| Title | : | A Room of One's Own / Three Guineas |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0192834843 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780192834843 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 480 |
| Publication | : | First published June 1, 1938 |
A Room of One's Own / Three Guineas Reviews
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5 stars for A Room of One’s Own (aka “I Use the English Language Better Than All of You, Deal With It”). I knew the basic thesis of this essay (that people need private space and personal money to be able to write fiction, and the lack of those two things has historically hindered women writers). I was unprepared for the style and structure of this essay to be so dazzling. Even when I didn’t agree with Woolf’s conclusions, her arguments were clear and easily traceable. And along the way she plays with expectations for narrators and protagonists, treating herself as both simultaneously. An essay I know I’ll reread many times in my life.
Three Guineas is similarly strong, but not as gripping. A wealthy man wrote Woolf a letter asking how women in England could help prevent war, and Woolf takes a circuitous route to say that the foreign oppression of fascism and the domestic oppression of sexism share more roots than the letter writer understands. It’s a masterful rhetorical performance, but drawn-out and much drier than the first essay.
Essentially, read Three Guineas if you’re a hardcore Woolf fan. Read A Room of One’s Own if you’re a human with a functioning brain. -
Introduction, by Hermione Lee
--A Room of One's Own
--Three Guineas
Notes and References -
Actual rating 4.5/5 stars.
This is a collection of two non-fiction essays. The former, A Room of One's Own, I awarded 5/5 stars and the second, Three Guineas, I awarded 4/5 stars as it was far drier in tone.
Both these essays focused on females and their place in society, with one concentrating on females and the physical constraints on their creativity and the other on women's place in a war-torn Britain. Both took a very circuitous but enjoyable route to reach their respective points but I did not begrudge the journey when they were so full of Woolf's inspiring prose, dry wit, and feminist ideologies. -
Before I begin this review, I would like to mention that everything mentioned here is based on my personal thoughts on the subject. I am in no way a professional reviewer or have any background in these. Also as I have read and reviewed the first of this books separately, this review would contain material on "Three Guineas". Now let me begin.
First of all I am a great fan of Virginia Woolf. Despite reading only three of her complete works (this being the third), I really liked her way of writing and in my opinion she was quite visionary. She was one of the authors that I have great respect due to the fact of the great leaps she took in order to achieve female freedom in the society, at least writing. A Room of One's Own is without doubt one of my favorite. It evoked in me feelings that I did not know I possessed and made me take a stand even in the smallest manner. Due to these facts when I managed to acquire a copy of Three Guineas I was quite eager to read it but if any of you did notice, unlike with A Room of One's Own, I took time to read and finish this. I could blame it on the length of the letter but truly it is not. It was the content. In the beginning I felt the same as I was reading the former. I was feeling empowered. Myna of the facts that she was fighting for have been achieved albeit even half way and since the time this was written we have come a long way in terms of female freedom. Then further I went in to reading the book, the more distant I felt with her ideals. Her arguments seemed valid and some points could go as far as being called visionary but they were far from realistic. Some seemed downright weird for me. Rather than showing a side of feminism that we want, sometimes I felt she was being antagonistic towards the opposite sex. Most of the subjects of her argument were people who had publicly debunked the feminism and they in fact do seem to have a reason for criticism but it was somewhat in the tone of the writing that made me not completely agree with her. I do agree that this in fact is not a valid reason to dislike her letter and it would simply be me being biased. Many of her arguments and criticism seem to stem from the basis of feminism but her conclusion seem somewhat not as effective as it was in A Room of One's Own. The letter itself did not seem to give a proper answer as to what she actually started on answering.
Let me dive into the positive aspects. Quite contrary to what I was mentioning in the previous paragraph I would like to bring ti light the subjects of Woolf's arguments in the letter. She simply calls out everyone who have been basking in the concept of patriarchy and asks them the truth of why they seem to abhor feminism. This is fact is one of the strongest points in her letter. She does not shy away from asking the true questions and show the unfairness in the treatment. Her satirical tones in some places clearly brings some lightness to a somewhat heavy subject matter.
In the end if you would ask me what I thought of this piece, I honestly do not think I am able to give a proper answer. Mainly due to the fact that I am not completely educated in such matters and not in a place that I can criticize her work. In that way I am miles inferior to Woolf. She had her own voice and her opinion and could not deflected in any way. For that I truly praise her. After all she was one of the influential names and not everyone could be one. Yet she seems to leave few questions raised at the end of her letter that I seem to still be missing answers for. -
This book is a real treasure since it collects two of Virginia Woolf's most notable essays namely A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas. They were both such insightful readings filled with memorable and philosophical passages that took me in an adventurous and stimulating journey about important issues that I damn well should care about. In fact, I was so incredibly enthralled by the essays that I ended up placing strips of sticky notes for the pages that have the most discussion-worthy quotes. I suppose this review will be littered by them as I write this because I want to take the time to explain how much Woolf's writing affected me, and the kind of lasting impressions it left.
Please take note that I will be devoting more time tackling A Room of One's Own and just briefly touch upon Three Guineas much later on.
A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN"Literature is open for everybody. I refuse to allow you to turn me off the grass. Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set upon the freedom of my mind."
This is probably the only written feminist piece that resonated with me for all the right reasons mostly because it was written for and about women who aspire to write in literature themselves. I don't consider myself a feminist; even when I joined Gabriela Youth in the first two years of college, I simply didn't become passionate about the movement itself. It's just not a political identity I can strongly associate myself with, but I would be a negligent asshole if I don't at least acknowledge and be thankful for the benefits I'm reaping now which are mostly due to the long decades of dedication and hard work of earlier generations of women who fought for feminist values. That is why A Room of One's Own was such a meaningful reading experience to me now that I'm at this tricky point of my life where life-altering decisions depend most often on the small and seemingly inconsequential ones. I myself have always dreamed of becoming a fictionist. I want to write something publishable someday too. It's just a matter of fate for me to seek out the words of a respectable writer like Virgina Woolf, and what she could teach me.
Divided into six cohesive chapters, A Room of One's Own is where Virginia Woolf imparted a beguiling lesson on the status of women in both the real world and in fiction whilst providing very searing observations regarding their perceived inferiority, and the day-to-day oppression that they had to face throughout the centuries. Woolf also employed the 'stream of consciousness' type of narrative for this titular 1929 extended essay which was originally a series of lectures she delivered in Cambridge University about Women and Fiction.
The essay's title is derived from Woolf's assertion that a female writer needs to be financially stable and to have the space and privacy in which to write. It's also essentially a metaphor for the freedom 'needed for creativity and imagination to flourish' (Collins). The quoted passage below was taken directly from Chapter 5 of the essay where Woolf was reading the first novel of the fictitious Mary Carmichael as Woolf made notable criticsms on where she could improve and how to go about it. The commentary she provided for this part of the essay is one of my favorites. Sure, it was bizarre to read about a literary criticism on a novel that doesn't even exist, but Woolf made it work, using Carmichael as a way to further emphasize the points she wants to get across when it came to the formation of female writings. She assessed for any woman who wants to write:"Give her a room of her own and five hundred a year, let her speak her mind and leave out half that she now puts in, and she will write a better book one of these days."
To determine how and why women write fiction, Woolf traced how women have been represented in fiction so far as written by men. She took on the persona of Mary Beton. The first chapter gave detailed accounts explaining her experience in luncheons and tedious social gatherings she had to attend at a university, and how she seemingly feels at times misplaced in her surroundings. As Beton, Woolf distanced herself from her writing as she tried to establish the definition and constraints about women and/in fiction in general. This led her to some crucial and enlightening research about the several crises, challenges and disadvantages women have been subjected to that in turn stifled whatever creative heights they can accomplish as novice writers. Her research included and highlighted a great many essays written by men who argued that women have less intelligence than men, and therefore cannot sustain the discipline and other qualities needed to pursue a literary endeavor or anything based on an intellectual pursuit.
Quotes such as "Female novelists should only aspire to excellence by courageously acknowledging the limitations of their sex" can be both infuriating and amusing to read, and Woolf was very glib albeit sharply critical of such ridiculous sentiments coming from well-educated men who had internalized and perfected their chauvinist points of view into a near art form. To contextualize this, Woolf called out patriarchy to attention as an enabler for such a cyclical narrow-minded view about women and their role in civilization. It's interesting because, in her next essay about the needless contraptions of wars fought in the name of masculine gain and greed, Woolf held patriarchies in contempt, citing them as dangerous social constructs that allowed the fascist movement to take root and infest Europe. But I digress. For now, Woolf shared us these gems to illustrate the oppressive function that women were unwittingly placed upon:"Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size...Whatever may be their use in societies, mirrors are essential to all violent and heroic action. That is why Napoleon and Mussolini both insist so emphatically upon the inferiority of women, for if [women] are not inferior, [men] will cease to enlarge...and if she begins to tell the truth, the figure in the looking-glass shrinks, his fitness for life is diminished."
Woolf as Mary Beton proceeded to quote certain male essayists regarding on how they view women, the paradoxical ways that they women as muses on pedestal to serve for inspiration; but also as sirens or seductresses who lure them to to their destruction and ruin once a woman ceases to agree with him or worship his every word as if it's the only sacred thing. This for me is the singular, most spot-on assertion that anyone has ever said about men's idealization of women in fictional landscapes and sexist disregard of them in real life; something that could still hold true even in modern times:"Women have burnt like beacons in all the works of all the poets from the beginning of time. Indeed if woman had no existence save in the fiction written by men, one would imagine her a person of the utmost importance; very various; heroic and mean; splendid and sordid; beautiful and hideous in the extreme; as great as a man, some would say greater. But this is woman in fiction. Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger. Some of the most inspired words and profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read; scarcely spell; and was the property of her husband."
Midway through the essay, Woolf as Beton then began to weave a fictitious tale about Shakespeare having a sister who is just as talented as he is but unfortunately was never allowed to study so she can learn to read and write. This sister was said to be just as creative but instead was forced into marriage which she promptly denied. Ber family disowned her and she was forced to leave in the streets, her hopes of being just as accomplished as her brother had turned into despair. In this fictitious Shakespeare sibling, Woolf merely wanted to showcase and drive home the point that the education and privilege afforded by men will always give then more opportunities and varied choices for careers, livelihoods and vocations. Meanwhile, women play the parts of a subjugated, separated species altogether in the background, only meant for homemaking and childbearing alone. In fact, Woolf cited poetry from possible women who lived in those times and the content of their poems she shared is depressing; almost all of them protest their stifling homebound lives that they consummately fixate on the unfairness of their chains, rendering them unable to write anything else. Woolf made an educated guess that if a learned woman (born in a high-class family) aspires to write, her stories and poems will always bear the tragic mark of her enslavement and would not create any kind of literary legacy. Such in the case back then for women who have creative inclinations.
"…a woman was not encouraged to be an artist. On the contrary, she was snubbed, slapped, lectured and exhorted. Her mind must have been strained and her vitality lowered by the need of opposing this, of disproving that. For here again we come within range of that very interesting and obscure masculine complex which has had so much influence upon the woman's movement; that deep-seated desire, not so much that she will be inferior as that he shall be superior."
In addition, Woolf also talked about how a fully-characterized woman in fiction should be depicted by her fellow woman as genuinely as possible, and that in order to be successfully understood, her value as a person should not be exclusively tied to her relation to a man at all in a story . This is still applicable today especially in male-centered narratives in certain genres like action movies where women are one-dimensionally portrayed as the men's love interests, sex objects or damsels in distress to rescue (hell, even all of the above so the story can focus on the male lead's journey and completion of goals; the worst of which is the "girl" is reduced to becoming a 'prize' he is entitled to claim). Sure, women both in fiction and real-life have a wider range of roles these days but the battle--to define ourselves without having to always contextualize male presence and perspective and how they contribute to our decisions and actions-is ongoing and is still being fought."All these relationships between women are too simple…almost without exception they are shown in their relation to men. It was strange to think that all the great women in fiction were not only seen by the other sex but seen only in relation to the other sex...indeed, literature is impoverished beyond our counting by the doors that have been shut upon women. Married against their will, kept in one room, and to one occupation, how could a dramatist give a full or interesting or truthful account of them?"
Woolf also briefly referred to lesbianism which she surmised is natural; 'sometimes women like other women' and that's that. I'm also queer myself so Woolf writing about lesbian identity was a nice touch because I've always felt more emotionally compatible with the same sex though, ironically, I intellectually identify more with the literature written by men which brings me to this intriguing philosophy Woolf offers about bisexuality in men and women:"…it made me also ask whether there are two sexes in the mind corresponding to the two sexes in the body, and whether they also require to be united in order to get complete satisfaction and happiness…in each of us, two powers reside; one male, one female...the normal and comfortable state of being is that when the two live in harmony together, spiritually co-operating…'a great mind is androgynous'. It is when this fusion takes place that the mind is fully fertilized and uses all of its faculties."
As Virginia Woolf nears the end of her essay, she gives us this great advice to women:"By hook or by crook, I hope that you will possess yourselves of money enough to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future or the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream. For I am by no means confining you to fiction."
THREE GUINEAS
This essay, on the other hand, expounds on the promotion of education for women so they can hold positions in more demanding careers and even in public office. This is contextualized in the eve and aftermath of the world wars. Woolf exposes the stupidity of war according to her opinion, and lays out facts she believes are indisputable when it comes to preventing wars, and that should start with the liberation of women. For example, she talked about finances and that a woman should be allowed independent control of money she earned:
(1) The daughters of educated men are paid very little from the public funds for their public services;
(2) They are paid nothing at all from the public funds for their private services;
(3) Their share of the husband’s income is not a flesh-and-blood share but a spiritual or nominal share, which means that when
both are clothed and fed the surplus fund that can be devoted to causes, pleasures or philanthropies gravitates mysteriously but indisputably towards those causes, pleasures and philanthropies which the husband enjoys, and of which the husband approves. It seems that the person to whom the salary is actually paid is the person who has the actual right to decide how that salary shall be spent.
Once again, Woolf emphasized the limited roles of a woman during that time, particularly on how her individuality is automatically diminished once she is taught that marriage is her only calling and must therefore subject herself to the whims and ambitions of her husband."It was with a view to marriage that her mind was taught. It was with a view to marriage that she tinkled on the piano, but was not allowed to join an orchestra; sketched innocent domestic scenes, but was not allowed to study from the nude; read this book, but was not allowed to read that, charmed, and talked. It was with a view to marriage that her body was educated; a maid was provided for her; that the streets were shut to her; that the fields were shut to her; that solitude was denied her—all this was enforced upon her in order that she might preserve her body intact for her husband. In short, the thought of marriage influenced what she said, wha she thought, what she did. How could it be otherwise? Marriage was the only profession open to her."
I was honestly more enticed with A Room of One's Own than Three Guineas which I might have to re-read because I got decidedly uninterested midway through reading. Nevertheless, Woolf manged to write something exceptional and remarkable in these two essays and I warmly congratulate her for the insights she accomplished to deliver in her pieces, most notably in A Room of One's Own. I am so excited to read her fiction before the year ends. I'm undeniably compelled to do so now..
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT
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Trigger warnings: discussions of misogyny? That's about all, really.
3.5 stars.
I've been meaning to read something by Virginia Woolf for a long time now, so I put this on my Classics Club list to make sure that I finally DID read something of hers. (Well. Technically I put A Room of One's Own on my list. The copy that my library had just so happened to include Three Guineas as well, so I read that too.)
Anyway. A Room of One's Own came out of lectures that Woolf delivered in the late 1920s. Three Guineas was written a decade later after she received three separate requests for a guinea's donation. Together, they're iconic feminist pieces.
But honestly? They were a little on the dry side for me. I feel like they - especially A Room of One's Own - would benefit from an audiobook reading rather than a physical reading, and that maybe if I'd done that, I wouldn't have struggled as much as I did at times. They're written in a very conversational style, as you would expect with the first having come out of lectures, and so we get very long paragraphs, very long passages, and very few breaks.
That said, there were definitely moments during the course of both pieces where I desperately wanted to high five Virginia Woolf's ghost because she was so on point with her arguments.
A Room of One's Own basically argues that all women should have access to two things: an income of £500 and a room in which to write, a scheme Woolf argued would produce many a female Shakespeare. Three Guineas discusses the education and employment of women, and how men will invest in the education and employment of their sons without a second thought, but they begrudge spending much smaller amounts on their daughters.
So yeah. I struggled at times. An audiobook version probably would have helped. Woolf makes a lot of incredibly relevant points, even 80-90 years down the track. The end. -
"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
This book contains two of Woolf's non-fiction works both of which focus on women, particularly women writers - their role in society, the historical context, the future possibilities.
Woolf is one of my favorite authors, something about her writing invariably moves me. In these works I was spellbound by her writing as well, which is saying something given they are non-fiction. My enjoyment of this book can be largely attributed to the writing, rather than anything else - I found the book a little boring.
The copy I own is an Oxford World's Classics edition, which has extensive commentary, introduction, all kind of biographical and bibliographical information. That is something I really appreciate. It's also printed in a comfortably spacious way. That's the reason this series is one of my favorites for classics. -
Este libro es uno de esos libros necesarios en la vida de toda mujer. No sólo por lo que escribe Woolf sino porque en ella encuentras comprensión, empatía y sobre todo reflejo.
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Había oído hablar de Una habitación propia pero no conocía en absoluto Tres guineas y me he llevado una grata sorpresa, Virginia Woolf ha sido todo un descubrimiento. No sé cómo explicarlo pero me hubiera encantado poder conocerla y poder charlar con ella o simplemente escuchar, aprender y empaparme bien de todo lo que tenía que decir.
En estas dos obras, la autora nos habla con gran maestría, y en ocasiones con una ironía muy sutil (que ha conseguido arrancarme alguna carcajada), del gran problema contra el que tenía que lidiar la mujer de su época, la “hija/hermana del hombre instruido". Y digo problema, en singular, porque aunque está claro que eran muchos los obstáculos a los que enfrentarse, éstos se pueden englobar perfectamente en uno: la desigualdad. Y es que el papel de la mujer, tanto en el ámbito público como en el privado difería muchísimo si lo comparamos con el que desempeñaba la otra mitad. Tampoco las oportunidades, los derechos y las cargas familiares eran las mismas, sino diferentes según el sexo.
La negación, y no precisamente por motivos económicos, de algo tan básico y necesario como la educación, la imposibilidad de acceder a una profesión remunerada y la falta de la independencia económica que ello conlleva, la privación de la libertad para expresar opiniones o el derecho a decidir por sí misma en relación a su propia vida son algunos de esos los obstáculos, entre otras cuestiones, que la autora aborda tan maravillosamente bien.
El único “pero” que le he encontrado al libro es la traducción de Un cuarto propio que no me ha llegado a convencer, además de contener algún error que llega a modificar el sentido de las frases o dificultaba su comprensión, por lo que no descarto volver a leer la obra en un futuro pero en otra edición.
De todas formas este pequeño detalle no le resta mérito al libro por lo que se lleva las cinco estrellitas. Lo he disfrutado muchísimo y lo recomiendo todavía más. Preparad los post-it, bolígrafos y libretas, los vais a necesitar. -
Кофе ба жүржийг хамтад нь харахаар Франсуаз Саган бодогддог шиг, Милан Кундерагийн Тэвчихийн аргагүй хөнгөн оршихуйг хөгшин хар малгай, том толиор төсөөлж болдог шиг Виржиниа Вүүлпийг бол одоо голын э��эг, Лондоны хатсан навчисаар төсөөлж болно. 19-р зууны төгсөл үед мэндэлсэн зохиолч эмэгтэй Virginia Woolf маань өөрөөс нь өмнөх эрин үед амьдарч асан эмэгтэйчүүд хэрхэн өрөвдөлтэй, эрх чөлөөгүй (биеийн ч, оюун санааны ч) аж төрдөг байсан тухай зоримог судалгаагаа Британийн музей дэх номын сангаас эхлүүлж, тэгэхдээ олны хэл ам, ширүүн харц, зодуур нүдүүрээс үл айн зохиол бүтээлээ туурвиж асан Jane Austen зэргийн амьдрал уран бүтээлээр жишээ авч, хооронд нь харьцуулж, басхүү Шекспер гэх мэт андроген оюун ухаантай уран бүтээлчдийг хайр найргүй магтан дуулжээ (яг үнэндээ Гёте, Шекспер хоёрыг л, Наполеон Му��солини хоёр хүртэл эмэгтэйчүүдийг дорд үздэг байсан нь гомдмоор). 15-р зуунд эхнэрээ зодох явдлыг эр хүний эрх гэж үзэх, 16-р зуунд жинхэнэ хайр дурлалаар гэрлэх явдал бараг үгүй байсан агаад зөвхөн дунд болон түүнээс дээш давхаргын эмэгтэйчүүд л нөхрөө өөрөө сонгох эрхтэй байсан гэх. Тиймдээ ч 2 эр хүний нэг нь шахуу дуу, сонат бичиж байсан тэр үед ч гэсэн эмэгтэй хүний бичиж үлдээсэн ганц аятайхан тэмдэглэл ч яагаад байхгүйд нь гайхах зүйл алга юм (бүтэн роман худалдаж авах хэмжээний мөнгөтэй эмэгтэй ч энэ үед ховор байсан бөгөөд зохиолыг хуудас хуудсаар ��ь худалдаж авч цуглуулан барин уншдаг байж). Тэр бүү хэл эмэгтэйчүүдийг сүнсгүй гэж хэлэх зэрлэгүүд ч байсан байгаа юм. Харин азаар Шексперийн зохиолд гардаг 17-р зууны эмэгтэйчүүд өөрийн гэсэн характер, байр суурьтай байсан нь эмэгтэйчүүд уран зохиол бичихэд, ядаж тэдгээрийг нь эр хүн тоож уншихад ихээхэн дөхөм болсон билээ. 19-р зууны эхэн хүртэл асар баян айлын авхай биш л бол өөрийн гэсэн өрөөтэй байх явдал байдаггүй, дундаж давхаргын Англи гэр бүл дундаа л нэг амралтын өрөөтэй байх нь элбэг байжээ. Гэтэл өөрийн гэсэн өрөө бол өөрийнхөөрөө бодож сэтгэх эрх чөлөө гэсэн үг гэдгийг л зохиолч маань ойлгуулах гэж их л зүдэрсэн байх юм. Өөрийн гэсэн өрөөтэй нэгэн нь харин зохиол бүтээлээ эрэгтэй хүний нэрээр толилуулж явдаг байж. Иймээс ч ёстой гарын хуруунд багтахаар гэж хэлэхэд ч хэлсдэхгүй эмэгтэй зохиолчид галзуурч, эсвэл амиа егүүтгэх явдал олонтаа тохиодог байжээ. Уран зохиол, яруу найрагт эмэгтэйчүүдийн эзлэх байр суурь өдгөө муугүй болсон, үнэлэгддэг болсонд, тэр битгий хэл багаар бодоход би гэж хүн хүртэл дуртай зохиолоо уншаад, дуртай хэсэгээ дураараа цээжлээд бурж явах эрх чөлөөтэй байгаадаа, элдэв шалдав яг одоо таны уншиж буй сэтгэгдлийг хүртэл бичих оюун санааны эрх чөлөөний зах зухаас атгасан байгаадаа талархах ёстой мэт санагдана. Талархах талархахдаа бусдад биш өөртөө л зориулж бүтээлээ туурвиж явсан, олон охид эмэгтэйчүүдэд бичих урам зориг хайрласан, үг хэлэх эрхийг бидний алган дээр яг тэнцүүхэн тавиад явсан Афра Бэннд цэцэг өргөх ёстой! Оюуны эрх чөлөө материаллаг байдал дээр тогтдогийг зохиолч маань нэгэнтээ батлаж орхисон тул, эмэгтэй хүн оюуны эрх чөлөөтэй байхын тулд хөрөнгөтэй, өөрийн гэсэн өрөөтэй, унших сайн номнуудтай, түүнийхээ талаар дуу хоолойгоо илэрхийлж, сайн муу нь хамаагүй бичсээр л байх хэрэгтэй. Сэдвийнх нь сайн муу нь хамаагүй, зүгээр л илүү их бичээсэй гэж Вүүлп хүссэний шалтгаан бол хэдэн зууны өмнөх эмэгтэйчүүдийн талаар судлая гэхэд ганц тэмдэглэл ч олоход бэрх байсныг би дээр дурдсан билээ. Зургаа дугаар бүлэг бол төгсгөлийн бүлэг буюу бүхлээрээ л сургамж, захиас, нөгөө талаас цөхрөл, зохиолчийн маань аргадангуй гуйлт. Түүний энэ их хичээл зүтгэлийг талаар нэг тараахгүйн тулд бид уншсаар, бичсээр, дуугарсаар, бичих бичихдээ, унших уншихдаа уран зохиолоор үл хязгаарлагдах ёстой. Номууд бие биедээ нөлөөлж, баяжуулан дэмждэг, яруу найраг философитой хацраа нийлүүлэн зогссоноороо уран зохиол гарцаагүй хожих болно. Ямар ч байсан юм үзэж нүд тайлах мөнгөтэй байж, дэлхий ертөнцийн өнгөрсөн, ирээдүйн талаар эргэцүүлэн мөрөөдөж, уран зөгнөлд автан, гудамжны булангаар сэлгүүцэх зуураа бодлынхоо ганц нэг мөрүүдийг амьдралын урсгалд умбуулж л явах хэрэгтэй аж. Тэгээд дараагийн алхмаа хийж, асар урт, бэрхшээл ихтэй, судлагдаагүй замынхаа шинэ шат руу итгэл төгс, зоригтой гарах хэрэгтэй.
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Tremendo libro, Virginia y sus ensayos me dejaron sin palabras.
Invitaron a mi mente a reflexionar todos los derechos adquiridos con el paso del tiempo y varias cosas de las cuales aún somos privadas.
Sin dudas valió la pena leerlo tan despacio y con tanto esmero.
Estoy emocionada por una relectura, dentro de algunos años, y encontrarme con lo que pensó la Giorgina del pasado.
TREMENDO LIBRO que incluso puede seguir vigente con respecto a cierto tipo de términos e inquietudes.
Un clásico de VERDAD. -
I cannot help smiling at the first memory of this volume. I was at tenth grade and my IELTS exam was approaching. Maybe because of that, I was frantically trying to switch to reading in English. Having wandered among the bookshelves for almost an hour, always conscious of how little money I had, I was hopelessly heading for the exit. But social anxiety got better of me. Salesperson should have thought I am a thief; I had to buy something.
Collins Classics seemed about a nice option -- they were cheap, and rarely disappointing. They did publish Aristotle after all. How bad could they be? I almost randomly picked a book by a female author, cover photo of which was a woman. My friends were impressed. (Should I tell that I was disappointed when I googled Virginia Woolf's images?).
As ironic as it may sound, this was my introduction to one of the most widely read feminists of all times. I read Three Guineas then, which made a pretty amateur feminist out of me. Some vague memories still remain: an angry woman, a ridiculously long letter, its miserable male receiver, and ranting, lots of ranting. It did make me feel bad for women, though, and I undertook the glorious enterprise of calling myself a feminist. I still remininsce my contributions to womens' well-being.
It has been quite some time since I have decided to reject all political labels. Somehow, "feminist" was the last one I felt comfortable getting rid of. And just days after that decision, I picked the same, already worn out volume, this time to read A Room of One's Own.
Women and fiction. Virginia Woolf was asked to make a speech on this topic. Instead, she said, let us give women a room of their own. This is the way to grant to women fiction, and to fiction, women. Essence of her argument seems triffling. Just how important can a room be? Surely she has other points to get across?
In a sense, a room is indeed all that Woolf demands. But there is metaphorical side to this, and it is masterfully blended with the material demand. Women need a room to write, so that they can write without distractions. Women need five hundred a year, so that they can attempt to write not for money but for literature. Women need space from biased and dishonest criticism directed at them, so that, instead of turning reactionary, their writing can benefit from actual critiques. Women need freedom, so that they can write.
To take a different approach, it is also in simplicity of the argument that power of the book lies. Because once we accept that -- and given slightly more brainmass than a chimpanzee, we should accept that -- a room would solve so much of women writers' problems, we are exposed to full nakedness of their underpriviliged situation.
Virginia Woolf's feminism is in some ways outdated. Differences between two sexes are no longer celebrated. There is an established view that differences between men and women are more often than not social construct. Wide acceptance of LGBT community makes her dualist approach unthinkable. But perhaps, there is no point in drawing parallels between her and current feminists. Such parallels certainly exist, but they would only undermine actual importance of the book. A Room of One's Own is a piece of history - a valuable one at that - and needs to be read and aprreciated as such. -
This is the first time I’ve read any Virginia Woolf and… well, it was a glorious mix of fiction and non-fiction/essay - I'm not sure I've read anything quite like it before.
She is one of those writers where almost every sentence is beautiful and delectable and meaningful/profound and how am I meant to highlight any particular one? She describes the beauty and magic and wonder of the world in such an attentive and romantic and whimsical yet real true way.
When I started reading ‘Three Guineas’ I found it much slower paced than ‘A Room of One's Own’ (though just as eloquent and passionate), but then oh my gosh she started firing all the shots in chapter 2 (including comparing English sexism to the fascism of German and Italian dictators in terms of the desire to control other people’s lives) and for the remainder of the book I was hooked.
She says so much it would take an essay of my own to go into it all… but I will comment on one particular message towards the end of ‘A Room of One’s Own’ which particularly spoke to me (especially considering how it was reiterating a conversation I’d been having with friends the day before). It was a message about the importance of being oneself and not worrying what others might think of you and your work and how they might value it. 'So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters'. -
VIRGINIA WOOLF?!? HAND IN MARRIAGE?!? i feel so educated& literate& scholarly&i have the biggest brain ever& virginia woolf is sosososo great
*have not yet read ‘three guinea’s’ but tbh just bought this for a room of ones own lol -
Baffled by Virginia Woolf and her intellect and writing and modernity.
I am glad I read this, although I have to admit I wasn't so keen on ploughing through Three Guineas (included in my edition).
Still worth it. -
I'd love to write something witty and eloquent in response to having read this book, because that's what it deserves.
I doubt I'll manage but here are my thoughts:
A Room of One's Own
Written as an examination of Woman and Fiction - Woolf basically concludes that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". She expounds this theory by variously discussing the social station of women through the ages and the nature of fiction writing.
I loved her tone - she's cynical and funny - very funny! I chuckled throughout, whilst also shaking my head at the many inequalities women experienced throughout history.
She apologises for the mundanity of the argument - bringing to down to money - but she aptly illustrates why having her own money and space (something until that time unavailable to the majority of women) is essential to writing fiction.
Three Guineas
This is in a similar vein. Woolf is responding to calls for donations to help avoid the war. She examines to whom she will give each of her three guineas and under which conditions. In deciding she explores various needs for women's independence - arguing that independence of thought is essential for avoiding war.
Here are some of my favourite quotes from both books.
"No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself."
"The most transient visitor to this planet, I thought, who licked up this paper could not fail to be aware, even from the scattered testimony, that England is under the rule of a patriarchy."
"The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself."
"Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is not gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind."
"By hook or by crook, I hope that you will posses yourselves of money enough to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future or the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream."
"I find myself saying briefly and prosaically that it is much more important to be oneself than anything else."
I could list dozens more but these kind of capture the essence of the two essays.
What I most loved was the tone of these essays. She puts her arguments across as so indisputably reasonable that it seems ridiculous that anyone could disagree. How amusing that women were one perceived as inferior or undeserving of the vote...
She mocks and coddles in the same phrase. I laughed so often...but also shook my head at the many things that haven't changed since Woolf was writing. -
«(…) you object that to depend upon a profession is only another form of slavery, you will admit from your own experience that to depend upon a profession is a less odious form of slavery than to depend upon a father.»
Review in English | Reseña en español (abajo)
This volume compiles two essays on feminism: the widely-known A Room of One’s Own (1929) –which I had read multiple times in the past few years, and you can read my last review
here–, and the “lesser appreciated” Three Guineas (1938), a novel-essay that has surprised me a lot. Both bring together with an interesting introduction written by
Hermione Lee.
Although this reading took me more days than I had expected –mainly due to Three Guineas' thickness and my poor attention span these past weeks–, I liked it a lot, and I can’t stress enough my recommendation for you to read it. A Room of One’s Own has been a key feminist text for many years, and although I adore the "Judith Shakespeare" section and Woolf's aim of building a history of women’s writing, I even liked Three Guineas much more. I have seen a stronger “radical” thinker in Virginia Woolf as she talks about politics, anti-fascism, war, women's access to education and jobs, and the value of a care system where women’s work is fundamental and should be paid.«‘(…) Therefore if you insist upon fighting to protect me, or “our” country, let it be understood, soberly and rationally between us, that you are fighting to gratify a sex instinct which I cannot share; to procure benefits which I have not shared and probably will not share; but not to gratify my instincts, or to protect either myself or my country. For’, the outsider will say, ‘in fact, as a woman, I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.’»
This essay has a strong sense of the author’s time regarding the main topic: how to help prevent war –with the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) going on and the upcoming World War II (1939-45) in the horizon–; but it is very impressive nonetheless. The text is structured in three parts but as an entire reply to an educated anonymous gentleman who has written a letter asking Woolf to join his efforts to help prevent war. In answering his letter, Virginia turns to write two other letters: a request for funds to help rebuild a woman's college, and a request for support for an organisation to help women enter the professions. She will give different reasons and practical suggestions to give one guinea to each cause. In doing so, the author articulates her criticism of the patriarchal system and how it certainly links with fascists ideas.«the example of the Fascist States is at hand to instruct us – for if we have no example of what we wish to be, we have, what is perhaps equally valuable, a daily and illuminating example of what we do not wish to be.»
Apart from the compelling topics arisen, I particularly liked the epistolary format and the sense of dialogue created between the author and the anonymous recipient: it gives an interesting fictionalized sense to the essay without eliminating its effectiveness.
All in all, whether you are interested in Woolf’s works or feminist essays, you should read Three Guineas –it is much more politically stimulating than A Room of One’s Own.«But that would be to dream –to dream the recurring dream that has haunted the human mind since the beginning of time; the dream of peace, the dream of freedom.»
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Este volumen recopila dos ensayos sobre feminismo: el ampliamente conocido Una Habitación Propia (1929) –que ya he leído varias veces en los últimos años, y podéis encontrar mi última reseña
aquí -, y el menos conocido Tres Guineas (1938), un ensayo-novela que me ha sorprendido mucho. Ambos introducidos por un prefacio firmado por
Hermione Lee.
Aunque esta lectura me llevó más días de lo que esperaba –principalmente debido a la “densidad” de Tres Guineas y mi mala atención durante las últimas semanas–, me gustó mucho y no puedo insistir lo suficiente en recomendaros que lo leáis. Una Habitación Propia ha sido un texto feminista clave durante muchos años, y aunque me encanta el texto completo y especialmente la sección sobre "Judith Shakespeare" y el objetivo de Woolf de construir una historia de la escritura de las mujeres, Tres Guineas me ha gusta
Este ensayo tiene un fuerte sentido del “tiempo cultural de la autora” con respecto al tema principal: cómo ayudar a prevenir la guerra –teniendo la Guerra Civil española (1936-39) en curso y la Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-45) a la vuelta de la esquina–; pero es sobrecoogedor aun habiendo pasado casi un siglo desde su publicación.
El texto está estructurado en tres partes como respuesta completa a la carta que un hombre anónimo (un hombre educado / an educated man) ha escrito a Woolf pidiéndole que se una a sus esfuerzos para ayudar a prevenir la guerra. Al responder a su carta, Virginia acaba escribiendo dos respuestas más: una solicitud de fondos para ayudar a reconstruir una universidad para mujeres y una solicitud de apoyo para una organización que ayude a las mujeres a ingresar en el mundo laboral. Woolf dará diferentes razones y sugerencias prácticas para dar una guinea a cada causa. Al hacerlo, la autora articula su crítica al sistema patriarcal y cómo éste se vincula con muchas ideas fascistas.
Además de los temas tan interesantes que van surgiendo en el ensayo, me gustó especialmente el formato epistolar y el sentido del diálogo que acaba creándose entre la autora y el anónimo destinatario: le da un sentido ficticio muy interesante al ensayo sin eliminar su efectividad y fuerza.
En resumen, tanto si estáis interesad@s en las obras de Woolf como en los ensayos feministas, debéis leer Tres Guineas –creo que es mucho más estimulante políticamente que Una Habitación Propia. -
This book contains two of Virginia Woolf’s feminist essays, A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas. The former is absolutely brilliant and still relevant today. I highly recommend it, especially to those who are familiar with classic literature, as there are many references to classic writers and their book characters. The latter is good as well, but I didn’t find it as thought-provoking. It’s in a different style, a three-part letter, and it is more about the evils of war. Overall, it is an excellent feminist essay collection and I LOVE the Vintage Classics edition that my friend, Kaycee, gave to me. ❤️
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" A woman must have money and a room her own if she is to write a fiction" - ბრძანა ქალბატონმა ვირჯინიამ თავის ესსეში და ამ ერთი წინადადებით შეიძლება ითქვას გადატრიალებაც კი მოახდინა მოდერნისტულ ლიტერატურაში.თუმცა, ჩემი ბლოგი უფრო მეტად სუბიექტურია და ვეცდები ის გამოცდილება გაგიზიაროთ თუ რამდენად საჭიროა საკუთარი ოთახის, საუთარის სივრცის ქონა, არა მხოლოდ იმისთვის რომ მხატვრული ლიტერატურა შექმნა, არამედ იმისთვისაც რომ გაერკვე საერთოდ ვინ ხარ, რას წარმოადგენ სინამდვილეში ,შენი სახელის, სტატუსის და ეროვნების მიღმა,რა არის შენი ცხოვრების წარმმართველი მთავარი მოტივი, უბრალოდ არსებობ,დღეებს მიათრევ თუ ამ შენს ყოფას კიდევ აქვს რაიმე დამატებითი შრე... დამატებითი განზომილება და ა.შ
მოკლედ, ძველით ახალი წელი იდგა, თუ იმის წინა დღე, ვიტერბოსათვის დამახასიათებელი მზიანი ამინდითა და სიმშვიდით, 2 საათი მქონდა დროის გასაყვანად და საბოდიალოდ, სანამ ჩემი ქართველი მეგობარი რომიდან მატარებლით ჩამოვიდოდა, ჰოდა მეც დავიწყე უაზრო და უმიზნო ხეტიალი დახლართულ ქუჩებში, ფეხებმა თავისით მიმიყვანა "ლიბრერია სრაფი"-სან ,სადაც შესვლას ყოველთვის თავს ვარიდებ ხოლმე, რადგან ვიცი რომ იქიდან ხელცარიელი და იმედგაცრუებული გამოვალ , ან ხელდამშვენებული და ჯიბეგამოფხეკილი ( რომელია უკეთესი ჯერ ვერ გამირკვევია) ამჯერად ჩემმა მაზოხიზმმა გადასძლია ჩემი რაციონალური მხარე და მაინც შევედი... დაუფიქრებლად გავემართე ინგლისურენოვანი წიგნების სექციისკენ და კიდევ ერთხელ გადავავლე თვალი, რამე ახალი ხომ არ მიუღიათ უკანასკნელი ვიზიტის შემდეგ.. თითქს ყველაფერი ძველებურად გამოიყურებოდა, კონსულტანტიც დაუზარლად და ღიმილით ემსახურებოდა ახალგაზრდა ქალს, რომელისაც "ბავშვის ალბომის" შეძენა სურდა, ერთი წამით შევხედე ამ გამოწკეპილ, სიმპათიურ , საშუალო ასაკის მამაკაცს, მვირცხლი მოძრაობებით და უეცარი რეაცქიებით და ვინ გამახსენდებოდა თუ არა ჩემი თანამშრომელი საშა :) რომელთან ერთადაც სამი წელი თუ უფრო მეტი არა, ადამიანებს მეც ვეხმარებოდი მა��ი წილი ლიტერატურული რეალობის "ამოშენებაში". გამახსენდა და უცებ ისე ძალიან მომენატრა ის გარემო, ის ადამიანები რომ თავი ძლივს შევიკავე ტირილისგან ... ისევ ავცდი თემას.. კიდევ ერთხელ გადავხედე "Collins classics"-ს და სწორედ ამ დროს "შემომეფეთა" ვირჯიკო ( რიგორც თამუნა უწოდებს) თავისი საკუთარი ოთახით ,რაც მთავარია ძალიან მიმზიდველი ფასდაკლებით, ჰოდა მეც დავტაცე ხელი, მოპარული ტკბილეულივით და და სალაროსთან ბედნიერი და ამაყი მივქანდი. ის მკვირცხლი მამაკაციც იქვე დამხვდა, იტალიურად მომიბოდიშა "პროგრამა ზედმეტად ნელიაო" გულში გავიფიქრე ( ეჰ..შენ არ იცი როგორ ჭედავდა ჩემი "ფინა" და როგორ მაგლეჯდა ნერვებს მეთქი).. Va bene...
მხიარული და გრძელი შაბათ-კვირის შემდეგ როგორც იქნა გემრიელად მოვკალადი, პატარა ქალაქ ვალენტანოს ერთ პატარა კაფეში და პირველი გვერდც გადავფურცლე, ცოტა არ იყოს გამიჭირდა ვირჯინიას ახლართულ ნაწერში ბოლომდე შესვლა და გაშინაურება, მაგრამ როგორღაც მოვახერხე...
"Give her a room of her own and five hundred a year, let her speak her mind and leave out half that she now puts in, and she will write a better book one of these days."
წიგნში ვულფი საუბრობს ყველა იმ ქალზე, რომელთაც გაბედეს და კალამს ხელი მოკიდეს, მაშინ როდესაც მათი მთავარი ფუნქცია სამზარეულოში ფუსფუსი, პერანგების დაუთოვება, ყვავილების მორწყვა და სახლის სხვა წვრილმანი საქმეების კეთება იყო. რაც მთავარია, არც ერთ ამ ქალს , შარლოტა ბრონტე იქნბა თუ ლედი ვინჩენსა, არც ერთს არ ქონია საკუთარი პირადი სივრცე... მისაღები ოთახის მაგიდასთან მსხდრები, ჩუმად იპარავდნენ წუთებს , რომ გადამალულ ფურცლებზე დაეწერათ ის, რაც მათ ცოტა ხნით ავიწყებდათ რომ ამ სამყაროსთვის მხოლოდ ქალი დედები, ქალი შეყვარებულები, ქალი- მშვენიერებები იყვნენ...მიუხედავად იმისა, რომ მამაკაცების მიერ დაწერილი წიგნებიც კი უკლებლივ ყველა მათ კვლევასა და შესწავლას ემსახურებოდა, ისინი მაინც დაჩაგრულ სქესს მიეკუთვნებოდნენ,არა იმდენად იმიტომ რომ რეალურად იყვნენ სურსტები,არამედ იმიტომ რომ მამაკაცები მათი სისუსტის ფონზე უფრო ძლევამოსილნი გამოჩენილიყვნენ...
სიმართლე რომ ითქვას, არასოდეს ვყოფილვარ თავგადაკლული ფემინისტი, ჩემში პროტესტსაც კი იწვევს ხანდახან მთელი ეს აგიტაცია, რომ როცა საქმე ლიტერატურას და ზოგადად ხელოვნებას ეხება აქ სქესი მეორეხარისხოვანი ხდება, მთავარია რას ქმნი და როგორ ქმნი.. არ არსებობს "ქალური" და "კაცური" ლიტერატურა.. თუკი "ომი და მშვიდობა" ტოლსტოიმ დაწერა, ეს იმას არ ნიშნავს რომ მას " ანა კარენინა" არ დაუწერია... ან თუნდაც შტეფან ცვაიგი ავიღით, გახსენდებათ ვინმე ვინც მასზე კარგად იცნობდა ქალის ფსიქოლოგიას? მე არა :)
შორს რომ არ გავიჭრა ამ რიტორიკულ კითხვა-პასუხებში , ჩემს პირად გამოცდილებასაც გაგიზიარებთ, აგერ უკვე 7 თვეა ოთახში ორ სხვა ადამინთან ერთად ვცხოვრობ , მიუხედავად იმისა , რომ ჩემი პატარა სივრცე მაქვს, მაინც მუდმივად ის შეგრძნება დამყვება თან რომ ვიღაც მითვალთვალებს, გამუდმებით წნეხის ქვეშ ვარ და ჩემი პერსონალური თავისუფლება შეზღუდულია.ახლაც როცა ამას ვწერ, ფრთხილად ვარ, რომ ჩემი ხმამაღალი ბეჭდვით ვინმე არ შევაწუხო, ჰოდა სწორედ ამის თქმა უნდოდა ვირჯინიასაც, იმისათვის რომ ვწეროთ,იმისათვის რომ ვიარსებოთ, იმისათვის გადავლახოთ ისევ ვირჯინიას ტერმინს თუ მოვიშველიებთ- difficulty of being oneself -გარდაუვალი აუცილებლობით გვჭირდება საკუთარი ოთახი, რაც , რაღა თქმა უნდა საკუთარ თავთან მარტო დარჩენას, პიროვნულ თავისუფლებას და საკუთარ აზრებთან პირი���პირ შეყრას გულისხმობს...
სხვა შემთხვევაში აუცილებლად დავემსგავსებით იმ მისის დოლოვეის, რომელიც გაუთავებელი წვეულებებით ცდილობდა რომ თავისი ოთახის კარი საგულდაგულოდ ჩაერაზა და მთელი თავისი ცნობიერი თუ ქვეცნობიერი ცხოვრება შიგნით გამოემწყვდია.ის ცხოვრება, რომელიც ადრე თუ გვიან ნიაღვარივით მოვარდებოდა და წალეკავდა მის საგულდაგულოდ ნაშენებ ფასადურ ბედნიერებას.
"No need to hurry. No Need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself." -
Every every everybody should read this, given the chance. At first, I was worried that it would perhaps be a little over my head, as this is my entry book into Virginia Woolf’s writing, however I can quite confidently say that Woolf writes so eloquently that there is nothing but desire created, to understand and follow her through these manifestos
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A Room of One's Own ★★★★
This was my first Virginia Woolf book and I am certain it will not be my last. A Room of One's Own is an interesting piece that looks at sex inequality and is an incredibly feminist piece for it's time. Virginia Woolf highlights the struggles to be a female writer and the requirements of money, time and space in order to become a writer that young women do not have.
Her words were enchanting and beautifully written as I became engrossed in A Room of One's Own from start to finish. What surprised me the most was how relevant this book still felt and how relatable elements of it still were, which in some ways is incredibly sad. Woolf's writing was insightful, smart and thought-provoking.
There is little I can add that has already been said about Virginia Woolf, I will only share one of my favourite quotations from the book.Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the salve of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger. Some of the most inspired words, some of the most profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read, could scarcely spell, and was the property of her husband.
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Three Guineas★★★
Following on from A Room of One's Own I was a little disappointed in Three Guineas as the structure was three very large chapters that looked at a reason to give a guinea in each. Woolf continued and built upon the themes of A Room of One's Own, but the book did not feel as succinct and interesting as the first book.
I found myself honestly a little bored towards the end and like the book was dragging, although I think part of this could have been the mood I was in when finishing the book. Despite my disappointment, I know I would still like to read more Virginia Woolf books even if the follow on to A Room of One's Own was less memorable. -
a room of one’s own — 4/5 stars
three guineas — 3/5 stars
both very interesting and compelling -
With The Waves being one of my favourite novels of all time and really liking To the Lighthouse, naturally, A Room of One's Own was my next choice. In all honesty with never reading any of Woolf's non-fiction I had this preconceived notion that it was going to somehow be pretentious. It wasn't at all, thankfully. Did I love it? No. Did I like it? No. Do I appreciate it? Absolutely. It's of no surprise to me that it was written beautifully and eloquently, which I have come to expect. I know many people find it hard to cope with the constant stream of consciousness way in which she writes, but for me personally, I've never found it to be a barrier. It gives the essay a more conversational feel rather than a lecture, for which I am thankful for.
Whilst agreeing with many of the points made in this essay, I found myself questioning a few. One of them being her discussion on Charlotte Brontë in relation to the 'incandescence' in writing, which is the idea that an author shouldn't allow personal emotions of the time of writing seep into the language being written. This I'm afraid, I'm going to have to wholeheartedly disagree with. I do not agree that Jane Eyre suffers or is a lesser work compared to that of Jane Austen just because you feel anger and raw emotion scattered throughout the pages. To me, writing with anger and passion is important, they are genuine human emotions. Letting your personal feelings imbed themselves within your work reveals the truth, it does it overshadow it, as Woolf suggests. Which is probably why I prefer Charlotte to Jane. Another point Woolf makes that I slightly disagree with is the opinion of 'making a poet', however, I do understand that Woolf was a subject of her time. In my opinion, one cannot simply 'make a poet'. The poet was always there, waiting to be unearthed. She lists examples such as Keats, Coleridge and Shelley and explains that nearly all of these men attended University and had good incomes which is what is required to write poetry. We know nowadays that that's just total codswallop.
I've rated this book 4 stars because it made me think. It also made me frustrated and angry and thankful for how far women have come over the centuries. The last six or so pages are some of the most poignant and profound passages I have ever read. If you have no interest in reading any of Woolf, read the last pages of this essay, you won't regret it. Even though A Room of One's Own is known to be a feminist essay, I enjoyed it and I don't identify as a feminist at all and I still found it to be empowering and memorable.
Also, to Mr John Langdon Davies, kindly fuck off. -
£500 pounds a year and a room of one's own, Woolf states, are the pre-requisites for a woman to be a writer - in other words, writers are not necessarily timeless geniuses who rise above their age, but are shaped, supported or repressed by their material, economic, social and cultural conditions.
Written in 1929, Woolf's essay (originally a series of lectures to Newnham and Girton Colleges) is read often today as a foundational document of feminist literary theory. Extremely prescient, it touches on theoretical issues such as female writing, and the representation of women in male-authored texts, thus foreshadowing the work done by French feminists such as Cixous, Irigaray and Kristeva. By clearly articulating the relationship between text and material world, and uncovering paradigms of power and self-interest, she also prefigures the influential work of Marxist critics such as Barthes and Foucault.
Given its date of composition, there are points at which Woolf is factually wrong - most pressingly when she talks about the impossibility of female poets during the Renaissance. Later scholarship focusing on Renaissance women poets such as Louise Labe, Veronica Franco, Aemilia Lanyer, Isabella Whitney, Mary Sidney, Mary Wroth et al have uncovered that women certainly did write, circulate and even publish poetry in the sixteenth century, though certainly these processes were never unproblematic.
I particularly like the way in which Woolf offers her essay as an example of how to 'do' theory - she states that she doesn't want her listeners/readers to simply read and accept, but to engage actively, to resist, argue back, extend and re-write her arguments.
The whole is written in a lively, witty, style making it probably one of the most accessible theoretical texts we have from the modern period. So whether you're interested in feminist/gendered literary theory or Woolf, this is a stimulating and spirited read. -
This was the most influential read of my year. Though dated in parts, to read of the challenges some women faced in 1929 and how relevant they are to my own journey as a woman writer exploring the influence of the past, was both terrifying and comforting.
The Shakespeare’s sister imagining was SO perfect & I loved that the essay was dotted with narrative, sarcasm and poetry.
Three Guineas was a bit of a slog but that being said, I’ve still dog-eared nearly every page to mark moments of meaning and importance.
Fav Quote: Imaginatively, she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history…some of the most inspired words, some of the most profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read, could scarcely spell, and was the property of her husband. -
I won't rate this book because it is quite unrateable for me. I can't say I enjoyed it that much; I'm a bit ashamed to say that Woolf's essays are a bit long-winded for my (modern?) taste. But her message and the historical significance of these two essays made me so glad to have read them. She makes some really sharp points about patriarchy and literature that really resounded with me. 90 years after she made this following statement, I think it is still valid:
"And these values are inevitably transferred from life to fiction. This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing-room. A scene in a battle-field is more important than a scene in a shop - everywhere and much more subtly the difference of value persists." -
NB: Despite this edition including Three Guineas as well as A Room of One's Own, I have only read the latter and this review shall only discuss such work. When I eventually get around to reading Three Guineas, I shall update my review here with my thoughts on it!
I was put onto Virginia Woolf and specifically, A Room of One's Own, by a good friend. I'm only angry at myself for taking so long to take her up on her recommendation, because this surely did not disappoint. Woolf's essay exploring the position of women and fiction in the late 1920s not only deals with feminism, but with classism, sexism, and sexuality. It covers a breadth of topics that I did not realise were just as prevalent in the educated mind in 1929 as they are in 2021. This was also my first introduction to Woolf's work, and I am glad I have experienced her narrative voice as herself prior to reading any of her fictional novels. I believe it's given me a greater understanding of her stance not only as a writer, but as a woman, and I look forward to picking up some of her novels in the future.
Woolf highlights so many key issues that are still so important in today's society. I've noted down many favourite passages, too many to bring up here in a review, but often I found myself having to sit back and come to the realisation that I have had many of the same thoughts and opinions that Woolf displays in her writing. It's odd, to think that a woman living almost one hundred years prior to me can feel so similarly about so many issues. It really showed to me that whilst we have progressed massively, we're clearly still also in the same place. I know that's contradictory, and I'm struggling with how I can best put it into words, but it really did feel like an essay that transcended and bridged the 100-year-gap between its publication and today.
Of course, a piece of writing like this, I believe, should be experienced by everybody, regardless of gender or lived experience, but reading this work as a woman, and specifically as a woman who writes, I felt understood for perhaps the first time in a long time. I felt heard. Seen. As a 20-something living in the 21st century, as a white cisgender individual, my brain is hardwired to believe that being a woman no longer hinders me, that we're fed by the media, by the older generation, but anybody who fucking can, that we are equal to men. We are not. We have not been, we are not now, and we may not ever be. Reading A Room of One's Own really allowed me to sit with those thoughts, to realise how deeply rooted misogyny and sexism are in every single human being upon the planet. "Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size," Woolf writes (pg. 35), a statement that hit me like a train, and made me reevaluate the decisions I make, the way I am spoken to, the way that I censor myself, in ways that I know a man never has to, and never will. The power of Woolf's writing, to make me feel so small, so inferior to a man, and then to bolster me up in her final few pages, to the point of tears, to say to me, 'you are a woman, and women have suffered long and hard from the dawn of time, but you are capable. More capable than you know. More capable than men let you believe', was something that I never realised I needed to hear. Having always thought of myself as an independent individual, a strong young woman, I didn't know how imperative it was to read words like this, to see my deepest insecurities and fears addressed upon a page. Truly, this is the most impactful piece of feminist literature I have read thus far. -
A discussion of hidden histories and an ode to education
Virginia Woolf’s essays A room of one’s own and Three Guineas were my first departure from her fiction into her political discussions. And my first thought is, that it does not lent itself to light reading, as it deals with questions of why women historically only wrote novels and how to stop war, in her signature style, emblematic of literary modernism, which I am not sure, I mastered as of yet since it requires a lot of concentration. Nevertheless, it is worth reading.
As mentioned, the two presented essays (besides the exhaustive introduction, very well written by Michele Barrett, contextualizing Woolf and her work) deal with questions of liberation and pacifism. In A room of one’s own, the author ponders about women in fiction, and comes to many fascinating conclusions. Among which, that women up until the days of Jane Austen were seen not only seen by the other sex, but only in relation to the other sex. She of course continues with the thoughts, that intellectual freedom depends upon material things, which is why a woman, if she is to be a writer, needs equal access to education, a salary and a room of one’s own. But this book doesn’t just shine in respects to its message and style, reading it today gives us great insights into issues of gender equality and pacifism, in a time of great political turmoil, not unlike today’s.
In Three Guineas she links war to the current gender system and discusses masculine tendencies towards militarism. We may not look to Virginia Woolf to learn a great deal about gender itself, as she does describe it as the poststructuralists might call essentialistically, but she still manages to captivate us with her articulate accounts of what today, we call glass architecture, emotional labour and unrecognized domestic servitude.
It is also at times, incredibly funny, thanks to her witty comparisons and writing style. Fans of her fiction shouldn’t therefore be disappointed, as she says that "fiction must stick to facts and the truer the facts, the better the fiction," but that of course translates into essays as well. What is there left to say, but to echo her words:
“Our only weapon, the weapon of independent opinion, based upon independent income […] Professions are to help [us] to possess that weapon. It will help [us] to have a mind of our [own] and a will of our [own], with which to prevent war.” -
5 stars for 'A Room of One's Own', which I had already read and is one of my favourite books. However, I was less enchanted by Three Guineas, which I was reading for the first time and to which the 3 stars are directed. Although Woolf's polemic was interesting and well written, I did not find it as compelling or interesting as 'A Room of One's Own', which I found a shame. Obviously, its contents are important and have an undeniable place in history, but there was something that just could not pull me in.
