A Room of One's Own

Reading this book has been a rather difficult, and at times unbearable, task. I have fought with myself to keep reading. Every few minutes I find myself tracing the lines with my eyes while retaining none of what they saw. I have forced myself to turn off the computer only to turn it back on moments later. Out of pure frustration, I decided to take a break. My first thought, of course, was to go to youtube. I wanted to watch my usual favorites, but searched Virginia Woolf instead, just to make myself feel ever so slightly more productive. The first result was a BBC interview with her. I clicked and began to listen. I suddenly realized something. This book had been written based on the speeches she had given. Listening to her speak had a much greater impact on me, like the words made more sense. So with this new found respect for Woolf, I went back to reading.

"... to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich..." (page 52)

Woolf begins to paint us a picture in this paragraph better describing how difficult it was for women writers in this time. She goes on a rant about how she is left without a place to go. At this time, women have been ever so slightly more accepted into the writing world but without money or a place to go, they cannot produce the ingenious work they are capable of. Of course, they are still criticized, as she states, "The world did not say to her as it said to them, Write if you choose; it makes no difference to me. The world said with a guffaw, Write? What's the good of your writing?" She even adds "the best woman was intellectually the inferior of the worst man." She seems to use these words in a mocking way, showing obvious disgust towards anyone who thinks such things. But how is a woman supposed to prove herself a worthy writer if she must deal with only a third of what a man is given?! She needs her own place and space to grow as a writer and live the fulfilling life she so dreams of.

Just before the previous mentioned rant, she went on a two page tyrade about how a female Shakespeare born in the same time period as the actual Shakespeare would have been criticized and held back to the point that all she had left was death (which now having a better understanding of Woolf's life has left me wondering if that was similar to what happened to her...) I found this to be a rather interesting depiction of Victorian England, showing the side that remains unspoken. I am sure at least one woman was born with such genius only to be pushed aside. This had then reminded me of Shakespeare in Love (1998) which is a fabulous movie that is completely based around this exact thought. A young woman wanted to prove her genius as an actress so she disguises herself as a man to participate in one of Shakespeare's plays. I laughed at the comparison and had a sudden to urge to watch that movie again!