Category Archives: Virginia Woolf

Follow-up for Thursday, 2/27

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As the manifesto brainstorms continue to come in, a different assignment for Thursday’s class. Rather than writing a new post, please comment on 3 posts from either this most recent assignment or the prior one (the two since we last met).

Comments should be thoughtful, substantial (aim for 100 words), and should continue the thought process that the initial poster began. If your comments are shorter, consider what else you could add to them to get either the author of the initial post further along in his or her thoughts, or what might inspire someone else to comment in response to your comment and the initial post.

A few words about commenting:

  • If no one has commented yet, you can by clicking Leave a Reply at the bottom of the post.
  • If someone has already commented, you can by clicking 1 Reply or 2 Replies etc (it will keep track of how many replies).
  • You are welcome to comment on a post that has already been commented on, so long as you add something new to the conversation.
  • You are welcome to respond to someone’s comment by clicking on Reply at the bottom of their comment. You’ll notice that your reply is indented further than if you just replied to the post.
  • Comments might ask questions, refer to specific passages, link ideas from one post to another, relate someone’s point about one text or issue to another text or issue, offer a differing (but respectful) view,  offer a related view that takes the ideas in a new depth or direction, etc.
  • “I agree” or “I disagree” or “I understand” or “Good point” or similar short, unsupported replies alone will not get credit as comments.
  • You can ALWAYS write something short in addition to the required number of comments. Don’t feel like you can never write a short reply just because these 3 comments need to be substantial.
  • You can use the Like function to let people know which posts you’re most interested in, but that doesn’t count as a comment.

I can’t wait to see how our commenting experiment goes–if it goes well, we might move to a post and comments in the week rather than two posts.

If you have any questions, please ask them as replies to this post. See you in class on Thursday and online before then!

Thinking Manifesto for 2/25

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One of the texts we read for this week was a manifesto. There are many examples of manifestos, whether from an organization, a business, or a movement, artistic, political, or otherwise. In general, they are short pieces of writing that make a powerful argument about their topic. Mina Loy, in her “Feminist Manifesto,” argues a few key points about women in society, including one that women’s value is linked to her virginity, and that her place in society cannot change until that society changes how it values (or commodifies) that virginity, including a a bold solution to this problem.

In Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, rather than making her points in a short manifesto, she writes throughout the six chapters different ways to conceive of women and fiction, and in the course of doing so, also makes bold arguments expressing feminist views.

If you were going to write a manifesto about women in our society as Loy does, or take on Woolf’s topic of women and fiction, what issue might you write about? Write a post in which you brainstorm about that focus and how you could write about it in a bold way. You might think about some of the issues the characters we’ve encountered so far have had to face, as a way to begin to think about issues your manifesto would address. Be sure to aim for at least 300 words. Use the category Manifesto and also Homework Responses.

A Room of One’s Own

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“At the thought of all those women working year after year and finding it hard to get two thousand pounds together, and as much as they could do to get thirty thousand pounds, we burst out in scorn at the reprehensible poverty of our sex. What had our mothers been doing then that they had no wealth to leave us? Powdering their noses? Looking in at shop windows? Flaunting in the sun at Monte Carlo? There were some photographs on the mantelpiece. Mary’s mother — if that was her picture — may have been a wastrel in her spare time (she had thirteen children by a minister of the church), but if so her gay and dissipated life had left too few traces of its pleasures on her face. She was a homely body; an old lady in a plaid shawl which was fastened by a large cameo; and she sat in a basket-chair, encouraging a spaniel to look at the camera, with the amused, yet strained expression of one who is sure that the dog will move directly the bulb is pressed. Now if she had gone into business; had become a manufacturer of artificial silk or a magnate on the Stock Exchange; if she had left two or three hundred thousand pounds to Fernham, we could have been sitting at our ease to-night and the subject of our talk might have been archaeology, botany, anthropology, physics, the nature of the atom, mathematics, astronomy, relativity, geography. If only Mrs Seton and her mother and her mother before her had learnt the great art of making money and had left their money, like their fathers and their grandfathers before them, to found fellowships and lectureships and prizes and scholarships appropriated to the use of their own sex, we might have dined very tolerably up here alone off a bird and a bottle of wine; we might have looked forward without undue confidence to a pleasant and honourable lifetime spent in the shelter of one of the liberally endowed professions. We might have been exploring or writing; mooning about the venerable places of the earth; sitting contemplative on the steps of the Parthenon, or. going at ten to an office and coming home comfortably at half-past four to write a little poetry. Only, if Mrs Seton and her like had gone into business at the age of fifteen, there would have been — that was the snag in the argument — no Mary.” (Line 1 Paragraph 14)

I think this passage contains the main idea from the reading. The narator and her friend Mary Seton discuss their college, the women’s college, which required a lot of effort to fund when it was first being built. She realizes that the men’s colleges have always been funded generously and she imagines what it would be like for her if women were to leave money for future generations like men did. She thinks of the endless possibilities she could’ve induced. However she realizes if that was the case then there would be sacrifices that women would have to make. “Only, if Mrs Seton and her like had gone into business at the age of fifteen, there would have been — that was the snag in the argument — no Mary.” The point of the passage is to convey the restrictions women go through because of their place in society. It connects to the overall text because she notes the different things she would be able to with some more funding. Throughout the text, the idea that women can only progress with a sufficient amount of money and their own space in order to expand their creativity and intellect is repeated. In the reading, the narator is constantly being interrupted from being herself. At first it was at the turf when she was exploring an idea, then at the library when she wanted to look something up. It shows an example of how women are being restricted from developing and how it takes a toll on their freedom as well.

 

What was imagined

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This passage is from A Room of Ones Own Chapter 3 In the 5th paragraph. The paragraph began with ” A very queer, composite being thus emerges” .  Virginia Woolf then goes on to say “Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant. She pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger” . My understanding of A Room of ones own so far is that the author is speaking to the injustices which were being done to women in those times. 

“imaginatively she is of the highest importance”

this statement helps helps me to understand that In those times In order for a woman to be of importance she could only have imagined it. I however do respect the fact that although women were not treated with the respect that they were deserving of , there was still an idea in their minds that they should be accepted and respected. “Practically she is completely insignificant “. In fact that statement confirms the thought that women were said to be of little or no relevance in those times. Though this passage is in reference to writing it signifies the notion that women were not recognized for their literary work, or looked at as intellectual beings. In the rest of the passage it mentions  her being present In history, dominating and conquering through her poetry. Women in those times could have absolutely been more intelligent than they were given credit for. Women were actually very significant , but treated in a way which made them unaware of their worth. This passage for me ties itself into the entire reading because it helps me to visualize the ongoing battle in which women fight with society.

Slaying Phantoms: Response to ‘Professions for Women”

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Excerpt taken from second to last paragraph:

“These then were two very genuine experiences of my own. These were two of the adventures of my professional life. The first–killing the Angel in the House–I think I solved. She died. But the second, telling the truth about my own experiences as a body, I do not think I solved. I doubt that any woman has solved it yet. The obstacles against her are still immensely powerful–and yet they are very difficult to define. Outwardly, what is simpler than to write books? Outwardly, what obstacles are there for a woman rather than for a man? Inwardly, I think, the case is very different; she has still many ghosts to fight, many prejudices to overcome. Indeed it will be a long time still, I think, before a woman can sit down to write a book without finding a phantom to be slain, a rock to be dashed against. And if this is so in literature, the freest of all professions for women, how is it in the new professions which you are now for the first time entering?”

The main idea of this passage is that in any profession, women have obstacles to face because they are women. Some obstacles, such as struggles with self, may be more achievable than outward obstacles. The writer states ‘ The obstacles against her are still immensely powerful–and yet they are very difficult to define’. She reveals that there are still many prejudices to overcome. These come from the stereotypical roles that women are ‘supposed’ to have, and the attempt to break down these ideas in order for women to be truly successful. Outwardly, it may seem like women have overcome all odds already, but there are still issues women face underneath the surface. The writer also emphasizes the struggle that might take place by simply saying ‘  And if this is so in literature, the freest of all professions for women, how is it in the new professions which you are now for the first time entering?’. She notes that there are some professions that haven’t been attempted by women, and whose ‘phantoms’ still have to be slain.There mare fact that she feels the opposition in the freest of all professions shows her concern for professions that have yet to be reached by women. This point connects with the rest of the passage of giving an understanding of ones experience in professions for women. The writer is simply sharing what she has gone through and her revelations about women in the work force as a whole. I have found a lot of truth in this passage. I’ve experienced the surprised  responses in expressing my aspiring profession, knowing that I received those responses because I’m a woman. I also know that I’ll receive more of these responses as I grow more in my career. I just have to be persistent in slaying the phantoms.

 

 

Assignment for Tuesday, 2/18

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We have several readings for this long week: selections from Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, as well as “Professions for Women,” also by Woolf, plus Mina Loy’s “Feminist Manifesto” and Gertrude Stein’s “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene.” I distributed copies of all of these readings in class on Thursday. If you want a copy and weren’t able to come, please let me know. You can try stopping by my office, N520–I’ve left copies in a folder on the corner of my desk. I recommend that you do, since I noted which parts of A Room of One’s Own we’ll focus on.

Rather than dividing the readings by day, I encourage you to read them in whatever order you choose. I’m curious to hear about what is difficult for you, what intrigues you, what inspires you, what you disagree with.

For your posts, choose a passage from one reading that you think contains the (or one) main idea from that reading. Include the entire passage (tip: you can copy and paste it from the online texts linked from our Readings page), give an indication of where in the text it comes from by noting what the paragraph begins (the first few words or sentence), and the title and author of the reading. Then include your understanding of the passage, pointing to particular words or phrases that you read to develop your understanding. Try to go slowly through particular words or images. What is the main point of the passage, and how does it connect to the overall reading? What do you have to say to support or refute it?

Use the category Homework Responses (not Homework Assignments, which should be reserved for the actual instructions), and the category of the author’s name. Choose the tag for the title of the specific text you wrote about. If you’re writing about A Room of One’s Own, choose that title and the tag that reflects the chapter you wrote about, Chapter 1 or Chapter 3, as well as any tags that indicate the theme or topic you chose to write about–you might need to add that tag, rather than choosing from among the already-used tags.

If you have questions, please ask them in reply to this post. This group of readings is challenging, so I hope that we can work together to understand and discuss each text. These readings are also some of the boldest of the semester and will help shape the framework of our course. That means that we’ll refer back to them throughout the semester, so it’s really important that we discuss them carefully and understand them thoroughly.