A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

 

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

                                                                                ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

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Synopsis

Based on a lecture given at Girton College, Cambridge, the essay is one of the great feminist polemics, ranging in its themes from Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte to the silent fate of Shakespeare's gifted (imaginary) sister and the effects of poverty and sexual constraint on female creativity.

Review

Rating: ★★★★☆

A Room of One's Own is a short essay which explores women's role in society during different ages, but overall, the book talks about women's role in literature. Virginia Woolf was definitely an analytical and observant woman, and she really shows this in her essay. I had heard a few people describing Woolf's writing as dense and boring, but I genuinely enjoyed her writing style.

The book was really informative, and it made me realize that even though we haven't achieved gender equality, there have been advances regarding women's rights if you compare what women could do 200 years ago to what we can do now. Regarding women in literature, we don't need to hide anymore to write, and now we can publish our work. But there's still a lot of work to do in order to achieve gender equality.

Virginia Woolf's reflection about feminism is brilliant, especially chapter 3, which is the hypothetical story about Shakespeare sister, because even though they had the same talent, their lives would be completely different. 

I think that this essay was completely revolutionary when it was first published (1929), but reading it in 2022 didn't impact me a lot as I thought it would. I would recommend this essay if you have absolutely no idea about feminism, or if you want to learn about the first wave of feminism. Regardless, I would love to read more works by Virginia Woolf.