The Inner Life of Mrs. Dalloway

Reviews / Votes

A rip-roaring tribute to a canonical work forged from diverse literary and philosophical traditions. * London Review of Books * In Edward Mendelson, Virginia Woolf has found a profoundly generous and intelligent reader, one who considers Mrs. Dalloway in its full complexity. Elegant and eloquent-this book is excellent company. -- Anne Fernald, editor of <i>The Oxford Handbook of Virginia Woolf</i> In Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf set out to "dig out beautiful caves behind [her] characters." Edward Mendelson's triumph of scholarship shines a light into the beautiful caves behind Woolf herself and the fascinating, complex characters, major and minor, who populate her novel: to read this masterpiece through his eyes is to appreciate anew its myriad connections, its moral vision, its humanity, and its enduring pleasure. Mrs. Dalloway offers a transformative reading experience, and Mendelson is the ideal companion to guide us, with deft erudition, through Clarissa's day. -- Francesca Wade, author of <i>Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars</i> Thanks to Edward Mendelson, I've lived Mrs. Dalloway all over again, and seen and felt the novel anew. Rare for literary criticism to act like a revelation, but The Inner Life of Mrs. Dalloway does just that, showing how Virginia Woolf creates dramas of intimacy and epiphany in the larger contexts of empire, and medical and emotional coercion. A work of admirable acuity and ethical force. -- Rosanna Warren, author of <i>So Forth</i> and <i>Max Jacob: A Life in Art and Letters</i> Mendelson fixes his erudite scholarly gaze upon the woman behind the novel and behind the endlessly fascinating Clarissa Dalloway, raising this study from academic criticism to a reminder of the pleasures of reading the novel anew. * Center for Fiction * Mendelson's original reading of one of Woolf's great novels serves to restore for us the balance between Woolf's profound insights into the enigmatic inner life of human beings and her cogent historical narrative of the wrongs done in the outer world to women by oppressive patriarchy. * The Hindu * I doubt any reader can come away from reading The Inner Life of Mrs. Dalloway without renewed appreciation for Virginia Woolf's genius, and a desire to return to the novel again to make their own evaluation of Mendelson's case. * Virginia Woolf Miscellany * Argue[s]-and demonstrate[s] by example-that the intimate business of reading, despite its many and increasing difficulties, is well worth it. * Commonweal * In this profound, deeply moving study, Mendelson writes with great clarity and originality. * Virginia Woolf Bulletin * Mendelson's prose style stands out for his readiness to surprise by a fine economy and for his rigorously attentive way of reading. -- Thomas Unger * Observations, etc. * [an] excellent short book. -- Hermione Lee * New York Review of Books * Mendelson's perceptive and eloquent book sees Mrs. Dalloway as a work deeply concerned with our inner being and the need to recognise our affective or emotional selves if we are to lead fulfilling lives. * Modernist Review *