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The Hours, now appearing at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, is a textbook example of cross-media adaptation. Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s 1925 modernist, stream-of-consciousness novel Mrs. Dalloway, the work has taken the form of a 1998 Michael Cunningham novel, a 2002 Stephen Daldry movie, and now a Greg Pierce–Kevin Puts opera.
The Hours also offers a striking illustration of intertextuality—the term coined by the literary theorist Julia Kristeva to describe the interplay and interconnections between texts and how they influence one another, allowing an author or creator to comment on, critique or pay homage to other cultural artifacts.
The Hours interweaves three narratives: Virginia Woolf beginning to write the work in 1923 that would become Mrs. Dalloway in the wake of World War I as she struggles with mental illness and her complex relationships with her husband and sister; Laura Brown. a pregnant housewife in post-World War II America, who feels trapped in her domestic life and seeks some solace in reading Mrs. Dalloway; and Clarissa Vaughan, living a modern parallel to Mrs. Dalloway’s life in the 1990s as she reflects on her past relationships and confronts the constraints on women’s lives and wrestles with mortality.
I must confess that I approached the opera with some trepidation. After all, it’s a remake of a remake of a remake. The star-studded movie version, with A-list talent that includes Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Miranda Richardson, Ed Harris, John Reilly, Allison Janney and Toni Collette plus a score by Philip Glass, epitomizes the Oscar-seeking “prestige product,” with its serious themes, visual beauty and slow-paced, highly self-conscious self-importance.
But the opera version is anything but a cover; it’s a radical recreation and reimagination of the earlier versions. Starring Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato and Kelli O’Hara, the opera is the most poignant, wrenching, intellectually sophisticated, and musically compelling contemporary opera that I’ve seen.
The audience erupted with shrieks and whistles at the performance’s conclusion, but my reaction was muted and subdued. I found the opera profoundly, even agonizingly sad.
The story is heartbreaking. Its subjects include mental illness, trauma, the ephemerality of joy, repressed desire and female antagonisms. It offers an almost unbearable account of unfulfilled quests for meaningful connections in a fragmented society, and the struggle to find meaning in life in the face of rigid and unbending societal expectations.
Among the themes that run through each iteration of the story are the ways the past haunts the present, the essential isolation of each individual, and the impossibility of truly understanding what’s going on inside another person. Each version also explores the seductive allure of death, and the barriers—personal, psychological, and cultural—that prevent women from leading more adventurous and autonomous lives.
Although the Michael Cunningham novel, the film adaptation, and the opera version each tell the same intertwined stories, they do so in ways that reflect the differing nature of their respective mediums.
While each version remains faithful to the core themes and narratives, there are notable differences in how they convey the story. The Hours’ author Cunningham employs a stream-of-consciousness technique, which mirrors Woolf’s style and allows deep exploration of the characters’ inner thoughts and emotions. The novel also provides frequent references to Woolf’s work, life and recurrent concerns, including mental illness, suicide, sexuality and the search for meaning in life.
Due to time constraints, the film version condenses some character development and backstory, focusing more on key scenes and dramatic moments. Philip Glass’s haunting score adds a layer of emotional resonance, helping to unify the three narratives and heighten the film’s emotional impact. The film’s pacing and editing build tension and provide a more immediate, visceral experience compared to the novel’s introspective tone.
The opera, in turn, uses the expressive power of the human voice and an orchestra’s philharmonic power to convey the characters’ emotions, mood and inner turmoil, offering quite a different kind of intimacy and intensity. The libretto, by necessity, condenses the story even further than the film, focusing on key emotional and dramatic moments. This requires more abstraction and symbolism in the storytelling. The opera company’s enormous chorus gives visual (and sometimes oral) expression to the characters’ emotions, making their struggles and triumphs feel larger than life.
Mrs. Dalloway is at once a literary masterpiece and a philosophical reflection on human existence, the nature of consciousness, historical change and social structures. It exemplifies how a novel can be appreciated as a work of aesthetic beauty and creativity while also offering historical, philosophical, psychological and theological insights. It is at once a literary masterpiece, a repository of psychological and theological insights, a window into history and a profound philosophical reflection on the nature of time, consciousness and memory, on fate, determinism and inevitability, and on mental illness.
Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness is a hallmark of her artistry. This technique allows for a deep dive into the characters’ inner thoughts and emotions, creating a rich, layered narrative that mirrors the complexity of human consciousness. But the novel’s literary techniques—including the book’s nonlinear structure, the author’s poetic prose, her use of symbolism and imagery, and her attention to the rhythm and sound of words—also enrich the text and add to its multiple dimensions of meaning.
At the same time, the novel provides a vivid depiction of the post-World War I social and cultural landscape. It captures the societal changes that the war produced and its psychological impact, manifest in a deepening sense of disillusionment and fragmentation. In addition to providing a window into the class dynamics and social hierarchies of the time, the novel reflects and comments upon the evolving roles of women in the early 20th century and the internal conflicts that these changes induced.
The novel is especially notable for its psychological and theological insights. The book probes its characters’ inner lives and consciousness, revealing their fears, desires and memories in a way that captures the complexity of human psychology. Equally important, it provides a poignant and empathetic portrayal of mental illness and criticizes society’s inadequate understanding and treatment of such disorders.
While Mrs. Dalloway is not overtly theological, it engages intensely with spiritual and existential questions. The characters grapple with issues of meaning, purpose and the nature of existence. The protagonist’s reflections on death and her place in the world can be seen as a secular exploration of themes traditionally addressed by religion—a reminder that Woolf herself was a direct descendant of the Clapham sect, a group of English evangelical Protestants who combined their religious convictions with a commitment to social and political reform, including the abolition of the British slave trade and slavery.
The novel also needs to be viewed through a philosophical lens. It is, in part, a meditation on temporality. The novel juxtaposes the relentless march of clock time (symbolized by Big Ben) with the subjective experience of time, suggesting that time is as much a construct of human consciousness as it is a measurable phenomenon.
At the very heart of Virginia Woolf’s novel and in Cunningham’s The Hours is what we’d now call an existential crisis—intense questioning and disorientation concerning the meaning, purpose and value of life.
This crisis is manifest in feelings of intense anxiety, dread, despair and hopelessness. In fiction and in real life, many experience a profound sense of despair and hopelessness and a profound sense of loneliness, meaninglessness and disconnection from others. Characteristic responses include withdrawal, engaging in impulsive and reckless behaviors, and suicidal ideation.
An existential crisis is closely related to an identity crisis and the two are intertwined in Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours. Both crises involve profound questioning of the self, but whereas an existential crisis concerns the fundamental nature and purpose of existence itself, an identity crisis involves questioning one’s identity, life choices and future direction.
Several historical and cultural developments during the 19th and early 20th centuries made existential crises increasingly visible. By disrupting earlier patterns of life, rapid industrialization and urbanization contributed to feelings of alienation and a loss of community and purpose. The gradual decline of religious belief and the rise of secularism left many searching for new sources of meaning and purpose. Thinkers like Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche gave expression to the increasing doubts about established moral norms, introducing concepts like existential angst, existential dread, alienation and “the death of God.”
The unprecedented destruction and moral ambiguities of World War I further intensified widespread existential questioning and disillusionment. Literary modernism, with its emphasis on fragmentation, ambiguity and the questioning of absolute truths, reflected and amplified these existential concerns.
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Let me now shift gears and suggest that many of the feelings that college students experience today—such as emotional pain, despair, helplessness, guilt, anxiety and loneliness—need to be understood not simply as expressions of psychological or emotional distress, but as manifestations of deeper existential crises. These crises involve fundamental questions about meaning, purpose and identity, which profoundly impact students’ mental and emotional well-being.
We mustn’t reduce existential crises to a series of psychological problems. Existential crises revolve around questions of meaning, purpose, identity, and the value of life. Many students are struggling with finding a sense of direction and understanding their place in the world and they’re not receiving much support from faculty.
Questions about identity and the search for authenticity are central to existential crises. Students are grappling, without sufficient support, with who they are and who they want to become, in a rapidly changing and uncertain world.
The freedom to make choices and the responsibility that comes with it are often overwhelming, especially for a generation raised by helicopter parents who tried to shelter their kids from life’s existential realities. Also, the pressure to make the “right” decisions about one’s future can lead to intense anxiety and doubt.
Purely psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive behaviors are often understood in terms of clinical symptoms and diagnoses and are typically seen as issues with emotional regulation and mental health, requiring therapeutic or medical interventions.
That’s not sufficient.
Manifestations of existential crises in college students can be seen in addictive, compulsive and escapist behaviors, whether related to substances, technology, sex or other activities which often serve as a means of escaping the distressing questions and uncertainties of an existential crisis.
Compulsive behaviors generally arise from a desire to exert control in a world that feels chaotic and uncertain. These behaviors can provide temporary relief but do not address or alleviate the underlying existential issues.
Many students, a disproportionate number of whom are female, experience self-loathing and engage in acts of self-harm that are themselves products of existential crises that often lead to profound feelings of inadequacy. These students frequently struggle with their self-worth, questioning their value and place in the world. Self-harm can be a coping mechanism for dealing with overwhelming existential pain. It might provide a temporary sense of control or relief but is ultimately a harmful response to deeper issues.
The pervasive influence of social media and digital technology can exacerbate feelings of isolation and inadequacy, as students constantly compare themselves to idealized representations of others.
Unlike clinical anxiety, existential anxiety stems from the confrontation with life’s inherent uncertainties and the fear of meaninglessness. It is a natural part of the human condition but can be particularly intense during times of transition and self-discovery, such as college.
If there is some truth in my speculations, students need something more than psychological and therapeutic intervention. Let me suggest some approaches to the existential crises that beset our students:
- Self-Reflection and Mindfulness: Addressing an existential crisis requires a person to find new sources of meaning, purpose and connection. Practices that promote self-reflection, present-moment awareness and that help individuals reconnect with their inner selves and the world around them can be helpful. Journaling and meditation and time spent outdoors in nature can provide students with opportunities to reflect on their lives and seek personal insights.
- Support Groups: Peer support groups where students can share their experiences and struggles with existential issues can foster a sense of community and understanding.
- Philosophical and Spiritual Inquiry: Encouraging students to engage with existentialist and other philosophical and theological texts can help them explore and articulate their existential questions. Integrating courses and discussions on philosophy, ethics and the humanities across the curriculum can provide students with the intellectual tools to grapple with existential questions.
- Social Engagement: Ways to combat feelings of isolation and alienation include finding meaning, renewal and fresh perspectives through service and work, in nature, and in the creative and expressive arts.
- A More Holistic Education: A more holistic college education seeks to foster intellectual growth, emotional well-being, social responsibility, ethical reasoning, physical health and creativity in order to prepare students not only for successful careers but also for meaningful, fulfilling lives. In addition to promoting cognitive development and career preparation, this approach seeks to nurture students’ physical wellness, psychological well-being, emotional resilience, self-awareness, inter- and intra-personal skills, ethical and moral development, creativity, and social and community engagement.
Viewing college students’ emotional distress through the lens of existential crises offers a more accurate understanding of their experiences and suggests the kinds of actions that colleges need to take.
These crises are deeply philosophical and affective, involving fundamental questions about meaning, purpose and identity. Addressing them requires a holistic approach that combines philosophical inquiry, reflective practices, therapeutic interventions and robust educational and institutional support.
Rather than solely addressing clinical symptoms, colleges need to help their students find meaning, purpose and connection, and navigate the questions that reside at the very core of human existence.
