Rory's Booklist: A Room of One's Own

"Thought - to call it by a prouder name than it deserved - had let its line down the stream" (page 2)

The Life of Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf, born in 1882, is today considered as one of the most accomplished female modernist writers of the 20th century. Woolf was most active during the inter-war period and her most famed novels, Mrs Dalloway (1925) and To the Lighthouse (1927), were published then. However, her popularity steadily declined at the start of the Second World War and continued doing so after her death. Eventually, in the 1970s, there was a revival of Woolf’s literature due to the feminist criticism movement. 

"'I' is only a convenient term for somebody with no real being" (page 2)

Woolf took up writing early on, however never got a proper education due to her parents' disapproval of females being educated. She was the seventh child of a very respected family living in South Kensington, London where they had a merry and comfortable life. This made it easy for her to venture into the arts. Her mother, Julia Stephen, died when she was only thirteen years old. Virginia Woolf was forever changed after that day. Woolf suffers a breakdown and makes her first attempt at ending her own life. She never quite recovered from her mother's passing and turmoil continued with the death of her sister, father and half-brother in the following decade. Woolf always felt that her mother was haunting her in some way. In To The Lighthouse, which I’m reading at the moment, Woolf revisits her mother's ghost in an attempt to find closure.

Through her twenties, Woolf met many influential writers, philosophers and artists, one of them being her future husband, Leonard Woolf. They formed a group of intellectuals called the Bloomsbury group where they discussed art, writing and culture. Virginia and Leonard Woolf wed in 1912. It was a seemingly happy union and the couple even set up a publishing house together called the Hogarth Press. However, Virginia Woolf’s mental health deteriorated over time. She was diagnosed with insomnia and depression in 1912 and her condition didn’t improve, no matter how many physicians tried to treat her. Woolf made many suicide attempts during this time. Many traumatic events haunted her, such as her being sexually abused by her half-brother as well as her mother's passing and the current state of the war. The only thing keeping afloat washer writing.

“The only way I keep afloat… is by working… Directly I stop working I feel that I am sinking down, down. And as usual, I feel that if I sink further I shall reach the truth.” (The Diary of Virginia Woolf: 1925-1930 p. 235)

In 1941, Woolf decided to take her own life at the age of 59. The Second World War laid heavily on her conscience. She was unhappy with how the world could be so unequal, so unfair. I mourn the lost work that could have been if Woolf lived longer similarly to how she mourned all the potential work of the imprisoned women of her time. The poorer sex, as she put it. Not in capability or intelligence, but in opportunity. 

"Literature would be incredibly impoverished as indeed literature is impoverished beyond our count by the doors that have been shut upon women (page 50)

A Room of One’s Own

A Room of One’s Own is unlike anything I’ve read before, both structurally and content wise. This essay is based on two lectures that Woolf gave at the University of Cambridge in October 1928. She visited students of Newnham College and Girton College which are both constituent colleges for women. Being published in 1929, it became quite pivotal for women in the arts. Women had at that point already spent over eighty years fighting for their right to vote, Woolf wished to continue the fight. She believed that the genders should be equal, especially in respect to the arts.

"Women live like Bats or Owls, labour like Beasts and die like Worms" (page 35 - Margaret of Newcastle)

In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf questions the words ‘women and fiction’ and their relation to each other. The whole novel is primarily based on her own train of thought regarding the lack of female fiction. Woolf uses metaphors and fictional stories to display women’s loss of opportunity. Most famously she creates Judith Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s sister, who is just as talented as her brother. However, instead of achieving greatness and completing multiple masterpieces, she is rejected and scorned. Men impose that women can not write. Therefore Judith decides to take her own life, for she simply couldn’t live without fulfilling her passion. I find myself admiring how Woolf paints a clear and captivating picture of her views for the reader. 

"It is strange to think that all the great women of fiction were, until Jane Austen's day, not only seen by the other sex, but seen only in relation to the other sex" (page 50)

Woolf stresses the point that women need money and a room of their own to successfully write. She brings forth the fact that most women throughout history have been stripped of these basics because of social norms. She also reflects that the women who did write, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot had neither money nor privacy and it shows in their writing. Additionally, Woolf brings out society’s and her own views on lesbianism and androgyny. 

"But for women, I thought, looking at the empty shelves, these difficulties were infinitely more formidable. In the first place, to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a soundproof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble, even up to the beginning of the nineteenth century." (pages 31-32)

I thought this novel was a perfect introduction to Woolf’s unique mind and writing style. I simply can’t wait to read her novels: To The Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway. I do recommend starting with A Room of One’s Own if you want to get into Woolf’s literature since it is considerably smaller than her novels. The essay is a good introduction to feminist literature in general and will help you see things from a perspective that you might not have considered before. 

"Women never have an half-hour...That they can call their own" (page 40 - Miss Nightingale)

Book Reference in Gilmore Girls

In Cinnamon’s Wake (episode 5 of season 1) our main character, Rory, was reading A Room of One’s Own whilst waiting for the bus. Rory’s first love interest, Dean Forester spotted her and decided to get on the bus with her. Rory didn’t notice him, she was preoccupied with getting on the bus, and as soon as she found a seat she glued her face to the book. Dean, who went to sit behind her, whispered into her ear “Hey,” effectively scaring Rory. He continued, “morning, good book?” She replied, “I don’t know yet.” Dean said “I saw you standing in line so I thought I’d say hello. Hello?” “Hello.” They continued talking until the next stop where Dean jumped off. 

I believe that this interaction foreshadowed Dean’s and Rory’s relationship in the future. Dean is portrayed as the perfect first boyfriend for Rory but he has some notable flaws. Some of his actions are simply appalling to me, especially in the later years. He has this controlling and assertive nature that does not blend well with Rory’s nonchalance. 

It’s quite ironic how Rory is reading a famous piece of feminist literature that stresses the point of women having their own space, and then how Dean violates her personal space. 

It also goes to show how little Dean is concerned with literature. Does he not know who Virginia Woolf is? Does he not try to educate himself for Rory’s sake? It’s made clear that Dean has zero interest in books and he simply doesn’t try to better himself either. He does not encourage Rory to reach for her aspirations and puts himself before her in multiple instances. Therefore I don’t think they are meant for each other.

"but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." (page 46)