A Room of One's Own

A Great Commentary on Women in Literature

A Room of One's Own is Virginia Woolf's statement about the place of women in society during her lifetime. Imagine being invited to speak at an extremely prestigious university and then told you needed an escort to enter the library.

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The Reason Behind Woman Inferiority

If you like an analytical book that is packed with ideas, then _A Room of One¿s Own_ by Virginia Woolf is the book for you. The style in this book is particularly unique. Incorporating words of her own with quotes of several famous authors of her day, Virginia Woolf proceeds to explain what a woman needs in order to write well and purely. These include having a stable income and a quiet room of one¿s own. ¿Why did men drink wine and women water? Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor? What effect has poverty on fiction? What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art?¿ These are only some of the questions that she tries to answer. Women, she explains, have been made inferior by men, so that men can feel superior. She points out that if Shakespeare had a gifted sister, Judith, she would never be given a chance by men or society to develop and display her talent just because she was a woman. The reader is stricken by the book¿s truth, and reminded of the social differentiation that is still present in society today. Woolf¿s thoughts wander and jump, as she strolls in the park or gazes though her window, but they still flow efficiently, giving the reader the feeling the he is following her, and she is sharing her thoughts face to face. Eventually her ideas, stories, and quotes fall smoothly in place, as she makes her ultimate point. The book reads like an essay, combining the stories of several female artists, both recognized and unrecognized in society, concluding that women are not inferior by birth, but rather by the discriminations of society.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing!

This is an extraordinary treatise on women and fiction. Woolf examines the subject closely, as if through a magnifying glass, and from so many angles. This covers history, the relationship between men and women, the psychology of the genders, and so much more. While cool and critical on the surface, this seems to be seething with passion and fire underneath. The writing is exquisite, rich in imagery and symbolism. I read this in one day, but I would love to re-read this at a more leisurely pace sometime. I think that every woman who loves to read or who writes should read this!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A fresh appeal to feminism

This book is absolutely fabulous. Wolfe provides a fresh outlook on feminism. Her distinct word choice and use of metaphors and similes make for thought provoking reading. Her views on feminism are far from female idolization as she points out that women are far from being perfect while at the same time illustrating the demorilizing and unfair limitations put on women by society and by men as a whole.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Concept still relevant today

I found it amazing that this book seemed to have been written yesterday in a sense. It had some very thought provoking statements and I feel like I should read it on a daily basis just to affirm its lessons. It made me wish I had a trustfund coming my way so I could know the luxury of life on one's own by their own means and could take my time to write.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not my thing

I wanted to use this for a research paper thinking this would help a lot. It didn't. Sorry, not something I'd pick again. Wast of my money.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

not real exciting but...

I can concede that the theme of this essay is noble...but...the content is a bit boring and dry. I will say that Virginia Woolf had some poetic ideas! There are two main ideas that I particularly liked in this essay. The first being Shakespeare's Sister.

Woolf points out that if Shakespeare would have had a sister who was born with the same genius that is Shakespeare, she would not have been remembered because her artistry would have been allowed no outlet.....because she was a female.

The other point I took away from this essay ties in with Shakespeare's Sister. Women need "a room of one's own" and freedom from the worry of everyday living in order to write fiction. Woolf illustrates how these needs were not met throughout history for women. That is why there is no Shakespeare's Sister.

This essay is not the most exciting book I've read lately. But taken for what it is, Virginia Woolf does make her point heard

A thought-provoking look at women and fiction on several levels

Brilliant woman!!! This is the first thing I have read by Woolf and I was throughly impressed. Woolf had this subject suggested to her--to write about women and fiction. What she does is explore the subject throughly: women characters in fiction, women who write fiction, and why not many women wrote much at all throughout history. She explores her ideas as to why men wrote women in so many different lights (from saintly to inferior to evil) and why they wrote so much about them at all. In doing so, she examines sexism throughout the ages and in her own time period. I would have given this five stars but her style of writing became a bit laborious at times to read. I wish I could give her 4 and a half! But like I said: this is my first venture into reading Virginia Woolf and it will most definately NOT be my last!!!

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