BOOK REVIEW: VIRGINIA WOOLF, A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN

Hello blog visitors. Today I'll share with you two summer outfits as well as a book review. The book I'll be reviewing is today A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf.  This one century old non fiction book comprising of essays written by Virginia Woolf is still relevant. One of its main themes of the book is the position of women in society. You can read the book for free on Project Gutenberg (that's how I read it). I gave this book four stars on goodreads. It is a lovely book and I do recommend it. For a longer review, scroll down. If you're not a book person, just skip it. 

OFF SHOULDER TUNICS TUCKED IN / VINTAGE SKIRT/ STAW HAT /BOROMIRA SANDALS

VIRGINIA WOOLF, A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN 4/5

 AS AN ESSAYIST SHE PROVES TO BE VERY COMPETENT 

Let's start with this book review. Let me just exclaim: 'What a wonderful essayist Virginia Woolf is!' I don't think I have enjoyed a book of essays in English this much since I've read George Orwell's essays. Considering how famous and well known this book is, I worried that reading A Room of One's Own will be a a deja vu experience, but I needn't have worried. Despite the fact that I've read many fragments from this book and probably know many quotes by heart, I still found it a fresh and an interesting read. Have a look at the opening words of this book:

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? I will try to explain. When
you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the banks of
a river and began to wonder what the words meant. They might mean simply
a few remarks about Fanny Burney; a few more about Jane Austen; a
tribute to the Brontës and a sketch of Haworth Parsonage under snow;
some witticisms if possible about Miss Mitford; a respectful allusion to
George Eliot; a reference to Mrs Gaskell and one would have done. But at
second sight the words seemed not so simple. The title women and fiction
might mean, and you may have meant it to mean, women and what they are
like, or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; or it
might mean women and the fiction that is written about them, or it might
mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and you want
me to consider them in that light. But when I began to consider the
subject in this last way, which seemed the most interesting, I soon saw
that it had one fatal drawback. I should never be able to come to a
conclusion. I should never be able to fulfil what is, I understand, the
first duty of a lecturer to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget
of pure truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on
the mantelpiece for ever. All I could do was to offer you an opinion
upon one minor point--a woman must have money and a room of her own if
she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great
problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction
unsolved. I have shirked the duty of coming to a conclusion upon these
two questions--women and fiction remain, so far as I am concerned,
unsolved problems. But in order to make some amends I am going to do
what I can to show you how I arrived at this opinion about the room and
the money. I am going to develop in your presence as fully and freely as
I can the train of thought which led me to think this. Perhaps if I lay
bare the ideas, the prejudices, that lie behind this statement you will
find that they have some bearing upon women and some upon fiction. At
any rate, when a subject is highly controversial--and any question about
sex is that--one cannot hope to tell the truth. One can only show how
one came to hold whatever opinion one does hold. One can only give one's
audience the chance of drawing their own conclusions....

VIRGINIA TRIES TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS

Virginia Woolf is wonderfully intelligent, logical and eloquent in her essays. She follows every thought to it logical end and she often reexamines them. While it might seem that Virginia is contracting herself at times, I think it's more a case of her being intellectual honestly and wanting to get at the bottom of things. I got the feeling that if Virginia thinks something logical, she will write it down even if it contradicts her feelings. At times, however, Virginia is more prone to listening to her heart or rather the general emotion of the historical period she lived in. That's understandable and not something I would mind. At one point in the book, Virginia gets angry on a certain man who wrote about the inferiority of women, but instead of just following this emotion, she cools down and delivers such a fantastic psychological analysis of the man in question. Virginia writes her critique of him in such an intellectual way it is a true PLEASURE to read. For example, Woolf points out that such men are likely to be very insecure on the inside. I absolutely agree with that. I think when one writes or talks about the inferiority of others, one often feels insecure of one's own superiority and needs to reinforce it by pulling others down.

WHY ARE WOMEN SO OFTEN THE INSPIRATION BEHIND LITERATURE BUT DON'T WRITE AS MUCH THEMSELVES?
Virginia also points out the paradox of women being the theme of so many works of literature but not being writers themselves. The same question can be asked about any art form really. Painters are often inspired by women. All artist are often inspired by women and as subjects of art women take a prominent place.  Artists depend on their muses and sing praises to them. The paradox of men devoting so many books in praise of women, devoted to women, focusing on women, only to have books printed about the supposed inferiority of women. It doesn't seem to make sense and our author is right to  point it out. Virginia says some of those books that speaks of women as inferior  were perhaps triggered by the suffragette movement and men feeling that this movement jeopardizes them in some way. At any rate. Virginia makes a lot of good points. A reader can see that Woolf (most of the time) is not so much trying to make her reader think a certain thing as she is trying to open their mind. Toward the end of the book, Woolf writes: 'Do not dream of influencing other people...'
A PLACE OF ONE'S OWN- SOMETHING VIRGINIA FOCUSES ON
I shared the opening paragraph to the book to show you that the books theme (reflected in the title) is not only introduced and stressed early on on but also a motif that keeps repeating itself. In this book, Virginia focuses much on the need of having a home office of some sorts, a room of one's own in order to get writing done and she is perfectly right. Both men and women are unlikely to become great writers without the benefit of an education and leisure. She is quite straightforward in stating that. It is a motif that runs throughout her book. Often people are inclined to think romantically about the notion of writing. Virginia, having had to work for a living- with few ill paid jobs at her disposal, understands the economical challenging of writing perfectly.
VIRGINIA ADMITTING SHE WAS MORE EXCITED ABOUT THE NEWS OF HER INHERITANCE THAN BY THE NEWS OF WOMEN GETTING THE RIGHT TO VOTE
When Virginia writes that upon learning she inherited something from an aunt that at the same moment women got their historical right to vote, she honestly says that the inheritance seemed more important to her. How wonderfully honest and human she is. Only someone who hasn't known what it is like to depend on a weak and uncertain salary can judge her for it. Imagine what kind of peace of mind that inheritance, however small, brought to her. Virginia is indeed right to state that genius and talent means little without a minimum of opportunities. One thing that I found is that most writers had serious health problems and other difficulties in their life. I'm not of an opinion that one needs to have an easy life to be a writer. Difficulties build a character, as they say. Nevertheless, Virginia is absolutely right in connecting higher class with literature. For one to be a write, one doesn't need an easy life, but one does need some time and a place to themselves.

VIRGINIA FOCUSES ONLY ON MIDDLE AND UPPER CLASS WOMEN
I'm however somewhat confused by Virginia's constant insistence on women's poorness. Weren't there also upper class ladies? I do understand that in the England of the time women had less means of making money but weren't men generally affected by poverty as well? Besides the middle class Virginia often talks about, there is a lower class, a large mass of people who are struggling to not die of hunger. That was true then as it is now. Weren't poor men also required to work hard and thus had less time to write? I understand that England of the time was quite rigid in its social structure. A poor man who had to work in some mine all day didn't have it better than a housewife who had to look after her kids, cook and do housework. One thing that Victoria ignores are the women of lower classes. It is as they don't exist for her.

VIRGINIA HAD SOMEONE CLEAN HER ROOM BUT NEVER MENTIONED IT

What about the women who cleaned her room? Virginia never talked of them. I looked it up and found that she kept servants. Just two, but that only meant these two women had more work cut out for them. I'm sorry if I had missed, but I don't think she ever speaks of working class women. It is mostly middle class women she cares about. I can see how they seem more poor in comparison with their husband. The women didn't have the financial freedom back then, but they don't have it now either. As much as I like her writing, there is a lot of focus on her own class. Speaking of which, I doubt that the men of the middle class were terribly financially independent.
POINTING OUT THAT THE GREAT ENGLISH POETS WERE COLLAGE EDUCATED MEN
Virginia does point it out that among the greatest English poets, almost all of them were men of the higher class and a collage educated men. So, it is really not just a question of sex but of life always being hard. If I was a man, I probably wouldn't have it easier. I don't remember when I last said no to an additional odd job offer, I always say yes, because I can't afford not to. I suppose I'm not the only person in this position. Such a small fraction of people are truly economically independent. A large percentage of us have mortgages, loans and other financial burdens to endure.
THE THEMES THIS BOOK FOCUSES ON ARE REEXAMINED THROUGHOUT THE BOOK
Everyone of the six sections in this book has something to offer. The common themes that connect them such as the history of women (particularly in literature) and women's position in the world are not so much repeated but rather reexamined in each new section. That's something I quote enjoyed. Yes, there is a bit of repetition now and there, but mostly the writing is original and interesting. Still, when Virginia writes about the history of women in literature, it is clearly she is writing about the history of women in English literature. Not that I mind that, I suppose Virginia didn't have the need to stress the world English as it was less of a global language back then and she probably wrote primarily for women who were English speakers themselves. That's all perfectly alright.

WHY DIDN'T VIRGINIA TALK ABOUT HER MAIDS? THE ONE THING THAT BUGS ME

Basically, the one thing that bugs me about this book is how it ignores that the women of the middle class didn't have it the worst. Virginia Woolf is much preoccupied with her own class. In some instances, I'd even say she seems to be complain too much. Don't get me wrong, I did very much like this book but there were times when Woolf seems to be going in circles. Now, while doing some research I found that some people are criticizing her today for her treatment of her maids.  I think some people are taking that criticism too far in the sense that they are implying it is certain she mistreated them whereas to me it seems there is no proof of that. Virginia did complain about her maids a lot in her letters and diary but that is no proof that her conduct was terrible. Let us not remember that she was mentally ill, a victim of abuse and probably a bit socially awkward as a result. I'm not going to examine her life and character in this post, but I will say that the fact the ignored the existence of maids and women of lower classes in her book is certainty a logical fault or a flaw. One of the few she made. This book really is quite logical, but it seems Woolf wasn't able to apply logic towards some aspects of her own life. 

WHAT I ENJOYED THE MOST IN A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN?

One of the things that I thoroughly enjoyed in this book are Virginia's thoughts on Emily Bronte's and Jane Austen's writing. Virginia examined their writing in such an interesting way. Woolf seems to have had a talent for literary criticism. I read a lot of literary criticism and hers is some of the best I read on this subject. I don't agree with absolutely everything but her thoughts are truly original and interesting. 

DEFINITELY A BOOK WORTH READING 

I would recommend this book to everyone. It is educating and interesting. I'm surprised it took me this long to read it. I do like the work of many early feminist (and some modern ones). I don't agree with many radical feminists because many of them are implying that a woman is only valid if she is like a man and I have a problem with that. This book is a gem, though.  I'm not going to say that I regret not reading this book sooner or in the past because I'm kind of glad I waited this long. This is a book that doesn't idolize nor romanticize neither men nor women. It says at one point: "Women are hard on women. Women dislike women. " So, it doesn't offer a black and white perspective. It is written in the spirit of its time and suffragette movement/politics is something that is referenced, but this book never turns into a pamphlet. To conclude, this is a book that is certainly worth a read. Intelligently and eloquently written, A Room of One's Own has much to offer to any reader with an open mind. I always love a book that makes me think and this one certainly did that. Thank you Virginia Woolf.

The outfits are from last summer. I wasn't sure with what outfits to go for this book review, but them I figured these two will do. I'll be adding a bit more colour to this hand painted vintage tote bag that bears the inscription: Once a book lover, always a book lover. I'll keep the inscription, but I plan to add more illustrations of books. A perfect tote bag for a book lover. I don't sell my hand painted totes but printed ones are available via redbubble. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe and take care.