Virginia Woolf's Struggles in Writing Mrs. Dalloway

Throughout my reading of Mrs. Dalloway, I have been struggling to get through the difficult to read text. However, if I am struggling as a reader, I can only imagine the difficulties associated with writing a novel in this particular way. The first difficulty that a believe Woolf must have faced in writing Mrs. Dalloway, is when to switch perspectives. Although the novel is written in a way that is supposed to emulate human thought, I believe that it must be incredibly awkward to write in this particular style as is goes against the classic writing style taught by most teachers which is to pick a point of view, try to be as clear in your writing as possible, and provide adequate support for any examples used in the text. Thus although the writing style is supposed to appear natural, I believe that it is most unnatural to write. The second difficulty that I believe Woolf faced was how to keep a reader engaged. Although readers were much more attentive back when the novel was published, and were more able to get through difficult to read sections than readers are today, I still believe that most readers of Mrs. Dalloway have some difficulty progressing through the novel. Finally, I believe that the third difficulty that Virginia Woolf faced was how to weave a story together that made sense even through the constant change in perspectives. I can imagine that it must have taken considerable time to craft a plot for Mrs. Dalloway that maintained cohesion through all the changes in perspective that are created through the stream of consciousness narration. As a reader, I may complain about having to read Mrs. Dalloway. However, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to write and that has given me much appreciation for the work as a whole.