Wednesday, March 4, 2009

3 Reasons...

3 Reasons to Read Mrs. Dalloway:

-The thoughts of Woolf's characters are marvelously complex and fascinating and simply for the way that she enters ever characters head, at least for a second, is a reason this novel should not be missed.

-The way that Woolf explores the relationships and parallels between her characters is very interesting. Even though some of them seem to have nothing in common on the outside, the way that Woolf can take us inside their thoughts proves that they aren't so different after all.

-Every emotion that the character of Mrs. Dalloway feel, self-doubt, insanity, simple joys and wondering the "what if", is something that every person does and can relate to. It is a human novel.

3 Reasons to Read The Hours:

-It gives a deeper understanding of some of the characters or their parallels from Mrs. Dalloway and enriches the first text.

-The Hours also seems to be an easier read and is enjoyable simply for itself but almost seems to bring Mrs. Dalloway forward to address issues that are more of the current time.

-The novel can stand on its own without the background of Mrs. Dalloway if it so chooses. Cunningham wove the threads of his own novel marvelously with Woolf's, and even though his complements Mrs. Dalloway, it can function as its own text entirely.

3 Reasons for Reading The Hours after Mrs. Dalloway:

-Without reading Mrs. Dalloway first, you'd lose all the allusions that Michael Cunningham makes to the symbols that run through Mrs. Dalloway (ex. clocks, water, birds of paradise) and it would somehow be a lesser read because of that.

-Reading The Hours after Mrs. Dalloway helped me at least, to understand the characters better, even though they are two different texts. I believe Cunningham captured the essence of Clarissa and the other parallel characters.

-It makes it easier to go back and re-read Mrs. Dalloway because it makes no matter that the two are set in different times, the issues of the characters remain the same but the melding of both texts makes a much richer read.

4 comments:

  1. Casey,

    Your point that Woolf wrote "a human novel" is very true. I agree completely, and I agree that the complexity of her characters is astounding and moving and important.

    I think your point that we should read "The Hours" not just because it works well in conjunction with "Mrs. Dalloway" but also because it stands alone is worthy of note, too. I think most of us agree that it is more than just a copy of "Mrs. Dalloway," and this reason to read it makes that point.

    Also, I completely agree that the issues the characters deal with in both texts are essentially the same, and reading one makes the other richer because we experience those issues from multiple perspectives (which, I think, may have been Woolf's point entirely - or at least one of them...).

    Abby

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  2. It's nice to see your opinion of "Mrs Dalloway" change! I knew you would like "The Hours." :)

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  3. ...yes and thanks for this spirited response, casey...

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  4. I completely agree with your third reason to read Cunningham.

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