Walking in circles: Helen Simpson’s Constitutional as short story cycle

This article examines thematic and formal concepts of circularity in the British writer Helen Simpson’s Constitutional (2005), in a reading of the collection as a short story cycle. Circularity recurs in the turning of the seasons, the circulation of the blood, compulsive behaviour and the sometimes futile repetitions enforced by daily routine. Combining Bakhtinian theory with a close reading of the text and Simpson’s own comments on the compositional process, the article shows how Simpson contextualizes the human life cycle in relation to seasonal change and renewal.