50 pages • 1 hour read
The Waves
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Waves by Virginia Woolf was published in 1931. Widely considered to be Woolf’s most experimental work, The Waves is a proponent of themes and techniques of modernism, including stream-of-consciousness narration and the use of leitmotifs. Set in England in the first part of the 20th century, the novel explores the lives of six characters from childhood into adulthood, exploring their unique experiences and the relationships between them. Employing a rotational structure of the six characters’ narrative voices speaking in soliloquies, The Waves experiments with contemporaneous ideas around human consciousness and the development of identity. Deeply experimental in style, form, and purpose, The Waves challenged established uses of language, cultural norms, and the nature of storytelling itself.
This guide is based on the 2016 Mariner Books edition. Citations refer to page numbers in this edition.
Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain material on depression, death, death by suicide, grieving, and identity crisis, including around gender and sexuality.
Plot Summary
Related Titles
By Virginia Woolf
