Mrs Dalloway: Commercial facts
13 lenses on commercial facts for Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 L10 L11 L12 L13
L1. Total word count. Count
1925, 64,422 words. See the full lens on the book page.
L2. Chapter count and average length. Count
1925, 64,422 words. See the full lens on the book page.
L3. Length against modern norms for the genre. Both
64,422 words. Modern literary often runs 70,000 to 100,000 words, so this is short for the shelf today. These ranges are rough trade norms, not rules.
At 64,422 words, the novel is moderate length for literary fiction but short for its era. It is longer than a novella but shorter than many Victorian novels, fitting Woolf's modernist compression of a single day into psychological depth.
L4. First published as a serial or a volume? Research
1925, 64,422 words. See the full lens on the book page.
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L5. Serial instalment breaks and how each ends. Both
The novel was not serialised. Its 21 sections are roughly equal in length and could serve as natural breaks, but Woolf designed them as a continuous flow rather than instalment breaks.
L6. Sales and reviews in its day. Research
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L7. Adaptations: film, TV, stage, count and type. Research
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L8. Sequels and series. Research
Facts from outside the text (sales, serial history, adaptations, sequels, most quoted lines). Coming in a later phase, with sources and dates.
L9. Modern books in the same mould (comps). AI
Modern comps include Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, which similarly explores a single day and past choices, and Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys, which interweaves multiple consciousnesses and moral questions.
L10. Who it would be shelved for today. AI
Today it would be shelved as literary fiction, modernist classics, or psychological fiction. It appeals to readers interested in stream of consciousness, interior life, and experimental narrative rather than plot-driven stories.
L11. Content notes. AI
Content notes: suicide, mental illness, war trauma, class anxiety, homophobic attitudes (period-typical), medical abuse, death.
Chapters: Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 16
it was a case of extreme gravity. It was a case of complete breakdown--complete physical and nervous breakdown, with every symptom in an advanced stage (Ch 11, para 1)
I’ll give it you!” he cried, and flung himself vigorously, violently down on to Mrs. Filmer’s area railings. (Ch 16, para 43)
L12. A modern pitch line and blurb. AI
On a single June day in 1923 London, Clarissa Dalloway prepares for an evening party while a traumatised war veteran spirals toward death. As their paths nearly cross, the novel asks whether life's meaning lies in social performance or in fleeting moments of beauty and human connection.
L13. Title style against genre norms. AI
The title is simple and direct, naming the protagonist without flourish. This is typical of modernist fiction, which favoured plain titles over the ornate or symbolic titles common in Victorian novels.
Ask Mrs Dalloway a question about its craft (free beta)
Answers cite chapter and paragraph, and every quote is checked against the text. (3 free questions a day).
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