Name: A Room of One's Own
Rating: 4.241649269311065 (479 reviews)
ISBN: 9789350334935

Virginia Woolf

This story grew out of a lecture that Virginia Woolf had been invited to give at Girton College, Cambridge in 1928. It ranges over Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, the silent fate of Shakespeare's gifted and imaginary sister, and over the effects of poverty and chastity on female creativity.

A Room of One's Own

A room of one's own

roofopiela

This has been unread on my bookshelf since i got it after it was referenced in Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the pain of others”

I won’t speak much on the essays as they are almost century old and both well studied in feminist literary theory. 

After reading this book, i feel quite despondent about how radical Virginia Woolf imagined women’s introduction to political and economic world we had been systemically excluded from to the regression i now see. So much of this book is about the value of economic independence for women and yet now online and in conversation with a lot of women you get and hear advice for hypergamy, trad wife etc etc and yet the women Woolf wrote about in 20th century are so miserable and some went mad in the confinement of marriage and patronage of their fathers and brothers. What can we make of this regression when text like this exists. Virginia Woolf in this book had imagine a post patriarchal society as she could foresee the disaster assimilating into the world of domination, acquisition and militarism would be for women. 

Another critical reading of this book is in its engagement with race. Virginia Woolf earned her economic independence through an inheritance from an aunt in Bombay(colonial name for Mumbai). Dionne Brand's "Readings from the Wreck" taught to find the imperial subtext wherever Virginia Woolf who is mostly concerned with her class of women(daughters of educated men) also seems to suggest these women wouldn't dare to dominate others stating "

It is one of the great advantages of being a woman that one can pass a very fine negress without wishing to make a fine English woman out of her

" I don't know why this seems to me an ahistorical reading of slavery and colonialism. Virginia Woolf is against the world that men have built but I think sometimes in this book she gives women too much grace for perhaps their indirect participation in worlds of domination. Though to be fair she does state in the last chapters how the public and private worlds of tyranny and servility are interconnected and women are not passive spectators to them and should be able through thoughts and actions to change them.

The three guineas essay was my favorite of the two because of its relevance today as war is being raged in various parts of the world. Her analysis on the relationship between patriarchy and militarism is revelatory. I look forward to now reading her novels as I enjoyed this a lot and probably one of my favorite books now.

Marion

This has been unread on my bookshelf since i got it after it was referenced in Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the pain of others”

I won’t speak much on the essays as they are almost century old and both well studied in feminist literary theory. 

After reading this book, i feel quite despondent about how radical Virginia Woolf imagined women’s introduction to political and economic world we had been systemically excluded from to the regression i now see. So much of this book is about the value of economic independence for women and yet now online and in conversation with a lot of women you get and hear advice for hypergamy, trad wife etc etc and yet the women Woolf wrote about in 20th century are so miserable and some went mad in the confinement of marriage and patronage of their fathers and brothers. What can we make of this regression when text like this exists. Virginia Woolf in this book had imagine a post patriarchal society as she could foresee the disaster assimilating into the world of domination, acquisition and militarism would be for women. 

Another critical reading of this book is in its engagement with race. Virginia Woolf earned her economic independence through an inheritance from an aunt in Bombay(colonial name for Mumbai). Dionne Brand's "Readings from the Wreck" taught to find the imperial subtext wherever Virginia Woolf who is mostly concerned with her class of women(daughters of educated men) also seems to suggest these women wouldn't dare to dominate others stating "It is one of the great advantages of being a woman that one can pass a very fine negress without wishing to make a fine English woman out of her" I don't know why this seems to me an ahistorical reading of slavery and colonialism. Virginia Woolf is against the world that men have built but I think sometimes in this book she gives women too much grace for perhaps their indirect participation in worlds of domination. Though to be fair she does state in the last chapters how the public and private worlds of tyranny and servility are interconnected and women are not passive spectators to them and should be able through thoughts and actions to change them.

The three guineas essay was my favorite of the two because of its relevance today as war is being raged in various parts of the world. Her analysis on the relationship between patriarchy and militarism is revelatory. I look forward to now reading her novels as I enjoyed this a lot and probably one of my favorite books now.

Finished my first non-fiction read. This book is an extended essay based on a series of lectures Virginia Woolf delivered in 1928 at Newnham and Girton, two women’s colleges at Cambridge University, under the title Women and Fiction.

Woolf argues that women need financial independence and personal freedom in order to produce literature. She explores how women have historically been denied access to education, wealth, and private creative space.

Woolf also critiques the male-dominated literary canon, noting that male writers often reduced women to symbols, fantasies, or plot devices, rather than portraying them as fully realized, complex individuals.

Finished my first non-fiction read. This book is an extended essay based on a series of lectures Virginia Woolf delivered in 1928 at Newnham and Girton, two women’s colleges at Cambridge University, under the title Women and Fiction.

Woolf argues that women need financial independence and personal freedom in order to produce literature. She explores how women have historically been denied access to education, wealth, and private creative space.

Woolf also critiques the male-dominated literary canon, noting that male writers often reduced women to symbols, fantasies, or plot devices, rather than portraying them as fully realized, complex individuals.



Kendine Ait Bir Oda

İçeriği kadar ifade gücüne de hayran kaldığım eser. Özellikle kamusal alan özel alan  ayrımında kadınların üzerine kapanan kapıları çok iyi betimleyen, güçlendirici ve ilham verici bir konuşma. 

Cemrenur Solakoğlu

Bilinç akışı tekniğiyle yazıldığı için, takip etmekte biraz zorlansam da içerik olarak çok güzeldi. Kadınların değişmeyen sorunlarından ve çözüm arayışından, yazarın zamanının çok ötesinde düşüncelerini  yaşamı ile birlikte değerlendirdiğimde çok etkilendim. Herkese özellikle de kadınlara tavsiye ederim.

Serap

Based on two talks given by the author, and first published in September 1929, Virginia Woolf's seminal essay revolves around the central claim that a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. Outlining the importance of education and financial independence, Woolf draws up a history of women writers and demonstrates how they had to operate as outsiders in a society that sought to exclude them.

A Room of One's Own (Hero Classics)

I had difficulty extracting the sentences and understanding some references Woolf mentioned. I understand that she was highlighting the unfairness of the literary world for women in the 19th century. She wanted to provide examples of women writers who didn’t have a room of their own yet still managed to write fiction. What I don’t understand is the point of her criticism towards them when she previously mentioned male writers, but I could review some of my highlights and see how she took this perspective when nobody else would—to see women writers from a different light.

🏹

An extended essay which was based on a series of lectures that Woolf delivered at two women's colleges which are part of Cambridge University. The essay explores women both as writers and characters in fiction.

I'm absolutely speechless after reading this. 

While Woolf's fiction is so well done, this mix of a fictionalized narrative with the tone and style of an essay is incredible. I think this might be a good book to use for my dissertation because it just makes so much commentary on things like gender, literature, politics, and so much more. 

Paige Leitner

I'm absolutely speechless after reading this. 

While Woolf's fiction is so well done, this mix of a fictionalized narrative with the tone and style of an essay is incredible. I think this might be a good book to use for my dissertation because it just makes so much commentary on things like gender, literature, politics, and so much more. 

if I were to get a text tattooed on my forehead from start to finish it would be this…

Niki Sotiropoulou-Nassika

In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf imagines that Shakespeare had a sister: a sister equal to Shakespeare in talent, equal in genius, but whose legacy is radically different.This imaginary woman never writes a word and dies by her own hand, her genius unexpressed. But if only she had found the means to create, urges Woolf, she would have reached the same heights as her immortal sibling. In this classic essay,Virginia Woolf takes on the establishment, using her gift of language to dissect the world around her and give a voice to those who have none. Her message is simple: A woman must have a fixed income and a room of her own in order to have the freedom to create.

A Room of One’s Own

jess

"Praise and blame alike mean nothing. No, delightful as the pastime of measuring may be, it is the most futile of all occupations, and to submit to the decrees of the measurers the most servile of attitudes. So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say."

This book revolves the theme around Women and Fiction, so it naturally explores the critical distinction of male and female writers back then, and their prospects. Well back then, women had been so oppressed to the point that the oppression has coincided within their nature. Writing poetry or novels have been such an obstacle. Woolf orchestrated this whole essay on describing each prominent female writers, such as Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, etc also male writers such as Shelley, Tolstoy, Wordsworth, etc that might or might not be androgynous and why. 

"Virility has now become self-conscious-men, that is to say, are now writing only with the male side of their brains. It is a mistake for a woman to read them, for she will inevitably look for something that she will not find."

This whole writer-sphere-short-expository-essay is a definite fundamental for all writers out there. Woolf mentioned, "Women have always been poor since the beginning of time, had less intellectual freedom, not a dog's chance of writing poetry, therefore I laid so much stress on money and a room of one's own."

interesting thoughts but mostly white-women focused which is too bad but understandable because of when it was written. nonetheless, i love that now more women are in literature, not to only express their anger towards the patriarchy but also to make us travel through new worlds.

mari

This is my first impression of Woolf, and she did not disappoint. Across the century which separates her writing and my reading, so much rings true. Her belief in women and her conviction that women are not naturally less than men but must still undertake the hard work of proving it, has earned much respect from me. Doubly so due to the wonderful words and sentences which she built this book from. 

It is so easy to forget that not a century ago, no women was known who was mediocre. One had to be phenomenal, and more than that liked by those who chose what to revere, those being primarily men. This work will make me smile the next time I read a less than great book by a woman; how lucky we are to be allowed to create bad art! To speak oddly and look undone and express what we truly feel! How better off the world is, man, woman, and all of the other sexes which we have so much to learn from, that women now have a voice. 

This book was a series of revelations. A reminder of my luck and that I am more than me, I am also a steward of the legacies of the women before me. What a wonderful comfort knowing I’ll never be alone and a solemn journey to live a life independent of men, a life few women have been able to have. 

Emily McMeans

This is my first impression of Woolf, and she did not disappoint. Across the century which separates her writing and my reading, so much rings true. Her belief in women and her conviction that women are not naturally less than men but must still undertake the hard work of proving it, has earned much respect from me. Doubly so due to the wonderful words and sentences which she built this book from. 

It is so easy to forget that not a century ago, no women was known who was mediocre. One had to be phenomenal, and more than that liked by those who chose what to revere, those being primarily men. This work will make me smile the next time I read a less than great book by a woman; how lucky we are to be allowed to create bad art! To speak oddly and look undone and express what we truly feel! How better off the world is, man, woman, and all of the other sexes which we have so much to learn from, that women now have a voice. 

This book was a series of revelations. A reminder of my luck and that I am more than me, I am also a steward of the legacies of the women before me. What a wonderful comfort knowing I’ll never be alone and a solemn journey to live a life independent of men, a life few women have been able to have. 

I had tears in my eyes while I read. I wish I could talk to. Virginia and tell her it’s better now. I wish I could thank her for building the golden way for us, women today. We couldn’t have been serious writers and just humans without her. I love her and I hope that from heaven she can see that women don’t own a room, they own a whole apartment. We own apartments.

A Room of One's Own

Reviews

Highlights