TL;DRAbstract
Homing in on a single small scene from Virginia Woolf’s novel <italic>Mrs Dalloway</italic> (1925), this essay discusses the author’s provocative deployment of bit-part characters against the expected narrative hierarchy. Lady Bruton’s lavish Mayfair luncheon is seen from the oblique and obscure viewpoint of the most minor of minor characters: her secretary, Milly Brush. Through minutely detailed reading of the sparse clauses in which Miss Brush has a presence, a barely thinkable story emerges of unexpressed love; and also a glimpse of sharp observational powers: Milly, herself unremarked, is a knowing if not quite omniscient witness to the private lives of her employer’s guests. So beneath the comic surface narrative – a grand old lady has invited a couple of well-connected men friends to help her compose a letter to the <italic>Times –</italic> it turns out that the short episode contains further narratives. It is at once an exposé of some real-life effects of class difference and a
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Homing in on a single small scene from Virginia Woolf’s novel <italic>Mrs Dalloway</italic> (1925), this essay discusses the author’s provocative deployment of bit-part characters against the expected narrative hierarchy. Lady Bruton’s lavish Mayfair luncheon is seen from the oblique and obscure viewpoint of the most minor of minor characters: her secretary, Milly Brush. Through minutely detailed reading of the sparse clauses in which Miss Brush has a presence, a barely thinkable story emerges of unexpressed love; and also a glimpse of sharp observational powers: Milly, herself unremarked, is a knowing if not quite omniscient witness to the private lives of her employer’s guests. So beneath the comic surface narrative – a grand old lady has invited a couple of well-connected men friends to help her compose a letter to the <italic>Times –</italic> it turns out that the short episode contains further narratives. It is at once an exposé of some real-life effects of class difference and a
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