Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, 1925

“Behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with this; that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art. Hamlet or a Beethoven quartet is the truth about this vast mass that we call the world. But there is no Shakespeare, there is no Beethoven; certainly and emphatically there is no God; we are the words; we are the music; we are the thing itself.”

― Virginia Woolf, “A Sketch of the Past”

Pablo Picasso, “Ma Jolie,” 1911-12

Simultaneity• The property of two events happening at the

same time in a frame of reference.

• In art, it is depicting an object as being seen from multiple angles, and thus at distinct points of time, all at once (or simultaneously).

• The theory that we perceive the world in terms of a simultaneous intersection of past and present experience comes from the French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941)

Free Indirect Discourse

• A narrative technique that exposes shifts in consciousness, dramatizes the “myriad impressions,” and develops characters in ways that simple and direct speech cannot.

From Gloria G. Jones, “Free Indirect Style in Mrs. Dalloway”

• Mary turned, stared, and asked herself, “Are these the tulips I saw here yesterday?” (Direct Speech)

• Mary turned, stared, and asked herself if these the tulips she had seen there the day before. (Indirect Speech)

• Mary turned and stared. Were these the tulips she had seen here yesterday? (Free Indirect Discourse)

Stream of Consciousness• Attempts to give the written equivalent of

the character's thought processes as a loose interior monologue. The speaker's thought processes are more often depicted as overheard in the mind (or addressed to oneself)

• A special form of interior monologue and is characterized by associative leaps in thought and lack of some or all punctuation.

• Distinguished from dramatic monologue and soliloquy, where the speaker is addressing an audience or a third person.

• How do stream of consciousness and free indirect discourse help you to “get inside” of Clarissa’s thoughts?

• How do these devices develop her character?

The Voice of Virginia Woolf on words