The Years
by Virginia Woolf
The novel traces the history of the Pargiter family from the 1880s to the "present" of the mid-1930s. Although the novel spans fifty years, it is not epic in scope, but instead focuses on the small private details of the characters' lives. With the exception of the first one, each chapter takes place on the same day of the title year, and each year is determined by a specific point in the cycle of seasons. At the beginning of each episode, and sometimes as a transition through the episodes, Wolfe describes the changing mood in England, taking a bird's-eye view of both London and the countryside before focusing on his characters. Although these definitions appear in a paragraph in England, Wolfe rarely and briefly expands his perspective on the world outside England. The Years, the longest of Virginia Woolf's books, is unlike any of her other novels in many ways. Simple, easy to understand; it is an attempt to do what many other modern writers have done, to make the protagonist of the novel a family, not an individual. Necessarily "society", the attitude of the individual towards society, occupies a much more prominent place in "Rokah" than in his other novels. The book was a huge success as soon as it was published and was considered a masterpiece not only by many critics, but also by such a critical friend as J.M. Keynes. For weeks, it topped the New York Herald-Tribune bestseller list.
