Those of us who live in the USA and are anxious to get our hands on a copy of Mark
Hussey’s book, published by Manchester University Press, is the first in a new series from the press called “Biography of a novel.” It offers a compelling account of Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece and marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Mrs. Dalloway.
Background on the novel
Woolf’s fourth novel, set on a single day in the middle of June in 1923, elicited a variety of responses after its publication.
As Hussey explains in Virginia Woolf A to Z (1995), the novel has not only held the attention of critics over the years, but “with To the Lighthouse, has probably generated more commentary than any other of Woolf’s fictions” (175).
Lauded for its use of interior monologue, as well as its poetic language, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) is a reader favorite. It is certainly one I have picked up and read at various stages of my life during the last 50 years, always finding some new insight into Clarissa, along with some new connections between Clarissa’s thoughts and life and my own.
“Mrs Dalloway: Biography of a novel provides readers with a wealth of information about the novel’s writing, publication and reception. It follows Woolf’s process from the first stirrings in her diary through her struggles to create what was quickly recognised as a major advance in prose fiction. It then traces the novel’s remarkable legacy to the present day,” according to Blackwell’s website.
How to buy it
You can purchase Hussey’s book from Blackwell’s, which is offering a discount, as of today. It is is also available for pre-sale on Amazon and from Manchester University Press, but MUP does not deliver to the USA.
Hussey in person
Hussey will speak about his new book in person at 7 p.m. on July 17 at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn., USA. Omar Acevedo, the museum’s literary programs coordinator, will moderate. Get more details and register on the museum’s website.
The Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Pace University in New York is also the founding editor of Woolf Studies Annual. As the general editor of the Harcourt Annotated Edition of the Works of Virginia Woolf, he edited To the Lighthouse. His recent publications include Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism (2022).
This is a screenshot from Mark Hussey’s video on Instagram that shows him happily unpacking the first copies of his new book.
