Mrs. Dalloway vs The Mezzanine

At the very beginning of our class discussions of Mrs. Dalloway, we discussed whether it was more or less difficult to read than The Mezzanine. My first impression was that it was far easier. Mrs. Dalloway flows in a way that The Mezzanine doesn’t; even though the sentences in Mrs. Dalloway jump from one idea to the next confusingly, and throw you into the story without giving you backstory, they seem less complex. The absence of footnotes also makes Mrs. Dalloway flow better—although the tangential footnotes in The Mezzanine are an important part of the book as a whole, they do interrupt the story itself.

As I have continued to read Mrs. Dalloway, I have found that it is more difficult to follow at some points than I thought when I first began. The first few pages were easy compared to the section on pages 55-57 about the solitary traveler.  The passage begins with the nurse who Peter Walsh sits by in the park: In her grey dress, her hands indefatigably yet quietly, she seemed like the champion of the rights of sleepers, like one of those spectral presences which rise in twilight in woods made of sky and branches.” This part works for me. I can even see what Woolf means, so she is succeeding in giving me a better idea of character. Woolf continues “The solitary traveler, haunter of lanes, disturber of ferns, and devastator of great hemlock plants, looking up, suddenly sees the giant figure at the end of the ride.” Woolf drifts off into a lengthy an philosophical description of “the solitary traveler”, and I am lost. This section is just as tangential as Baker’s footnotes; it interrupts from the main story, but probably gives some in depth examination of life, character, or plot that is difficult to understand. In a way, Virginia Woolf’s story can be even more difficult to understand than Baker’s.

Nevertheless, I find that Woolf’s story is much more enjoyable. I look forward to reading it, while pushing through The Mezzanine was a struggle. Neither style of writing can be considered easy to read. Mrs. Dalloway is in no way less philosophical than The Mezzanine; if anything, it is more so. However, Woolf addresses character as if she is providing you with little snapshots of people, and this makes all the difference. Although it seems strange to liken a famous literary novel to a tabloid magazine, the tiny descriptions of characters like Scrope Purvis, Mr. Bowley, and Maisie Johnson are very similar to the photographs of stars going about their daily lives that are found on the first few pages of magazines like People and OK!. These magazines are not high literature, but they are interesting (at least for a little while) because people like to know about other people.  We all like to know how other people are doing in their lives, and most people like gossip.  Virginia Woolf is onto something with her idea that character is more important, and the snapshots of character that she provides make Mrs. Dalloway far more interesting, despite the lack of action or excitement.