ALIENATION AND INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT IN THE NOVEL MRS. DALLOWAY
Keywords:
Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway, alienation, inner exile, modernism, stream of consciousness, psychological fragmentation, trauma, identity crisis, post-war literature.Abstract
This article explores the themes of alienation and inner exile in Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway through a modernist literary framework. It analyzes how Woolf represents psychological fragmentation, post-war trauma, and existential disconnection through the inner experiences of Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith. Using close reading and thematic analysis, the study demonstrates that alienation in the novel operates both as a social condition and a deep psychological state rooted in modern identity crisis. The research highlights Woolf’s innovative narrative techniques, particularly stream of consciousness and temporal fluidity, as essential tools for depicting fragmented consciousness in post-World War I society.
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References
Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway. London: Hogarth Press, 1925.
Bowlby, Rachel. Virginia Woolf: Feminist Destinations. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. Vintage Books, 1997.
Hussey, Mark. The Singing of the Real World: The Philosophy of Virginia Woolf’s Fiction. Ohio University Press, 1986.
Marcus, Laura. Virginia Woolf and the Languages of Patriarchy. Indiana University Press, 1987.
Bradshaw, David (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. 1930.
Caruth, Cathy. Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists. Princeton University Press, 1977.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mrs-Dalloway (accessed: 2026-05-08)
https://www.bl.uk/people/virginia-woolf (accessed: 2026-05-08)
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