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Original material supplied by Jim Reynolds.
Updated April 18, 1998
Created April 18, 1998
What are some key critical issues for studying The Waves?
See Works Cited for full references.
The six voices are seen as aspects of a single character according to Naremore and Ferrer (cited in Hussey 358) . Harper disagrees, because of how the voices are differentiated, and Beer argues that it only has to do with the sexual life of one woman.
Guiget describes the interludes and their relationship to the episodes as an overture to an Opera. In 1997 the Dutch composer DeVries was inspired to write his opera A King, Riding from reading The Waves.
It is viewed as either "a highly artificial trick" (Majumdar and McLaurin 283) or as "an authentic and unique masterpiece."- (Majumdar and McLaurin 294).
Graham suggest that as a representative of modernism, its very difficulty and strangeness places it at the heart of MODERNISM'S experimental tradition.
Gregor points out that readers either identify with it or reject it intensely.
Alexander and Poresky point out that it conveys things symbolically in order to transcend the literal. The form is a mythic or religious one, that transcends the details of mundane life.
Lorsch disagrees with Alexander and Poresky because Percival doesn't solve the problems posed by the metaphysical.
Henke says the book should be understood as a phenomenological experience instead of as a mystical one.
Transue argues that it is the development of a form to convey Woolf's vision in a feminist vein.
It is about the imagination, creative consciousness, and not about what is created, but the drama of the creation according to Harper, Rantavarra, Stewart, and Ascher. It is an amalgation of impressionistic and expressionistic devices according to Rantavarra .
It is about the feminine creative consciousness suggests Minow-Pinkney
Zwerdling and Gorsky say it is about alienation.
Moore says it is about "spirit" and "society."
Ruotolo and Moore suggest that there are similarities between Woolf's vision and Heidegger’s philosophy.
Gordon suggests that it is an attempt to see all relationships as one, as part of Nature.
It is a polyphonic novel, using multiple voices as one voice, according to Ricouer .
The odd choice of tenses is pointed out by Graham, Transue, Stewart, and Raitt.