Abstract
In her novel 'Orlando: a Biography' published in 1927, Virginia Woolf evokes 'the extraordinary discrepancy between time on the clock and time in the mind' (Orlando p.91) and the opposition she expresses between thess two concepts of time is to be found, more or less obviously, in most of her works. In this study, we will analyze the characteristics and meanings of each of these 'times', as well as the reasons Woolf chose to use both of them in her novels. This argument will be based on two of her main works: Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927) because, although written during the same period, they both exemplify really different concepts of time.
To begin with, clock time – which is the most common concept of time as it has been created by human beings themselves – is a rational and precise element constantly present in Woolf's novels, but often construed in different ways.
