Abstract

Many studies on Woolf’s “The Waves” have analyzed the role of the waves, in Genette’s terms, in the levels of the “story,” as a central symbol, and the “narration,” through its fluid and experimental language, but not in the “narrative,” that is, in the way in which the plot is organized and narrated. Therefore, what I defend in this essay is that the waves are materialized not only in a concrete imaginary and style, but also in a repetitive structure that works in three main narrative categories: 1) in the voice, where the repetition of leitmotivs do not help to differentiate, but to confuse the characters, and to assimilate them under a single identity; 2) in time, where the constant remembrance of the past leads to a single circular time; 3) and in space, where the repetition of certain motifs in different places makes the geographical boundaries dissolve. Finally, since form and content are so closely knitted, this narrative construction has not only aesthetic effects, but also strong philosophical implications, as it reveals a true theory of subjectivity in which the generalized crisis of the late 1930s is clearly reflected.