I‘m still astonished, here Virginia Woolf talks about the patriarchy in 1929, she talks about men owning women, violence against women and girls and what the situation will be in a hundred years time. This book is hauntingly relevant today.
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A Room of One's Own | 
I‘m still astonished, here Virginia Woolf talks about the patriarchy in 1929, she talks about men owning women, violence against women and girls and what the situation will be in a hundred years time. This book is hauntingly relevant today.
pick10-11 Mar 24 (audiobook)
A masterpiece. Woolf lectures to female undergraduates about female authors and surmises the very practical reasons there was no female Shakespeare. A surprisingly funny and entertaining look at women‘s place in literature and, by extension, society (via a very white English lens.)
Read by the amazing Tilda Swinton. I immediately ordered a hard copy of this (and some of Woolf‘s other texts) to re-read.
Highly recommend.
#12Booksof2023 My pick for May is this slim little nonfiction classic. I thought I knew what to expect with this one, so I‘d put off actually picking it up for far too many years, but it was so much more, and surprised me in the best way. Lines from it are still running through my mind, and like most of my top reads this year it‘s one I‘ll definitely reread. @Andrew65
pickJust suffused with powerful quotes I want to remember. Woolf clearly saw the systemic reasons there were so few women writers and artists throughout history, and what it would take to begin to change that.
There‘s just so much of women‘s history that I don‘t know! Clearly I‘ll have to seek out this woman‘s work.
This is what happens as soon as they let the teachers loose from school. We spend all morning in bed in our pjs reading about how oppressive it is to be made to teach small children the alphabet.
pickWhy is there no female Shakespeare? Nearly 100 years ago Woolf pointed out that writing requires conditions historically unavailable to women. While many were kept from the literary pool due to societal norms, the fact was that education, use of libraries, unencumbered time and a room to write in were unusual for women prior to late 1800‘s, though after this time a deeply embedded sexism was still prevalent.
This is a feminist masterpiece.
“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.“
Remembering Virginia Woolf on her birthday.
“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.”
pickSuperb. So much truth. It is an amazing thing to read what was written nearly 100 years ago and have it remain incredibly relevant.
#FirstLineFridays
But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction - what has that got to do with a room of one‘s own?
pickTake a walk, have a luncheon, and re-examine history with Virginia Woolf in A Room of One‘s Own.
Despite holding awfully lofty ideals on writing, Woolf here takes a grounded look at the realities of (note: white) women‘s lives, from her 1920s to Shakespeare‘s day. She advocates for women‘s financial independence and, perhaps, even basic income! I‘m enjoying her nonfiction, as she is fabulous company, with her love of literature and sparkling wit.
We just put the finishing touches to ‘the snug‘ today - the little reading room of my dreams. The best bit - a door I can close to seal off the world! 🎉
“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”
My Amazon books came in. 🙌🏻 These books were part of their buy 3 for the price of 2 promotion. I‘m in love with the covers!
May every day be women‘s day! To our resilience, determination, creativity & strength! #celebratewomen
Waking up and starting my day with a tour of the Women of Bloomsbury, while enjoying a big cup of tea and wrapped in my wool London map blanket is how I think every Saturday should start. It was enlightening and I enjoyed it so much! The group that led it can be found on Eventbrite and they are called Women of London. I highly recommend it. They are doing a tour of Sufferagette London on Monday, International Women‘s Day.
pick"But you may say,we asked you to speak about women and fiction-what has to do with a room of one's own?I will try to explain..."She does and therefore I won't try to condense this wonderful book into a review.Her writing,as you follow her train of thought,is wonderful.It is so important for women and men to understand the history of women as authors and as human beings.I knew while reading it: this is one of the most important books I'll ever read
Ch.3 should be mandatory reading,Woolf reflects on the statement that we will never have a woman Shakespeare;on why you can see powerful fictional women while they are not present in history;how miserable life would have been to an equally talented sister of Shakespeare;how many Austens and Bröntes must be behind accusations of witchcraft;how impossible must have been to believe in yourself when all you can read about is how worthless you are💔
"The most transient visitor of this planet,I thought,who picked up this paper could not fail to be aware, even from this scattered testimony,that England is under the rule of patriarchy"
This is an interesting exercise,not only to be aware of the monopoly of the patriarchy,but of any type of majority:think about an alien reading the newspaper and the conclusions that would draw about who dominates society to realise how partially news are written
"The arrant feminist! She days that men are snobs!" The exclamation, to me so surprising [...] was not merely the cry of the wounded vanity; it was a protest against some infringement of his power to believe in himself. Women have served all this centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.
Have you any notion how many books are written about women in the course of a year? Have you any notion how many are written by men? Are you aware that you are, perhaps, the most discussed animal in the universe? [...]
pickThis extended essay is based on two lectures given at Newnham college and Girton college in 1928. Woolf posits that an educated woman needs a place of her own to write and an independent income. She asks, what brilliant women writers might have been passed over throughout history because of women‘s lack of freedom, responsibility to family, and utter lack of opportunity; also in having every door shut to her in pursuit of education as to not 👇
Virginia Woolf and Ms Seton discuss how is that the women's college is so poor in comparison with the men's and remember that in order to open it they needed only to raise £30,000 which shouldn't have been much,specially since it was the only one in the UK and Ireland "but considering how few people wish women to be educated, it is a good deal"(quoting Lady Stephen).They raised so little that they could only pay for the building not the amenities.
“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.“
Remembering Virginia Woolf on her birthday.
Ok friends. My friend is building my staircase landing library and laughed when I said I would need space for a ladder rail. “You know you can reach the top shelf” to which I replied “you will never understand” Can we all agree that having a ladder is one of the most important parts about having a home library?
"No, delightful as the pastime of measuring may be, it is the most futile of occupations, and to submit to the decrees of the measurers the most servile of attitudes."
pickIt‘s the title that led me to this 1928 essay. I‘ve been battling with myself and my family environment on this concept, i.e. everyone at home has their own private room, except me !!! So I hoped to find some views to advance my thinking. Although the context is different, I am blown away by the clarity, insight and resonance of Woolf's observations on the posture of women in literature, as a writer or fictional character, and in life generally.
"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction"
- Virginia Woolf
#3books #IveReRead Equal time for the women! Again, not a big reread person , but have definitely read these more than once.
pickA reread for me. First read this short collection of essays in my 20s years ago. I'm a big Woolf fan. While some of her views are a bit dated , her dry wit & pointed commentary on the barriers women have had to overcome to write literature are spot on. Woolf would have been an avid fan of the Bechdel Test!
Tout à fait d'accord.
pickI have a new-found love of essay collections, and this one is a classic so I had to add it to my list. It didn't disappoint, although I didn't know exactly what I was getting into. I thought this was one of those feminist basics everyone should read. However, I was surprised by what this is actually about: "women and fiction". There's much here about writing and how to succeed as an author. I listened to the #audiobook by a British narrator-great.
pickWoolf produces an interesting line of thought here & makes a number of valid points. Indeed, it must always be easier to focus on something requiring such concentration as writing when you have the privileges Woolf defines. At the same time, I found myself distracted by the meandering writing, as well as some of her anger. Given some of her arguments, it sometimes seems she is undermining herself. Interesting, but I think I prefer her fiction.
'For the reading of these books seems
to perform a curious couching operation on the senses; one sees more
intensely afterwards; the world seems bared of its covering and given an
intenser life.'
'Therefore I would ask you to write all kinds of books, hesitating at no
subject however trivial or however vast. 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.'
'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.'
'Literature is
strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the
opinions of others.'
