Writing on the Woolfian Palimpsest. Michael Cunningham’s The Hours

Abstract

Contemporary literary texts increasingly recycle older writings, assuming extra depth and addressing a cultivated reader. Their scaffolding reveals the intertextual net and renders the reading process at once challenging and rewarding. A case in point is Michael Cunningham‟s 1998 novel, The Hours – Woolfian in content, form and politics, with
obvious references to Mrs. Dalloway, as well as oblique allusions to “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown” and other writings. Along these lines, the paper is intended to advance an analysis
of Cunningham‟s multi-layered novel, foregrounding its dialogism and the strategy of its discourse.