Mrs. Dalloway

14 October 1922--Mrs. Dalloway has branched into a book; and I adumbrate here a study of insanity and suicide; the world seen by the sane and the insane side by side--something like that. Septimus Smith? is that a good name? 30 August 1923--I have no time to describe my plans. I should say a good deal about The Hours [which became Mrs. Dalloway], and my discovery: how I dig out beautiful caves behind my characters: I think …

…relatives of writers. Like the writers in these studies, Virginia Woolf created little or nothing while unwell, and was productive between attacks. Her detailed analysis of her own creativity over the years shows that her illnesses - the manic periods or their immediate hypomanic aftermath - were the source of material for her novels for many years to come. Measuring the variations in her literary output shows the effects of health and ill-health. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**