Virginia Woolf’s Women: Mrs Dalloway and The Years

This course focuses upon two texts in which Woolf explores women’s place in society, from Clarissa Dalloway’s post-First World War London to three generations of the Pargiter family in The Years. We will discuss Woolf’s feminist perspectives on women’s changing social role from the late Victorian era to the early 20th century.

Course details

Checking availability...
Start Date
12 Jul 2026
Duration
5 Sessions over one week
End Date
18 Jul 2026
Application Deadline
28 Jun 2026
Location
International Summer Programme
Code
W15Pm24

Tutors

Dr Claire Nicholson

Dr Claire Nicholson

Panel Tutor for University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education

Aims

This course aims to:

  • introduce the two primary texts and their social and historical context
  • develop skills of literary analysis through close reading
  • encourage the development of literary ideas through discussion

Course content

In non-fiction texts such as A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Three Guineas (1937) Virginia Woolf voiced her feminist perspectives on women and their role in society. This course will focus upon similar ideas, but as expressed through her fiction. The two texts we will study are Mrs Dalloway (1925), which describes the progress of a society hostess on one day in June 1923 in post-WW1 London and The Years (1937) which traces the progress of three generations of women in the Pargiter family from the late Victorian era to the 1930s. How does Woolf critique the changing position of women in these novels? What is the relationship between her ideas and her chosen form in both texts? 

What to expect on this course

To get the most from this course, you should read the set texts before you come to Cambridge and expect to re-read them while you are here. In class we will begin with an illustrated lecture, followed by some ‘close reading’ in the Cambridge tradition. This technique helps us to understand in very precise ways how Woolf uses language which indicates the richness and complexity of her writing. Discussion will take place in pairs or small groups before sharing ideas with the main group and developing further discussion. 

Course sessions

  1. Introduction: Woolf’s perspectives on women. Introduction to Mrs Dalloway.
     
  2. Mrs Dalloway: gender relations and war
     
  3. The Years: late Victorian women
     
  4. The Years: twentieth century women. What had changed? 
     
  5. Woolf on women: significant women in Woolf’s life. Conclusions.

Learning outcomes

As a result of the course, you will gain a greater understanding of the subject and you should be able to:

  • gain a greater knowledge of the primary texts and an understanding of their historical context
  • become familiar with some literary-critical ways of thinking about Woolf develop skills of close analysis and sensitivity to tone, style and genre

Required reading

* Woolf, Virginia, Mrs Dalloway edited by Trudi Tate (Oxford World Classics, 2025) 
ISBN 9780192859853

*Woolf, Virginia The Years edited by Hermione Lee. (Oxford World Classics, 2009) 
ISBN 9780199555390