Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf |
By Michael Cunningham THe Hours |
Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, follows a day in the life of an older woman as she works on last minute preparations for a party she is giving in the afternoon. While she goes about her work, she relives memories of her past, encountering other characters such as the other protagonist, Septimus Warren Smith, a tortured World War I veteran. Unlike Clarissa Dalloway, he cannot control his recollections. 1920s London itself must work to build a new normal in the aftermath of the war, and the timelessness of life becomes even more apparent.
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Michael Cunningham's remake of Mrs.Dalloway, The Hours follows Clarissa Vaughan through her day in 1990s New York City as she too prepares for a party for her friend, Richard, who suffers from AIDS. The novel also follows Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife who doesn't feel comfortable in her position as a housewife, and battles her own mind. Virginia Woolf is also featured as she works to write her book, Mrs. Dalloway. The Hours is a modern spin on Virginia Woolf's classic that examines many of the same themes, while introducing its own.
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Focusing question:
In The Hours, how does Michael Cunningham imitate and extend the ideas that Virginia Woolf discusses in Mrs. Dalloway?