THE ISSUE OF TIME IN VIRGINIA WOOLF’S THE WAVES

Abstract

The article explores the issue of time in Virginia Woolf’s most experimental novel ‘’the Waves’’. Generally, the issue of time is one of the prominent themes in Virginia Woolf’s novels, however this one displays different pattern of it, namely instead of presenting Bergsonian ‘’Duration’’, it shows the difference between the existence of a person and the concept of ‘’being’’ as something beyond time. There are two directions, in which this issue is explored, first is the portrayal of individual versus collective, in which we see Woolf’s characters saying that they do not have ‘’one being’’ but rather see themselves as the inheritors of the past and the unities of other beings. The second is the nature of eternity. With regards to this, relevant passage from the novel is further explored. In this extraordinary passage, Virginia Woolf thrives towards the cancellation of the time boundaries and the creation of the whole, eternity-like surrounding. All the characters claim that with this unity they overcome their timely existence and unite with the general pattern of being. In the end, the article assumes that Virginia Woolf’s ‘’the Waves’’ is the true fruit of twenty century modernist literature and Woolf successfully manages to portray the spirit of modernistic epoch in its struggle with the time-bound existence.

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