A Space of Their Own * A Comparative Perspective on Virginia Woolf’s * Mrs. Dalloway (1927) and Anita Desai’s * Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975)

Abstract

Abstract

Virginia Woolf and Anita Desai become two distinguished women writers from different countries and milieus. Virginia Woolf came from a distinguished literary family in London. Her father Sir Leslie Stephan, worked as the editor of the Dictionary of National Biography and the Cornhill Magazine. As a writer, Leslie Stephan authorized a number of biographical and philosophical essays. Woolf’s mother, Julia Stephan, was known for her beauty and royal mien. Consequently, Virginia Woolf and her siblings were brought up in the rich ambience of intellect and cultural excellence. Thus, Woolf’s mind from the young age got nurtured in a literary atmosphere strengthened by literary pursuits. After the death of her father in 1904, she lived mostly with her brother and sister. Woolf’s dwelling place at Grand Square in London also became the centre of ‘Blooms berry Group’. In 1912, Virginia married Leonard Woolf and in 1917 they formed the Hogarth Press, which published all her novels. Anita Desai was born in Mussoorie, India, on June 24, 1937.