The Narrative Schemata in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway

Katarzyna Szeremeta-Kołodzińska

Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie



Abstract

In Virginia Woolf’s ample literary oeuvre the 1925 Mrs Dalloway continues to invite
most interest among literary scholars. This article closely examines Woolfian narrative strategies
and schemata that pertain to the image of Clarissa Dalloway, the novel’s eponymous
character. The subject of analysis is the relation between Clarissa and Peter Walsh (former
suitor and confidant) which shapes this portrait. Although he belongs to Clarissa’s “entourage”
(Woolf called upon a group of other characters in protagonists’ support), his role as the
main observer is most pronounced in the novel. Peter Walsh, who acts as a “reflector” −
narrator’s agency − helps to reconstruct for the reader otherwise fragmented and elusive image
of Clarissa. His contribution is realised by means of narrative functions he fulfils: legitimising
her accounts, accompanying her (as a construct of protagonist’s imagination though)
in London strolls and mediating between the realm of imagery and empirical world.


Keywords:

Mrs Dalloway, narrative schemata, reflector(s), Virginia Woolf


Segal, O. (1969). The Lucid Reflector: The Observer in Henry James’ Fiction. New Haven
– London, Yale University Press.

Woolf, V. (1961). Pani Dalloway. Tłum. K. Tarnowska. Warszawa, PIW.

Woolf, V. (2012). Nawiedzony dom. Opowiadania zebrane. Tłum. M. Heydel. Kraków, Wydawnictwo
Literackie.

Published
2013-12-01

Cited by

Szeremeta-Kołodzińska, K. (2013). The Narrative Schemata in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Acta Neophilologica, 2(XV), 203–212. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/an/article/view/928

Katarzyna Szeremeta-Kołodzińska 
Katedra Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie