Summary
Virginia Woolf: The Waves
One of the best British novels of all time
The time is coming when those monologues will become dialogues. We will not always ring like a gong after a blow, whenever a feeling resonates within us. Children, our life was like the ringing of a gong; noise and bragging; blows on the back of the head in the garden.
The original and extremely poetic novel Waves is considered Virginia Woolf's masterpiece. Through a series of connected inner monologues of six friends, we follow their growth.
Their characters are subtly revealed through reflections on themselves and others, starting from children's play by the sea, through schooling and growing up, to facing the death of their beloved friend Percival, and then their own maturation. Interspersed with vivid descriptions of the sea at different times of the day, the personal narratives blend into a poetic tapestry of human experience.
Despite its experimental form, The Waves enjoyed commercial success and excellent critical acclaim upon its publication in 1931, and is now considered Virginia Woolf's most ambitious novel, showcasing her modernist narrative techniques in the best possible light.
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