What makes Virginia Woolf’s novel Mr. Dalloway a modernist text ( consider both its formal and thematic features)?

Answer 1

Modernism as a literary genre is defined by disillusionment with post-war life and a focus on realism through stylistic means. In Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, the story covers the life of a single day through the lenses of different characters to highlight the disconnect of life after the first World War. For the titular Mrs. Dalloway, she is disconnected from her family and love emotionally, spending time explaining her views on love and religion. For the character Septimus, a veteran suffering from "shell-shock", what we would now call PTSD, his perspective is remarkable for his singular focus on nature and his own neurosis which drive him from his wife, society, and ultimately to his death. The style of the book, with it's shifting focus through the different characters, reflects the modernist appeal to realism in a styled sense in order to relay themes.