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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Oh Virginia, the writer that you were! How delighted you would be to learn that a hundred years later women who are welcomed into libraries pick up your books to go read in rooms of their own and unabashedly write reviews for the world to read.
this was a great read - i found this really compelling. i loved the use of place in the narrative - it felt like we were taken on an actual journey with the author, both physically and in following the development of her argument. financial emancipation is still key to the emancipation of the spirit, and in some ways this book is just as relevant 100 years later.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I have yet to find a Woolf text for which I've fallen head over heels, and this extended essay definitely did not meet the cut. I really appreciate the ideas that Woolf explores in this text; however, like the other Woolf texts I've read, the writing is very dense and hard to follow. I understand her methodology behind this--to present the arguably feminine free-flowing nature of ideas--but it makes the reading unappealing for me. She delves deep into important feminist topics regarding women in the literary world, and I appreciate her intellect here; nevertheless, I wish that it was written in a different manner that was easier to follow and digest. I believe that this is an important work in the canon of feminist literature and should be read in that regard, but I believe there are better feminist books that are easier to swallow.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
All throughout the book I found myself agitated without realizing that was the actual book affecting me. Didn't know why that was, because I love reading the genre and never had any problems with it whether I agreed with author's perspective or not, but Virginias really did it.
Finally, I sat down with my feelings and figured out what is bugging me.
I put on every possible perspective in my thinking process that she could've also done while writing and really couldn't find a reason for her praise, especially in this day and age.
Firstly, I didn't find the theme of the plot, just random rambling around the issue without actual progression or deduction.
Presumably, the theme is the importance of a female's privacy and any sort of education and how it is imperative for writing.
*(excluding other, more important things it may bring), ignoring the actual possibility of the work being published at that time.
There are so many threads of thought, you easily get lost, and nevertheless you end up confused because she did not have anything of importance to say. Sure, the opression is there, but I felt like she did not get the grasp of the issue, not really. To write a book on such a topic would require thorough research, not just letting your thoughts run amok.
I found that she was oblivious to the lower classes, of other races, the actual possibility of any woman of that period to posess anything, let alone a whole room. Her perspective is elitist, oblivious, and not well (if anyhow) thought out.
She did not feel for these poor women, offered any possible solution or a word of support to them, she just looked down on them thanks to her inheritance, and thus she needn't work and could go full day pitying the others and making the worst book out of the serious issue. *This is me letting it affect me personally, so I am not objective in this paragraph, but I still want it here with the rest of my review.
To add also that her writing style is trying to give philosophy/elite, but really is subpar filled with unnecessary digressions and trully diabolical comparisons - another big issue with this book.
Finally, I sat down with my feelings and figured out what is bugging me.
I put on every possible perspective in my thinking process that she could've also done while writing and really couldn't find a reason for her praise, especially in this day and age.
Firstly, I didn't find the theme of the plot, just random rambling around the issue without actual progression or deduction.
Presumably, the theme is the importance of a female's privacy and any sort of education and how it is imperative for writing.
*(excluding other, more important things it may bring), ignoring the actual possibility of the work being published at that time.
There are so many threads of thought, you easily get lost, and nevertheless you end up confused because she did not have anything of importance to say. Sure, the opression is there, but I felt like she did not get the grasp of the issue, not really. To write a book on such a topic would require thorough research, not just letting your thoughts run amok.
I found that she was oblivious to the lower classes, of other races, the actual possibility of any woman of that period to posess anything, let alone a whole room. Her perspective is elitist, oblivious, and not well (if anyhow) thought out.
She did not feel for these poor women, offered any possible solution or a word of support to them, she just looked down on them thanks to her inheritance, and thus she needn't work and could go full day pitying the others and making the worst book out of the serious issue. *This is me letting it affect me personally, so I am not objective in this paragraph, but I still want it here with the rest of my review.
To add also that her writing style is trying to give philosophy/elite, but really is subpar filled with unnecessary digressions and trully diabolical comparisons - another big issue with this book.
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
"La liberté intellectuelle dépend des choses matérielles. La poésie dépend de la liberté intellectuelle. Et les femmes ont toujours été pauvres, et cela non seulement depuis deux cents ans, mais depuis le commencement des temps. [...] Les femmes n'ont donc pas eu la moindre chance de pouvoir écrire des poèmes."
c'est la toute première fois que je lis du Virginia Woolf. j'ai découvert un essai frappant, éloquent et crucial lorsque l'on s'intéresse un tant soit peu au féminisme. l'autrice nous offre une belle réflexion sur la place des femmes en littérature, elle lie cela à des questions de classe, le tout avec une petite touche d'humour que j'ai personnellement beaucoup appréciée !
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
"Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history."
Woah woah woah, am I a feminist now?
I know—crazy to think that if women had the same opportunities as men, they might have been capable of producing similar works of genius.
I know—crazy to think that if women had the same opportunities as men, they might have been capable of producing similar works of genius.
I picked this up randomly, but I ended up finding it really enjoyable. It’s a fascinating read. I would’ve loved to hear the original lectures in person—how groundbreaking they must have felt at the time. It was eye-opening to get a glimpse into that history and the logic behind Woolf’s arguments.
I especially enjoyed her commentary on Austen—it gave me a deeper appreciation for those works, too. And I liked that Woolf didn’t frame it as an attack on men, but as a reasoned call for equality, independence, and creative space.
Honestly, if someone disagrees with her core argument, there’s probably something wrong.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Favourite Quotes ~
"I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman."
"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."
"The history of men's opposition to women's emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself."
"who shall measure the heat and violence of a poet's heart when caught and tangled in a woman's body?"
"Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others."