A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she del...
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Dec 16, 2009
Kelly
rated it: 
Every woman should read this. Yes, everyone who told me that, you were absolutely right. It is a little book, but it will completely revitalize your outlook on life. How many 113 page books and/or hour long lectures (the original format of this text) can say that?
This is Woolf's "Fuck the patriarchy," book, but it is of course done in an overtly polite, very British way- all the while sticking it to them behind their backs until she brings up her fountain pen and stabs them More...
This is Woolf's "Fuck the patriarchy," book, but it is of course done in an overtly polite, very British way- all the while sticking it to them behind their backs until she brings up her fountain pen and stabs them More...
30 comments
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(44 people liked it)
Jan 02, 2008
Trevor
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There are so many books that one ‘just knows’ what they are going to be about. I have always ‘known’ about this book and ‘knew’ what it would be about. Feminist rant, right? Oh, these people do so preach to the choir, don’t they? Why do they hate men so much? In the end they are no different to the male chauvinists they are attacking. Why can’t they just be more even handed?
That none of this is the case, of course, does not matter at all, because reiterating received wisdom seems to More...
That none of this is the case, of course, does not matter at all, because reiterating received wisdom seems to More...
3 comments
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(22 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Molly
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This book is absolutely infuriating!!! (Note the 3 exclamation marks.) Woolf claims that all a woman needs to write is a room and a fixed income. That's not the infuriating part. She goes on to attack all of her fellow female writers, claiming that their opinions about the opposite sex wrecked their novels--that these women (her comments on Bronte were especially enraging) wrote from anger or other emotions and didn't allow the true nature of their characters to come through. Being a writer i
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4 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
Kimberly
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I read this book one summer when I was living in an apartment, on my own, and though it didn't do much to inspire skilled writing from me, it made me appreciate that time and space that I was inhabiting, to cherish the solitude. Simultaneously, this book has had a huge impact on my personal ideas and philosophy. The whole premise is that we cannot measure the abilities of women based on their current status. It's because we were silenced for so many years, left out of histories because we wer
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(8 people liked it)
Jan 12, 2011
Rebecca
rated it:
*refuses to applaud own goal*
If women had been educated as men, the novel would never have been popularised.
*envisions Woolf in a 'Back to the Future' scenario*
If women had been educated as men, the novel would never have been popularised.
*envisions Woolf in a 'Back to the Future' scenario*
8 comments
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(3 people liked it)
May 22, 2008
Cathy
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I'm not sure how I got to be this old without reading A Room of One's Own. But in a way, I have read it before, because the arguments Woolf made in 1928 form the foundation of most feminist intellectual thought. But I think if I'd read this book in my twenties or early thirties, it wouldn't have made the impact it made this time. I think this quotation from Woolf is very interesting: "Where books are concerned, it is notoriously difficult to fix labels of merit in such a way that they do n
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2 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Vickie
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Woolf’s fictional tale of Judith Shakespeare’s tragic life brings to mind the choices women today face as working mothers. My mother grew up earning straight A’s while taking care of her family, writes beautifully in both English and Chinese, was named Best Actress for her college play performance and was overall a renaissance woman. She then went on to work as a teacher’s assistant at the university, got married, and had me. After juggling work and home for 12 years, she decided that my rebelli
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(5 people liked it)
May 29, 2010
Sarah
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This book is, quite uncharacteristically, a quick and easy read. Perhaps Virginia did this because she was writing about something important and wanted the piece to actually be read. Or, it could simply be that the very seeds of the work were cultivated towards public presentation. In any case, I'm impressed by her ability to maintain her artistry within the format. What's more, she was able to freely write a book about writing -- and the writing of women, no less! I feel paralyzed by self-consc
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4 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 26, 2011
Kevin
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This book is part of Penguins 'Great Ideas' box set (which is worth reading through..quite a neat collection of essays and excerpts of some famous writers). Its is a written talk she made regarding Women authors throughout history in 1928, and what it meant to create literary works of fiction for Women during a period where Women were not supposed to study and write books and poetry - that was a male exclusive thing. However, Women did start to become bored by just being housemaids and appendage
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(4 people liked it)
Oct 06, 2011
Jeana
rated it:
I'd forgotten I was a feminist AND I'd forgotten how much I LOVE taking notes inside books. This is the type of book that carried me back to my college days when I was eagerly reading, taking notes, learning about life, art, the world.
The premise of this book (which was originally written to speak to aspiring young female writers at a time when it truly was an uphill road) is that a woman who intends to write (or write well) should have two things: 500 pounds a year (or enough money More...
The premise of this book (which was originally written to speak to aspiring young female writers at a time when it truly was an uphill road) is that a woman who intends to write (or write well) should have two things: 500 pounds a year (or enough money More...
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 11, 2011
Rachel
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I've been meaning to read something by Virginia Woolf for a long time now. I was trying to decide between two and three stars, but opted to go with two because I found her so self-praising and so intellectually vain that I could hardly make myself continue reading.
Granted, the prose are fantastic and there are some great lines, but for the most part I found it difficult to read as I was picturing her sitting there with a self-satisfied smirk on her face telling me and every other wo More...
Granted, the prose are fantastic and there are some great lines, but for the most part I found it difficult to read as I was picturing her sitting there with a self-satisfied smirk on her face telling me and every other wo More...
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 09, 2011
Chantal
rated it:
A woman needs money and a room of her own to achieve literary genius is the message behind Virginia Woolf’s essays in A Room of One’s Own, so I’ve often heard, being that these two things will allow for the long concentrated hours of uninterrupted quiet necessary to create quality literature. But, having finally had the opportunity (there’s a good word) to read this work myself, I realize that Woolf’s papers say so much more than this.
Requested, in 1929, to speak to the young women a More...
Requested, in 1929, to speak to the young women a More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 26, 2011
sarah
rated it:
It starts slow; one gets confused with Mary Seton and Mary Beton and Mary Carmichael, Professor X, Mr. Greg, the everpresent Beadle. One wonders how much, indeed, five hundred pounds might be today; one examines her own life to see, has she had already too many children? Has she missed already the vital call to fiction? Has she given up locked rooms in haste and in terrible, terrible error?
But by the last 40 pages, I am gulping and stopping, filled with a thrill of possibility and a co More...
But by the last 40 pages, I am gulping and stopping, filled with a thrill of possibility and a co More...
7 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2010
"Now the writer, as I think, has the chance to live more than other people in the presence of this reality. It is his business to find it and collect it and communicate it to the rest of us. [. . .:] 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."
Whoa, do I have to make some sort of apology now that I'm actually appreciating Virgin More...
Whoa, do I have to make some sort of apology now that I'm actually appreciating Virgin More...
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 04, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
(3.5 stars)
A Room of One’s Own is adapted from a series of lectures Virginia Woolf gave on the topic of “Women and Fiction.” In them, she concludes that in order for a woman to write, she must have money and a room of her own. She looks back through the history of women and their rights (or, more correctly, lack of rights), and tries to sort through why so few women ever wrote books and poetry, when so many men did. This was her conclusion. A woman needed money in order to become educa More...
A Room of One’s Own is adapted from a series of lectures Virginia Woolf gave on the topic of “Women and Fiction.” In them, she concludes that in order for a woman to write, she must have money and a room of her own. She looks back through the history of women and their rights (or, more correctly, lack of rights), and tries to sort through why so few women ever wrote books and poetry, when so many men did. This was her conclusion. A woman needed money in order to become educa More...
2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 29, 2008
Taylor
rated it:
Unsurprisingly, I loved this.
Originally written as lectures for two women's colleges, then expanded, Woolf's meditations on women and fiction have a lot of weight, even far beyond the intersection of those worlds.
There are a couple points that drive the book. Her thesis is that women need a room of their own and a steady income in order to achieve creatively. She reaches this point through a variety of ways, and a multitude of sub-topics, particularly that for so long wom More...
Originally written as lectures for two women's colleges, then expanded, Woolf's meditations on women and fiction have a lot of weight, even far beyond the intersection of those worlds.
There are a couple points that drive the book. Her thesis is that women need a room of their own and a steady income in order to achieve creatively. She reaches this point through a variety of ways, and a multitude of sub-topics, particularly that for so long wom More...
4 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jul 14, 2010
این کتاب در واقع مقاله ای طولانی است که در ان وولف به مشکلات زنان نویسنده و مقایسه شرایط انها با مردان می پردازد"زنی که می خواهد داستان بنویسد باید پول واتاقی از ان خود داشته باشد،واین کار همانطور که خواهید دید معضل بزرگ ماهیت واقعی زن وماهیت واقعی داستان را حل نشده باقی خواهد گذاشت"از متن کتاب
"با ملایمت به انها گفتم که شراب بنوشند واتاقی از ان خود داشته باشند"
the diary of virginia wool More...
"با ملایمت به انها گفتم که شراب بنوشند واتاقی از ان خود داشته باشند"
the diary of virginia wool More...
Jan 20, 2008
Emily
rated it:
One of those classic essays that I should have read a long time ago, but of course one can never read absolutely everything that one should read.
Woolf's argumentative strategy is very different from standard Western philosophical argumentation. One the surface it meanders and goes out on tangents, and yet her arguments are uncommonly powerful. They possess more power than standard Western philosophical argumentation because they are grounded and because her prose is vivid. As I read t More...
Woolf's argumentative strategy is very different from standard Western philosophical argumentation. One the surface it meanders and goes out on tangents, and yet her arguments are uncommonly powerful. They possess more power than standard Western philosophical argumentation because they are grounded and because her prose is vivid. As I read t More...
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 12, 2010
Jackie
rated it:
So here is an embarrassing admission: I had believed that this was fiction. I thought it was about an imaginary sister of Shakespeare. Turns out, no. It's a critique of literature and women's place in literature through 1920.
I'm making efforts to educate myself on feminism and the women's movement. Yes, I think there were some good points. But really could not figure out how deciphering the rambling sentences was worth while. Not being a specialist in 1920s literature I didn't More...
I'm making efforts to educate myself on feminism and the women's movement. Yes, I think there were some good points. But really could not figure out how deciphering the rambling sentences was worth while. Not being a specialist in 1920s literature I didn't More...
Mar 19, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
Sorry, call me everything that's wrong with men today but I did not like this book. I felt that Virginia Woolf, though justified in the idea that women needed more equality in being accepted to libraries and colleges, is still searching for what will never bring happiness. If we truly abandon everything that makes us male and female for some androgynous ideal that we'll be unhappy, besides being impossible anyhow. There is a great wrong that's been done to women through the ages, they never r
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3 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 23, 2009
Marigold
rated it:
I somehow was given a BA in English without having read this! I am SHOCKED. So many years later here I am. This really enhanced my love & understanding for V. Woolf so I'm excited to have finally read it. This is Woolf's long essay about what it takes to be a woman writer (see title). (Also money.) Things haven't changed much, except for JK Rowling of course....! This is an essay that makes you realize how many different directions a writer can go with an essay - & Woolf goes in most of them! Is
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Jan 25, 2012
A woman must have a room of her own if she is to write fiction – Virginia Woolf
On her suicide this date, 1941: The day of the year I was born, war was raging in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, only the other Americas were not actively infected although the germs were in the air. It was also the year the writer who changed literature so that I could be an author, killed herself – leaving a note that she could not face another one. Born in 1882 and thus having lived during at More...
On her suicide this date, 1941: The day of the year I was born, war was raging in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, only the other Americas were not actively infected although the germs were in the air. It was also the year the writer who changed literature so that I could be an author, killed herself – leaving a note that she could not face another one. Born in 1882 and thus having lived during at More...
Jan 25, 2012
Garnette
rated it:
A woman must have a room of her own if she is to write fiction – Virginia Woolf
On her suicide this date, 1941: The day of the year I was born, war was raging in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, only the other Americas were not actively infected although the germs were in the air. It was also the year the writer who changed literature so that I could be an author, killed herself – leaving a note that she could not face another one. Born in 1882 and thus having lived during a More...
On her suicide this date, 1941: The day of the year I was born, war was raging in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, only the other Americas were not actively infected although the germs were in the air. It was also the year the writer who changed literature so that I could be an author, killed herself – leaving a note that she could not face another one. Born in 1882 and thus having lived during a More...
Dec 15, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
It feels like I've read the first chapter of Woolf's book-length essay a thousand times; where the fictional narrator is chastised for (literally) walking off the path at Cambridge's campus, barred from the library, and complains about being served prunes for dinner. The prune discussion, although funny, always led me astray from the book's purpose and caused me to put it down. But picking up from that point and moving on I was finally able to finish it this time; and I'm so glad I did.
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Nov 26, 2011
Blyth
rated it:
In 1928, Woolf was asked to explore the topic of “Women and Fiction” at two women's colleges at Cambridge. The resulting essay is considered an early feminist text, but I doubt it would get much attention if its author were someone other than Woolf.
I was reluctant to set aside her lilting novels for the anticipated pedantry of a feminist polemic, but she infuses the essay with the same evocative language and imagery that make me swoon over her fiction.
Despite the charming d More...
I was reluctant to set aside her lilting novels for the anticipated pedantry of a feminist polemic, but she infuses the essay with the same evocative language and imagery that make me swoon over her fiction.
Despite the charming d More...
Aug 10, 2011
Such a fanciful writing style. I whole-heartedly disagree with Woolf at times, such as in her labeling male and female voices and preferencing the experiential over the quantitative, but completely agree with her at other points, particularly at her fantastic conclusion. The Shakespeare’s sister passage is especially lucid, but also especially misleading, and I could see how this would prompt some to dig up historical records to find examples of a "real" Shakespeare’s-sister type, ma
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Jul 30, 2011
Wow, how i would have loved to have been at one of her lectures!
The book sets out to explore the reasons behind the absence of women writers throughout British history. Woolf wants to know why there are so many: "blank spaces on the shelves" and what women were doing if they were not writing.
Woolf explains that women have not had the same social and economic advantages as men. She claims that 'a room of one's own' and a decent income are necessary in order to produce an environment c More...
The book sets out to explore the reasons behind the absence of women writers throughout British history. Woolf wants to know why there are so many: "blank spaces on the shelves" and what women were doing if they were not writing.
Woolf explains that women have not had the same social and economic advantages as men. She claims that 'a room of one's own' and a decent income are necessary in order to produce an environment c More...
Jul 28, 2011
Hannah
rated it:
Having only read a few essays from this (though I want to read more) this review isn't on the book as a whole, but on the rays that I got of Virginia's writing itself. There's something about her sentences that makes me want to feel them as I read or even stare at their stucture, because there's a peculiar and wonderful sensation in just the way she writes. Whether you be male or female, imagine some excitment in your amniotic sac. It's a queer feeling in itself, and yet it moves your emotion t
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Jul 22, 2011
Susan
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In 1928, Virginia Woolf was asked to give a talk about women and fiction, and this is the result. I would love to have been able to sit and listen to her deliver the paper(s) that were expanded to become this book. In fact, reading, one can almost imagine Woolf at the podium, telling us what she thinks.
She set about her task by surveying first what men had written about women, and then what women themselves had written in successive centuries. Having done this, she shares her own idea More...
She set about her task by surveying first what men had written about women, and then what women themselves had written in successive centuries. Having done this, she shares her own idea More...
Jul 03, 2011
Maggie
rated it:
This is a combination and extension of two speeches Woolf made in two women's colleges in Cambridge in 1928. Her thesis is that women need a fixed income and a room of their own to write fiction, and she illustrates this with a fictional (though I believe much of it is real) story about her efforts to find out the history of women and fiction. She talks about her own trials while conducting this research, such as not being allowed into a library as she is female, and the scarcity of information
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