Laura Scuriatti publishes chapter "Mrs Dalloway in Zurich. Ulrike Ulrich's Während wir feiern (2020)" in The Edinburgh Companion to Virginia Woolf and Transnational Perspectives

Prof. Dr. Laura Scuriatti has published the chapter "Mrs Dalloway in Zurich. Ulrike Ulrich's Während wir feiern (2020)" in The Edinburgh Companion to Virginia Woolf and Transnational Perspectives (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), pp. 196-207. Scuriatti's chapter examines Ulrike Ulrich's novel Während wir feiern [While We Party] as a contemporary rewriting of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway set in Zurich: Ulrich's work is a successful ‘transposition’ that adapts Woolf's modernist aesthetics and political critique to address current Swiss social and political issues, particularly concerning migration and national identity.

Scuriatti shows that Ulrich's use of erlebte Rede (free indirect discourse) in the present tense and of heteroglossia and polyglossia create a multivocal, polyphonic representation of Swiss society. Situating Ulrich's novel within the context of Swiss literature, the chapter argues that, by renegotiating Woolf’s modernist techniques, Während wir feiern offers a critical examination of the efficacy of artistic interventions in political discourse. Scuriatti also shows that Ulrich's novel draws from the stylistic and political concerns that are present in Woolf’s oeuvre, and particularly in Three Guineas in order to explore questions of community, belonging, and social responsibility.

Post Date: 10-09-2025