Who Am I, and Where's My Life? (The Waves - Virginia Woolf)

Member Name: SpankMarvin

Product:	The Waves - Virginia Woolf
Date:	06/09/01 (1252 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written, Has a personal feel to it

Disadvantages: None really, unless you're after a comedy

Right, hello everybody, sorry about the lack of input recently, but I have had a serious case of writer’s block. So you may now dry the tears which I’m sure you’ve ALL been crying, and settle down for another book recommendation. And whoever is muttering, please stop.

And a recommendation it is. The Waves by Virginia Woolf is yet another book which I have to admit I was forced into reading last year as part of my course.

Firstly, a little bit about Virginia Woolf the author. Born in 1882, Adeline Virginia Stephen led a somewhat troubled life, being only thirteen when her mother died, and having her first breakdown shortly afterwards. Her father died when she was just twenty-two, and the early deaths of her half-sister and her brother also contributed to a state of living which, despite her marriage, was full of anxiety and depression as well as sexual fear. She finally drowned herself in 1941. First published in 1931, The Waves is one of Woolf’s latter works.

So, I expect you’re in the mood to read this book now, eh? “Gosh, what a cheerful opinion,” you’re probably all chirping. And yes, it does sound depressing considering the brief chronology above, and at times Woolf’s writing can be sad. But it is sad and melancholy in a similar way to that “I’ve just listened to Radiohead and feel strangely better” kind of way. Just wait, let me explain…

The Waves tracks the lives of six characters throughout their lives: Bernard, Neville, Louis, Rhoda, Jinny and Susan. Starting from their primary school days, the series of soliloquies which make up the form of this book go through to the death of the principal character, Bernard.

In the same way as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is fairly plot-free, so too is The Waves, a good example of experimental modern writing. The novel concentrates on the themes of identity, both in terms of the self
as is, and the self in relation to others. Dialogues never occur in the book. Instead, characters are formed by their own thoughts and by the interaction of the others with them. Because of this, there is a sense of individuality with all the characters, strangely created by the participation of the group as a whole.

This continues even after the characters have gone their separate ways into the big bad world, and identity remains the focal point. Inner thoughts of characters assess themselves in relation to the other bit-parts who move and act around them. Repeated questioning of the self is accompanied by the frequent physical recognition of the self being different from the other. What is particularly interesting throughout the book is the perception which the characters have of those around them and of themselves. None of the characters have the self-esteem or natural confidence which one character assumes they have when we are reading his or her thoughts. The only character who is heralded as a heroic and strong character is Percival, the only one who cannot possibly speak for himself as he has died a premature death in a far from glorious horse-riding accident. Instead, he is a character created entirely from the others’ perceptions of him.

The novel is interspersed with slightly odd intermissions of descriptive prose about the waves and tides of the sea. Although this sounds a little strange, it actually helps maintain a sense not only of the ebb and flow of life, but also of the rigidity and repetition of life and its people. This is also represented by the advanced way the talk as children, meaning that their methods of expression hardly develop at all throughout the book. Indeed, the characters at the end of the book, despite having matured in some ways, still reinforce this fact by having many of the same fears, weaknesses and yearnings that they had when they were six years old. I know the feeling, I am still scared of
the crocodiles under my bed who have been threatening me now for fifteen whole years. As such, Woolf’s style of writing is not so much “stream of consciousness”, as it is actually deliberately structured. With the aid of the waves, this style shows the lack of randomness and the patterns which emerge in life and in personalities regardless of sex, background, choice of lifestyle or country of origin.

The Waves does sound a tad depressing, and it does require a little perseverance, particularly in the first twenty or so pages, mainly due to the initially odd style of writing. However, the novel is also very personal, hitting on feelings which are not only common to the six characters in the book, but to practically everybody everywhere. It is sometimes confused and inquisitive, sometimes nostalgic, but always relevant to the reader. It is strangely two-way; I found myself empathising with the characters, whose thoughts in turn empathised with me, telling me that those profound thoughts and fears which everyone thinks about on the train or after a couple of beers (or both) aren’t so uncommon after all. We’re all a bunch of scaredy-cats really, aren’t we?

Ooh, and just thought I’d add that this book prompted me to choose Woolf as my specialist author to study next year, I enjoyed it so much. So there, read it!!!

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