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A Room of One's Own (The Virginia Woolf Library)
In this classic essay, Virginia Woolf takes on the establishment, using her gift of language to dissect the world around her and give voice to those who are without. Her message is a simple one: women must have a steady income and a room of their own in order to have the freedom to create.
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As I am pretty much interested in gender studies, especially feminism(sociology and politics)It may seem like it doesn't contain many contemporary take-ups on feminism, especially in the field of creating art but by no means it is irrelevant in this day and age. I was mesmerized by the 2nd chapter, some specific concepts she presented here which I am very much fond of would be -
1. Refuting why any 'Women' couldn't have written plays like William Shakespeare in that age
2. Why any intellectual creation should be sexless/androgynous "man-womanly," or "woman-manly,"
3. Exploration of critics calling Austen, Gaskell, and Bronte sisters' works 'Shallow', 'carnal', 'mundane'(reminds me of VS Naipaul saying no woman has written anything so far that has suppressed his level of genius. Narcissistic much eh??)
1. Refuting why any 'Women' couldn't have written plays like William Shakespeare in that age
2. Why any intellectual creation should be sexless/androgynous "man-womanly," or "woman-manly,"
3. Exploration of critics calling Austen, Gaskell, and Bronte sisters' works 'Shallow', 'carnal', 'mundane'(reminds me of VS Naipaul saying no woman has written anything so far that has suppressed his level of genius. Narcissistic much eh??)
Probably the wittiest book that I’ve ever read. One of the most insightful - even today - and the book is one hundred years old.
Woolf takes on the subject women and fiction. She uses it as a springboard to comment on the position of women in society. Her medium is irony and she wields it with such ease that I can barely recognize the tool.
She argues women have been not merely subjugated by men, but deprived of the physical conditions of life and liberty that produce not just art but good art.
She then points out that men do not acknowledge this reality, but instead act as an adversary to the dignity and advancement of women - and why? Because women are foils for men, they must be weak or men are not strong. And there’s the nub of it, the condition of half the earth is made desolate such that the other half can feel like men.
In making these arguments, she just happens to blurt out observations of tremendous insight that still feel fresh for a reader. She notes the tendency of women in movies to speak only of men or not at all (through an entrancing thought experiment of two women in a play that are friends - a completely unprecedented phenomenon, because it has no foundational relationship to a man).
She ends with a touching peroration - proclaiming that the female Shakespeare exists in the future and the present generations’ toil in obscurity serves to bring that yet to be born person into being - to furnish them with the rooms and teachings and dignity required for art.
A tremendously entertaining and also enlightening read.
Five stars!!
Woolf takes on the subject women and fiction. She uses it as a springboard to comment on the position of women in society. Her medium is irony and she wields it with such ease that I can barely recognize the tool.
She argues women have been not merely subjugated by men, but deprived of the physical conditions of life and liberty that produce not just art but good art.
She then points out that men do not acknowledge this reality, but instead act as an adversary to the dignity and advancement of women - and why? Because women are foils for men, they must be weak or men are not strong. And there’s the nub of it, the condition of half the earth is made desolate such that the other half can feel like men.
In making these arguments, she just happens to blurt out observations of tremendous insight that still feel fresh for a reader. She notes the tendency of women in movies to speak only of men or not at all (through an entrancing thought experiment of two women in a play that are friends - a completely unprecedented phenomenon, because it has no foundational relationship to a man).
She ends with a touching peroration - proclaiming that the female Shakespeare exists in the future and the present generations’ toil in obscurity serves to bring that yet to be born person into being - to furnish them with the rooms and teachings and dignity required for art.
A tremendously entertaining and also enlightening read.
Five stars!!
As an English Major, Virginia Woolf was required readings throughout the 4-year Bachelor degree program. However, I quickly fell in love with all things written by Woolf. Her writing is thoughtful, engaging, while being extremely disruptive. Whoever loves thoughtful literature this is an author for you!
Despite Woolf's typical writings, this novel demonstrates the creative process of evoking many thoughts of deep reflection, troubling thoughts that may disappear as quickly as they appear.
This is a brilliant essay about writing and feminism, and it made me feel like cheering on Woolf. That said, I struggled with the fictional elements inside of the nonfictional essay.
Favorite quotes:
“Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was concerned not with their inferiority, but with his own superiority. That was what he was protecting rather hot-headedly and with too much emphasis, because it was a jewel to him of the rarest price.”
“They start the day confident, braced, believing themselves desired at Miss Smith's tea party; they say to themselves as they go into the room, I am the superior of half the people here, and it is thus that they speak with that self-confidence, that self-assurance, which have had such profound consequences in public life and lead to such curious notes in the margin of the private mind.”
“The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
Favorite quotes:
“Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was concerned not with their inferiority, but with his own superiority. That was what he was protecting rather hot-headedly and with too much emphasis, because it was a jewel to him of the rarest price.”
“They start the day confident, braced, believing themselves desired at Miss Smith's tea party; they say to themselves as they go into the room, I am the superior of half the people here, and it is thus that they speak with that self-confidence, that self-assurance, which have had such profound consequences in public life and lead to such curious notes in the margin of the private mind.”
“The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself.”
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