Two of Virginia Woolf's most influential works, To the Lighthouse and The Waves reveal the quintessence of her experimentation with narrative technique in depicting the passage of time and the nature of human consciousness. This guide includes an outline of the critical reception of Woolf's work -- placing these two texts in the context of her oeuvre -- as well as extracts from her own writing on these novels and an exploration of the birth of Woolf studies in the mid-twentieth century.