Approaches to Teaching Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (Approaches to Teaching World Literature)

Mrs. Dalloway is considered a central work in Virginia Woolfs oeuvre and in the modernist canon. It not only addresses historical and cultural issues such as war colonialism class politics marriage sexuality and psychology but also reimagines the novel form. Moreover Mrs. Dalloway continues to grow in its influence and visibility inspiring adaptations in film theater print and other media. Despite Mrs. Dalloways continued popularity many students today find the prose daunting and a barrier to their appreciation and comprehension of the novel. This volume seeks to give instructors a variety of strategies for making Woolfs work compelling and accessible to students while addressing the diverse ways it has been interpreted. Part 1 "Materials " reviews editions of Mrs. Dalloway as well as critical and historical resources related to the novel. Part 2 "Approaches " explores the task of contextualizing this key modernist text in the classroom. Some contributors situate Mrs. Dalloway in its historical time and place namely London in the period between the two world wars. Others discuss the novels narrative form or interpret it using perspectives from cultural studies feminism or queer theory. Still others address the novels relation to poems films and Victorian novels. Finally a group of essays discusses the challenges and rewards of teaching the novel in settings both traditional and nontraditional from a college classroom to a prison.