Woolf's "A Room of One's Own"

Gisèle Freund. Virginia Woolf, 1939

Style

The complex, stream-of-consciousness manner in which Woolf writes this prologue is comparable to lowering one’s voice to a whisper in the middle of a loud debate.  Woolf’s prose works on a similar basis; she controls the situation so that the reader has to focus and ‘speak her language’ to appreciate everything that she offers. Once you begin to follow her seemingly unfocussed chattering, it becomes apparent that she is delivering a dense, intelligent, and elegant argument.

 

Q.  How efficient is this format? Does the complexity of her prose impede the delivery of her argument, or does it make it more effective?

 

Chapter 1

The first chapter of this essay establishes the social, educational, monetary and time resource limits faced by women of this period, which hinder a woman’s ability to “have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”.  I would argue that in Western culture today, these limitations are less gender based and are now class based.  Time and a “room of one’s own” remains a luxury in a capitalistic society, where the arts typically do not see any support unless they generate profit. 

 

Q.  Do we need to make more space in our culture to allow for artists to develop their work?  What would this look like?

 

Chapter 2

Woolf predicts: “In a hundred years . . . women will have ceased to be the protected sex.  Logically they will take part in all the activities and exertions that were once denied them” (33).  This essay was published 85 years ago, and although we are not there yet, North American culture is striving to move to a more egalitarian, gender-neutral society. 

 

Q.  Does the gender of the author in relation to his or her subject matter as much today as it did in Woolf’s time? Do you foresee that this will ever change, or will we always see experiences through the lens of gender?

 

Chapter 3

Woolf claims that although history has given us strong female fictional characters, in reality, women (like the working class) were unlikely to produce great works of art because they did not have access to what she believes are the two key environmental factors for great writers: adequate funds, and a room of one’s own. Further to that, any potential seeds of inspiration would be squashed by the realities of their social roles and limitations.

 

Q.  This is counter to the common belief that great art is born out of suffering.  Discuss.

Chapter 4

Woolf suggests that women writers have historically tended to write fiction instead of non-fiction because had they spoken out plainly they would be mocked and rejected by society. The relatively new “novel” format, unencumbered by a legacy of composition rules, allowed women writers led by Jane Austen to write “as women write, not as men write” (63) as they found within this new medium their voice and the freedom to express the views and concerns of women.

 

Q. We’ve read a variety of different forms of texts this semester: religious texts, full length scientific texts. plays, essays, novels etc.  Which formats do you find are the most effective in delivering the author’s message?

 

Chapter 5

Finally, within the books written by her contemporaries, Woolf finds female characters who represent the uniquely female experience without having to qualify this within the context of the masculine world. 

 

This continues to be an ongoing challenge in today’s film industry, where the majority of films fail to pass the 1985 three-step Bechdel Test:

1. Are there at least two women in this film?

2. Do these two women have names?
3. At one point throughout the film, do these two women talk to each other about any subject other than a man?

 

Q. Why does it continue to be a challenge to find popular media which represents the female experience?  Do you think that this is rooted in social, political, or financial reasoning?  When we speak / think of scenes that may occur within the female sphere, are we falling into the trap of imagining a domestic scene vs a workplace or action-packed scene, thus reinforcing traditional male/female gender roles?

 

Chapter 6

Woolf asserts that young women of her day (specifically her audience) now have opportunities that have been unequaled in the history of young women, and challenges them to step up and write. 

New studies show that women made up 15% of the writing staff working on the top 250 films in 2012. A 2010 study showed that women writers published 30% of that year’s scholarly journals , which falls in line with a quick and dirty study on fictional writing , showing that women writers made up about one third of authors published and reviewed that year.

 

Q. Would Woolf be happy with these numbers?  Are we happy with these numbers? What continues to stand in the way of providing woman with an equal voice?

 

Works Cited:

Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas. Toronto: Vintage Classics, 2000. Print.