A review by abby_bookworm
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

challenging hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

"A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf 5/5 

There's nothing like rereading Woolf to remind me why I love literature so much. I first read "A Room of One's Own" when I was 18, writing a research paper about Woolf's feminism for Prof. Sununu's class. It's a quick book, and when I was unpacking my books at home, I felt the need to reread it. Maybe it's because it's so short (and I'm behind on my reading goal), or maybe it's because I associate Woolf with summer for some reason, but I'm glad I picked it back up either way. 

"A Room of One's Own" is one of my favorite essays. In it, Woolf outlines *exactly* why she believes women need $500 and a room of their own in order to write worthwhile and artistic pieces of fiction. I love the way Woolf breaks down her argument, walking the reader through each step in her thought process. She does it beautifully, too, weaving beautiful and luscious scenes throughout the essay. 

One thing | *don't* love is Woolf's classism. Woolf is solely focused on upper class women in this essay, and goes so far as to argue that it is impossible for a person to create genius works of art if they are poor. Her emphasis on wealth as necessary for art reminds me how important it is to read critically and to understand how classism and feminism have overlapped throughout history. 

Overall, though, "A Room of One's Own" is groundbreaking in its support of women writers and in its deep consideration of literature as a concept.