The Waves - by Virginia Woolf (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A landmark of twentieth-century literature, Virginia Woolf's most daring and visionary novel dissolves the boundaries of narrative convention in a radiant exploration of friendship, memory, and identity--now with a new introduction by Patti Smith.

"I love," said Susan, "and I hate. I desire one thing only. My eyes are hard. Jinny's eyes break into a thousand lights. Rhoda's are like those pale flowers to which moths come in the evening. Yours grow full and brim and never break."

Spanning a lifetime, The Waves follows six friends from childhood into adulthood, their voices intertwining to trace the rhythms of friendship, love, ambition, loss, and the search for meaning. Together, they comprise a remarkable portrait of human consciousness.

Published in 1931 at the height of Woolf's creative powers, The Waves represents the culmination of her modernist innovation. Blurring the line between novel, prose poem, and philosophical meditation, it remains one of the boldest and most original achievements of twentieth-century fiction.

Review Quotes

"Mrs. Woolf, so far as the novel is concerned has almost reached the jumping-off place. . . . The texture of the prose is a warp of sensory impressions woven into woof of poetical abstraction. As prose it has very often a high distinction--it is clear, bright, burnished, at once marvelously accurate and subtly connotative. The pure, delicate sensibility found in this language and the moods that it expresses are a true kind of poetry." --The New York Times

"[Virginia Woolf] had the gift of epiphany." --Teju Cole, author of Open City

"I love [Woolf's] strength and fragility in equal measure." --Deborah Levy, author of Hot Milk

About the Author

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was one of the defining writers of the twentieth century. The author of Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, A Room of One's Own, and The Waves, she transformed the modern novel through her groundbreaking explorations of consciousness, memory, and time. Her work continues to inspire readers and writers around the world.

Patti Smith is the author of the National Book Award winner Just Kids, as well as Woolgathering, M Train, Year of the Monkey, Bread of Angels and Collected Lyrics. Her seminal album Horses has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. Her global exhibitions include Strange Messenger, Land 250, Camera Solo, and Evidence. In 2005, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, Smith is also the recipient of the ASCAP Founders Award, Sweden's Polar Music Prize, the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, and the Legion d'honneur.