The Waves, first published in 1931, is Virginia Woolf's most experimental novel. It consists of soliloquies spoken by the book's six characters: Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny, and Louis. Also important is Percival, the seventh character, though readers never hear him speak through his own voice. The monologues that span the characters' lives are broken up by nine brief third-person interludes detailing a coastal scene at varying stages in a day from sunrise to sunset. As the six characters or "voices" alternately speak, Woolf explores concepts of individuality, self, and community. Each character is distinct, yet together they compose a gestalt about a silent central consciousness. Bernard is a story-teller, always seeking some elusive and apt phrase; Louis is an outsider, who seeks acceptance and success; Neville desires love, seeking out a series of men, each of whom become the present object of his transcendent love...

《海浪》是伍尔夫创作力达到鼎盛时期的作品，出版于1931年。这部高度诗意化、抽象化、程式化的实验作品没有严格意义上的故事，倒更像是一部由九个乐章构建而成的音乐作品：每个引子都是一篇精致的散文诗，以太阳和海浪的涨落与变迁对应生命的兴衰沉浮；跟在每段引子后面的是六个没有姓氏的、高度形式化的人物在各自相应人生阶段——从儿童时代、学生时代、青春时代、中年时代直到老年时代——的瞬间内心独白。引子与正文互相映射，为读者的感官开辟前所未有的、细致入微的通道，最大限度地接近生命、时间、意识以及感觉的实质。