(Although Woolf wrote this piece as a lecture, I have referred to it as an essay below as this is the format in which it is usually read. I also want to acknowledge that Woolf had some racist and elitist viewpoints which I do not stand by, this post is an analysis of her writing and the values she had that I do agree with).
I first came across Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own' a couple of years ago. I'd always heard avid readers exclaim about it being one of the forerunners of feminist literature and the early 20th century feminist movement full stop. I hadn't actually got around to reading it, until its appearance in Series One of Netflix's 'Sex Education' prompted me to pick it up.
The synopsis of my Vintage Classics special edition described the essay as 'a witty, urbane and persuasive argument against the intellectual subjection of women', a concept which immediately gripped me. However, on reading it, I discovered it held so much more.
The essay's structure was breathtakingly exciting to me as a young aspiring writer; following Woolf's thought processes and almost stream-of-consciousness like introspection gave the essay not only the accolade of revered literary analysis I had been expecting but a humanity and inner turmoil which deepened my respect for Woolf's writing.
Although I found Woolf's exploration of female subjection and gender inequality fascinating, for me I really started to feel a connection with the piece in its fourth part, in which Woolf analyses past women writers and their works. Jane Eyre was at the time of reading (and still remains) my favourite novel, and so I initially felt apprehensive when Woolf begins to dissect Charlotte Bronte's writing. The words 'awkward break' (Woolf's description of the moment when Grace Poole's laugh interrupts Jane Eyre's impassioned thoughts about breaking free from provincial poverty) almost made me fall out of love with the essay, however coming to the end of the paragraph, Woolf gives a moving comment on the nature of Charlotte Bronte's genius. Woolf feels that Charlotte Bronte's bleak and at times angry prose was not due to a desire to express this aspect of her heroine's narrative, but because of Bronte's own pain at being oppressed by a patriarchal society in which she was provided with insufficient means with which to showcase her true genius without her own emotions bleeding into her writing. For me, this encapsulates both the literal and metaphorical aspects of Woolf's assertion that women need 'a room of one's own' in order to write in a way which is relatable and viscerally human. Bronte's work is beloved, yet has been squashed to align with patriarchal values- Jane Eyre could have been even more impressive otherwise, which for me feels very unjust.
The tone of Woolf's essay is not perhaps optimistic, but takes a pragmatic and pratical stance which leaves future women writers with hopes, challenges and duties to embody what their predecessors could not. Woolf does not let her emotions govern her writing; to do so would be to prove the longheld male opinion that women have limited capacity for genius, yet her overall message is linked to injustice, loss and inspiration.
Even today her argument rings true- society still has a habit of saying 'for a woman, she has done well.' Of course, women face multitudes of barriers on a daily basis, but when oppression is removed women have the space to excercise intellectual freedom; she has not succeeded despite being a woman, but despite the prejudice against women.
Writers such as Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen could not achieve what Woolf sees to be their full potential, because writing as women required them to align their representations of female characters with the male view of women in order for their works to be (at least partly) accepted; any subversions of patriarchal ideals led to their protagonists being labelled as undesirable and as embodiments of the perceived innate faults of the female sex. Intellectual freedom matters!
As well as connecting with Woolf as another queer female writer, the thing that has stuck with me most about the essay is that although Woolf's formula for equal intellectual freedom seems quite simple (money and a room of one's own dedicated to writing), the literal embodiement of this idea still remains a privilege. Having a home office specifically for the purpose of writing cannot be achieved without a lot of money, so the world will always be missing out on hearing the voices of those whose stories matter, but who lack the space and time to tell these. Although this is important to acknowledge, personally the metaphorical 'room of one's own', or liberty to think, is the interpretation of Woolf's essay which resonates with me the most and which I feel is often overlooked by readers.
The fact that Woolf reframes the societal objectification and oppression of women through a literary lens made her ideas really accessible to me as a teenager trying to find her place in (and opinions of) the world. Woolf acknowledges queerness, female power and the unfairness of the patriarchal control over literary history with a matter of factness which is both ahead of its time and emotionally warm and witty. Woolf channels her discontent into a beautiful comment on the true nature of fiction and what women really deserve.
This essay remains a constant source of fascination and inspiration to me on a daily basis. There is a message within its pages which will resonate with everyone, and I hope that I can do Woolf proud with the writing I share on this blog.
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