VIRGINIA WOOLF: MRS DALLOWAY [1961].

Description

We present the first Polish edition of the masterpiece of modernism – the novel “Mrs. Dalloway” (original title: Mrs. Dalloway) by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). It was published in 1961 in Warsaw by the State Publishing Institute (PIW) in the prestigious series “Novels of the 20th Century.” It was translated from English by Krystyna Tarnowska (1917-1991), a respected translator of English literature.

The novel, first published in 1925 in London , is set on a June day in 1923 in London. Its title character, Clarissa Dalloway, the wife of a politician, is preparing to give an evening reception. Beneath her seemingly ordinary daily routine lies a wealth of memories, reflections and hidden desires, which the author reveals through the innovative technique of stream of consciousness. Parallel to Clarissa’s story, Woolf leads the fate of Septimus Warren Smith – a young war veteran suffering from a mental disorder. Their paths do not cross directly, but symbolically merge, creating a harrowing portrait of London and society just after World War I.

Virginia Woolf is considered one of the most important figures of literary modernism and a pioneer of the stream-of-consciousness technique . The novel was inspired by the writer’s social life, and the main character was intended as a response to the “ideal housewife” character from Victorian novels. The title was originally intended to be The Hours (” The Hours “), a reference to the famous 2002 award-winning film (starring Nicole Kidman as Woolf), which is set in three timelines, with “Mrs. Dalloway” as its plot axis.

This is the first Polish edition – the absolute first printing of this masterpiece in Polish, belonging to the sought-after series of PIW “Novels of the 20th Century” by collectors. The presented copy is clean and preserved in very good condition. It is a must-have for a collector of world literature, a lover of modernist prose and a bibliophile looking for a representative edition of the work of one of the most important women writers of the 20th century.

8963-20-B-W