The Hours - San Jose State University · The Hours zPublication 1998 zAwards zPulitzer Prize and...
Transcript of The Hours - San Jose State University · The Hours zPublication 1998 zAwards zPulitzer Prize and...
Keywords
Stream of consciousnessPoint of viewPostmodernInternal conflictMortalityMental IllnessDomesticity
Michael CunninghamBorn: Cincinnati, Ohio 1952Education: read Mrs. Dalloway at age 15Graduated: Stanford University 1975
B.A. In English Lit.University of Iowa – Writer's Workshop 1980
M.F.A.Debut novel: Golden State 1984
The HoursPublication 1998Awards
Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulker 1999Structure
Retrospective narrative− Point of view
Stream of ConsciousnessThemes
MortalityMental illnessSwitched domestic roles
Main Characters
Virginia Woolf1923Sussex, England
Laura Brown1949Los Angeles
Clarissa VaughnLate twentieth centuryNew York City
Virginia Woolf
Commits suicide in the PrologueEnglish novelistWife of publisher, Leonard WoolfStruggles with headaches and voices in her headSwitched domestic rolesBegins writing Mrs. Dalloway
Laura Brown
Housewife and young mother in 1949, L.A.Married to war veteran, Dan BrownSuffers from depressionGuilty and resentful of her domestic lifeReads the novel Mrs. Dalloway
Clarissa VaughnNicknamed, Mrs. Dalloway by her close friend and ex-lover, RichardLesbian editor in New York CityLives a domestic life with her lover, SallyFears mortalityQuestions her decisions that lead her to this point in her life
Similarities to Mrs. DallowayClarissa is given the name Dalloway by RichardRichard becomes depressed from contracting AIDS
Relevance to SeptimusEx-lover, Louis = Peter Walsh?
Sally and Clarissa's lesbian relationship
Similarities continued...Stolen Kisses
Clarissa and Sally− Virginia and her sister− Laura and her neighbor
FlowersDan buys flowers for LauraSally buys flowers for Clarissa
PartyClarissa plans a party later that dayInvites a friend she runs into while running errandsGlimpse of a celebrity
Critics
PraiseWashington PostLos Angeles TimesNew York Times
CritiqueReaders− Tries to interpret the lives of women from the outside
looking in− Mimicry of Virginia Woolf's classic