How did Virginia Woolf change the world?

[Harriet Tubgirl]

I'll be honest, I'm doing a research paper on Virginia Woolf. I came here to get the opinions of those more familiar with her work.
I'm supposed to find out how her writings influenced history in terms of either societal attitudes or legislation.
From what I've read so far, I understand that she wanted to bring women into the "public sphere", getting them involved in politics, and essentially give women more of a voice in the male dominated society.
I understand what her intentions were, but how did she influence society?

I appreciate your help on this!

-Harriet

[genoveva]

I understand what her intentions were, but how did she influence society?


How? By writing?

Someone on this forum suggested Orlando to me- although I have not yet read it, this novel seems to raise some gender issues.

[Harriet Tubgirl]

Yes, by her writing. Whether it be her novels or her journalism, etc.

[Bastet]

I can tell you my opinion after after A Room Of One's Own. In this work, she says she's been asked to talk about women and fiction, and that is actually the purpose of her book, to give her opinion on it. Her thesis is that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". What she means by this is that:
First: It's almost imposible for a woman who doesn't have money and needs to devote most of her time and energy to provide for herself and her family to have time to write something worth publishing.
Second: If a woman doesn't have her own place (i.e. an office) to be able to write, she will be continuously interrupted and so will be her train of thought, therefore it will be more difficult for her to produce good quality writing.

The trascendence of this is that Virginia Woolf was defending women against the common accusations that works by female writers were not good enough, and her defence is crucial because it establishes the cause as a circumstancial one, instead of attributing it to the fact that women were inferior by nature, as was usually the case. The gradual acceptance of this opened the road for many other female writers until today.

Also, she vindicated the right of women to be independent, and made a implicit call for those who wanted to write and improve their intellectual activity in general to become independent and find that space for themselves, the 'room of their own'.

I hope this helped!! :)

[ElizabethSewall]

You may want to watch the movie The Hours , I think it gives a good general view of women lives, struggles and evolution, from Woolf's time until now.

[Harriet Tubgirl]

Thanks Bastet, some good info there!

ElizabethSewall- I watched The Hours. From my understanding, Meryl Streep represented Mrs. Dalloway and Julianne Moore represented the "Angel in the House". They both read Woolf's books, but how do you suppose reading them influence their lives?

[Miss Madison]

I can tell you my opinion after after A Room Of One's Own. In this work, she says she's been asked to talk about women and fiction, and that is actually the purpose of her book, to give her opinion on it. Her thesis is that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". What she means by this is that:
First: It's almost imposible for a woman who doesn't have money and needs to devote most of her time and energy to provide for herself and her family to have time to write something worth publishing.
Second: If a woman doesn't have her own place (i.e. an office) to be able to write, she will be continuously interrupted and so will be her train of thought, therefore it will be more difficult for her to produce good quality writing.

The trascendence of this is that Virginia Woolf was defending women against the common accusations that works by female writers were not good enough, and her defence is crucial because it establishes the cause as a circumstancial one, instead of attributing it to the fact that women were inferior by nature, as was usually the case. The gradual acceptance of this opened the road for many other female writers until today.

Also, she vindicated the right of women to be independent, and made a implicit call for those who wanted to write and improve their intellectual activity in general to become independent and find that space for themselves, the 'room of their own'.

I hope this helped!! :)


Wow, that was really informative. Thank you! I've been researching V.W. for a while now, and I haven't quiet got around to reading 'A Room Of One's Own'. I'm reading a biography of hers and also 'Orlando'.

[quasimodo1]

To Bastet: Thank you for that. Virginia Wolfe has always interested me, especially the way she related to the rest of "the lost generation" during the day. Too many readers today concentrate on her eventual suicide instead of the intensity of her life. You're posting might be the most right-on and accurate reply that this reader has seen to date. quasimodo1

[JCamilo]

Forget the gender issues in Orlando. The book is a masterpiece about literature, love for literature - that is the theme of the book.

Anyways, forget about feminism, either Virginia helped or not, that is not how she changed the world. The development of a language that could be used in the psycological way, inner monologues is what Virginia Woolf did. In this way she is one step for Proust and Joyce, she helped to build the romance of the XX century (the best romance) by creating works where the action was inside the mind of the characters, a romance where the notion of time-space (that is for example the difference from Dostoievisky, that was already psycological in his books, but the time-space organization of his novels still followed the traditional order of Dickens, unless we consider Notes from the Underground) was modificated.
That is the answer, not feminism, such superficial approach to Virginia Woolf's trully deepth.

[cquirke]

I can tell you my opinion after after A Room Of One's Own. In this work, she says she's been asked to talk about women and fiction, and that is actually the purpose of her book, to give her opinion on it.

If the original poster was to write specifically on "A Room Of One's Own" (was that written after "Jacob's Room", and if so, is the title significant?) then I'd agree, this would be a good focus. I'd consider the context of the time (Woolf's life spanned from Suffragettes to the dawn of Rosie the Riviter) and I'm also remembering Joanna Russ's "How To Suppress Wonen's Writing".


Her thesis is that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction" ...Virginia Woolf was defending women against the common accusations that works by female writers were not good enough, and her defence is crucial because it establishes the cause as a circumstancial one, instead of attributing it to the fact that women were inferior by nature, as was usually the case.

The title of Finola Moorhead's "Darkness Made Visible" is from a quote that AFAICR was attributed to Woolf's father (or quoted by him), i.e. that educating women was wasted effort as it would merely reveal the alleged vacuity of the female mind. That's what she was up against.

But if the poster's asked to write about Virginia Woolf's impact on literature, or the world, based on all of her life and writings - then I agree with JCamilo, focusing only on the feminist struggle would be too limiting. Women are well-placed to write on such issues, but that is certainly not all they write about!

Unfortunaltely I've only just started reading Woolf, so I can't really say that much about how she affected the world as she did.