed connections

Senses of Endings “The page is about to turn” (208) from Laura’s story to Virginia’s: she will write, save Clarissa with double; Woolf creates Septimus character as “deranged poet” and “visionary”—as Woolf herself? (211) “Here we are” (217), Richard’s literary creations, real, mourning him Revision of original text Laura’s identity as mother, “ghost” and “goddess” (221)

Senses of Endings “And here she is, herself, Clarissa, not Mrs. Dalloway anymore; there is no one now to call her that. Here she is with another hour before her” (226) “‘Come in, Mrs. Brown,’ she says. ‘Everything’s ready’” (226).