Dalloway Day takes place globally on the third Wednesday in June, commemorating the fictional day in mid-June 1923 when the protagonist of Woolf’s novel, Clarissa Dalloway, walks through London to buy flowers for a party she’s hosting that night at her Westminster residence.
Through a stream-of-consciousness style that interweaves Clarissa’s experiences with those of other characters, most notably the shell-shocked veteran Septimus Warren Smith, the novel explores not only Clarissa’s inner life, memories, and reflections on life, love, and death, but the social mores and structure of post-World War One England.
Ahead of Dalloway Day, here’s a fascinating 30-minute documentary by award-winning writer and academic Alexandra Harris that explores how Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway “completely re-imagined what a novel might be.”
Secret Story Behind Mrs Dalloway
Related Off-site Links:
Mrs. Dalloway at 100 – Daphne Merkin (Air Mail, September 13, 2025).
Significance of Clarissa’s Parties in Mrs Dalloway – Riya Payal (TJBlogsBlog, August 10, 2018).
The Character of Septimus Warren Smith in Mrs Dalloway – Riya Payal (TJBlogsBlog, July 28, 2020).
The Relationship Between Clarissa and Septimus in Mrs Dalloway – Riya Payal (TJBlogsBlog, April 13, 2021).
Mrs Dalloway’s War Wounds – Lizzie Hibbert (Engelsberg Ideas, May 22, 2025).
Mrs. Dalloway: Secularism and Its Enchantments – Jared Marcel Pollen (Quillette, September 2, 2021).
Clarissa Dalloway’s and Septimus Smith’s Routes Through London – British Literature Wiki.
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Vanessa Redgrave: “Almost a Kind of Jungian Actress”
• Something We Dare Call Hope
Opening image: Vanessa Redgrave as the title character in the 1997 film adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway.
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