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Penguin Vitae
by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf is one of the 20th century's great innovative writers. She was a member of the Bloomsbury group in pre-WW I England.
A Room of One's Own is her investigation of the woman artist as a writer. Speculating on the imaginary life of Shakespeare's equally talented sister, she posits the necessity of "a room of one's own" (and a fixed income) for the writer to pursue her craft.
Sally quotes Virginia Woolf to Verity, telling her she needs a room of her own to be successful. What did you think of this advice? Do you have a room of your own, and if so, does it have a special purpose?
I feel that everyone needs a space of their own, whether it is a room or a cozy chair in a corner. It gives one a place to devote time totally to them. Dedicating time to one's self allows them to be a better person in the family, work or relationships.
-Terrie_J
"Brilliant, incandescent...Woolf makes an impossibly elegant argument about the myriad ways that women's voices have been silenced, suppressed, and otherwise forgotten...Do not let this volume sit on your shelves unread. Make this beautiful Penguin Classics edition more than a totem to your values, or a lovely marker of how far we all have come. It is so much more: It is an active, breathing rallying cry. It is an enduring font for dialogue, discussion, and debate. And it holds in its pages the soul of a woman who demanded, and inspires us to demand, our full liberation." —Xochitl Gonzalez, from the Introduction
"A landmark of feminist thought and a rhetorical masterpiece." —The Guardian (UK)
This information about A Room of One's Own was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), one of the great twentieth-century authors, was at the center of the Bloomsbury Group and is a major figure in the history of literary feminism and modernism. She published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915, and between 1925 and 1931 produced what are now regarded as her finest masterpieces, including Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and The Waves (1931). She also maintained an astonishing output of literary criticism, short fiction, journalism, and biography, including the playfully subversive Orlando (1928) and the passionate feminist essay A Room of One's Own (1929).
Xochitl Gonzalez (introduction) is the author of the New York Times bestseller Olga Dies Dreaming and the Reese's Book Club pick Anita de Monte Laughs Last. She was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her essays in The Atlantic.
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