Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway: Bookmarked

Novelist Black (Life Drawing) delivers a perceptive and personal take on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, exploring the novel’s craft and construction. Black analyzes Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness (it’s used to provide “extensive back story,” and Woolf herself called it “tunneling”); her shifts in narrative point of view (signaling “a shared vulnerability that has the power to erase individuality”); and most intriguingly, how Woolf managed to write “a novel about a woman who is a mother that has absolutely no interest in being a novel about being a mother.” Black has some sharp thoughts on the relationship between reader and writer, deeming it “a peculiar one, a creative collaboration between strangers,” and suggesting that “as you evolve over time, so that book evolves—an outgrowth of the degree to which literature is inevitably a collaboration.” Along the way, Black shares stories of her own battles with ADD and agoraphobia, and notes how they’ve influenced her reading of Dalloway, as has the criticism she’s received for writing “bad mothers” herself. A witty letter written to the title character rounds things out. Black is a winning guide, and fans of the classic will be eager to return to it with fresh eyes. (Apr.)