The Lady in the Looking Glass

“The Lady in the Looking Glass” is a short story by the English Modernist writer Virginia Woolf, first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1929 and republished in the posthumous 1943 short-story collection A Haunted House and Other Stories. The story explores the themes of perception versus reality, materialism, and the instability of the self through the key motif of a looking glass. Drawing on extensive personification and imagery, the story’s focus on the female protagonist’s inner versus outer life reflects Woolf’s Modernist style.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is recognized as one of the most innovative writers of the Modernist movement. Modernism was an international cultural movement in the first half of the 20th century that advocated a realignment of social and political attitudes to reflect the changing values and experiences of modern industrial life. Woolf’s work reflects Modernist themes and styles, examining the great social, political, technological, and artistic changes in Britain during her lifetime. Woolf wrote numerous short stories and novels using stream of consciousness, an experimental nonlinear, free prose style, as well as essays on literature and society, with a focus on women.