Women and Writing

By Virginia Woolf

Book Overview

Known for her novels, and for the dubious fame of being a doyenne of the 'Bloomsbury Set', in her time Virginia Woolf was highly respected as a major essayist and critic with a special interest and commitment to contemporary literature, and women's writing in particular. This spectacular collection of essays and other writings does justice to those efforts, offering unique appraisals of Aphra Behn, Mary Wollstonecraft, the Duchess of Newcastle, Dorothy Richardson, Charlotte Bronte, and Katherine Mansfield, amongst many others. Gathered too, and using previously unpublished (sometimes even unsigned) journal extracts, are what will now become timeless commentaries on 'Women and Fiction', 'Professions for Women' and 'The Intellectual Status of Women'. More than half a century after the publication of A Room Of One's Own, distinguished scholar Michele Barrett cohesively brings together work which, throughout the years, has been scattered throughout many texts and many volumes. . . affording these very valuable writings the collective distinction they deserve at last.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156028069
• ISBN13: 9780156028066
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Mariner Books Classics
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

The woolf at the door

Wow, I'm really surprised that there aren't more reviews of this wonderful book. "A Room of One's Own" was the first book that turned me onto Virginia Woolf (and I highly recommend that book, too). However, I love "Women and Writing" for a wholly different reason. It's in this book that Woolf's essay on "the angel in the house" is included. Are you a woman who's dreamt of becoming a writer? Go no further until you read Woolf's comments about the angel in the house. That phrase came from a Victorian-era poem by 19th Century poet Coventry Patmore. It's a sugary-sweet (and quite sickening) poem about the self-effacing woman who gives her whole being to her husband; so much so that there's nothing left of her own soul. Ick. Woolf writes, "It was she [the angel in the house] who bothered me and wasted my time and so tormented me that at last I killed her...She was intensely sympathetic. She was utterly unselfish. She sacrificed herself daily...The shadow of her wings fell on my page; I heard the rustling of her skirts in the room. I took my pen in my hand...she slipped behind me and whispered [to me], 'My dear, you are a young woman...Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure.' "And she made as if to guide my pen... "I turned upon her and caught her by the throat. I did my best to kill her... Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing..." Powerful stuff. I'm a full time writer who doesn't think too highly of wanna-be writers who spend all their time learning to write and reading about writing and thinking about writing. However, if you're only going to read a handful of books about the craft, I recommend "A Room of One's Own" and this book, "Women and Writing." Rose author, The Houses That Sears Built