Simplest-shop.comonline shopping, the simple way |
Welcome | Help  |
| Search for |
|
Home > Books > Subjects > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Room One s Own
This website will be shutdown on 2008-04-01.
|
 Add to shopping cart |
A Room of One's Own 
| 80% Recommended by our customers. Publisher: Harvest Books Catalog: Book Release date: 1989-12-27 Media: Paperback Number of pages: 132 Ean: 9780156787338 Book Isbn: 0156787334  Tip: compare prices with similar booksAuthor:
|
|
| Top stores | Description | Price | Link to shop |
| amazon.com |
Availability: in 24 hours Current discount:20% off !! |
$10.40 | |
| used | 254 used offers, as low as... | $2.33 | see more used offers |
| all new | 66 thirdParty new offers, as low as... | $3.50 | see more ThirdParty new offers |
| collectible | 4 collectible offers, as low as... | $13.00 | see more collectible new offers |
| User Reviews: |
 Written on December 8, 2005 Summary: Don't be afraid of reading Virginia Woolf! I had no idea who this woman was, other than a generic realization that she was a writer of the early 1900s. Many months ago, my life fell apart and I ended up living in a friend's home while I sorted out the pieces of my messy life. One day, my dear friend handed me this book and said, "You'll like this." I was intimidated. After all, it's Virginia Woolf and only really smart people can read Woolf's writings. But I decided to read what I could and glaze over the rest. I ended up tucking myself into bed with this book every night and reading it again and again and again. Yes, Woolf was a Victorian-era writer and the prose is thick and heavy-laden with Victorian verbosity, but her powerful writing style shines through the complicated sentences and nuanced lexicon. My very favorite part was the top of page 60. After reading that, I felt that Ms. Woolf had reached through the decades and touched my very soul. If you're a writer and a sensitive soul (as I am), you'll understand when you read it. :) Next semester, I'm teaching a course on writing and plan to quote Ms. Woolf extensively. This book will be well used and recommended to my students. And I highly recommend it to you, too. Rose author, The Houses That Sears Built Written on September 12, 2005 Summary: "... let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn." "A Room of One's Own," published in 1929, is an expanded essay combining two papers which author Virginia Woolf presented in 1928 at Newnham and Girton Colleges, the only women's colleges at Cambridge at that time. In this dissertation on women and literature, she discusses the various obstacles facing women involved in the creative process, and stresses the importance of financial and social independence for females. I think this is probably my favorite essay by the author, and one of her finest, most accessible pieces of writing. It is important to note that her interests did not lie particularly in the areas of politics and feminism, but solely on art itself and the freedom to create it. Ms. Woolf argues that the reason there were so few prominent, highly respected women authors before the twentieth century is because most women had not led lives conducive to creating great art or literature. She posits that there was no actual body of notable women's literature because, in the past, women did not have the education, the income, the privacy, the experiences of travel to broaden their world, or the time to write. Dominated by men throughout history, females have been denied access to education, independent travel, and to publication. Without an independent income, women are totally dependent upon men. Women are responsible for bearing children, and in almost all cases have the primary responsibility for bringing them up. Few have the luxury of hired help. Although rewarding in many way, child rearing allows for little privacy, independence and solitude, prerequisite conditions for writing, painting or composing. If privacy is non-existent, interruptions block creativity. Ms. Woolf clearly states that what a woman needs is a room of her own and a guaranteed fixed income in order to write noteworthy fiction. Here she challenges women to become economically self-sufficient in order to acquire the necessary intellectual freedom to create outstanding literature. Virginia Woolf believed that the remarkable, the momentous, could be found amongst the mundane details and occurrences of everyday life. She encourages women to write about all of the "minutely obscure lives" which men have ignored, and about themselves, their feelings and their reactions to the world around them. I believe the author's great novel, "Mrs Dalloway" reflects this mindset. Aphra Behn, (1640 - 1689), was the first female writer to earn her own income from writing. After John Dryden, she was the most prolific dramatist of the Restoration. However, she achieved her place in literary history for her pioneering work in prose narrative. Ms. Behn paved the way for 19th century novelists like Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Bronte sisters, who were able to write in their family sitting-rooms or libraries, despite their lack of independence and privacy. Woolf wrote/spoke: "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. It is she - shady and amorous as she was - who makes it not quite fantastic for me to say to you tonight: Earn five hundred a year by your wits." Ms. Woolf quotes Sir Arthur Quiller-Coach, a Professor of Literature who wrote: "The poor poet has not in these days, nor has had for two hundred years, a dog's chance...a poor child in England has little more hope than had the son of an Athenian slave to be emancipated into that intellectual freedom of which great writings are born." Ms Woolf goes on to state that obviously this noted professor believes that intellectual freedom depends upon material things. "Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom. And women have always been poor, not for two hundred years merely, but from the beginning of time. Women have had less intellectual freedom than the sons of Athenian slaves. Women, then, have not had a dog's chance of writing poetry. That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one's own." A good part of "A Room of One's Own" analyzes the patriarchal British society that so limited a woman's opportunities. Woolf theorized that while male authors write about women and allow their heroines to "shine like beacons" in fiction, in reality women were often treated like slaves, not free to choose their own mates, and frequently beaten by their husbands and fathers. She goes on to say that men historically belittle women as a means of asserting their own superiority. She uses the metaphor of a looking-glass relationship, men, threatened by the thought of losing their power, need to reduce women to enlarge themselves. The androgynous ideal, the writer with an androgynous mind, where a writer uses both parts of the brain equally, is also championed here. "The androgynous mind is resonant and porous; it transmits emotion without impediment; it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided." This is a fascinating proposition which Woolf explored more fully in her 1928 novel "Orlando," a fantasy set in the Elizabethan court, tracing the career of the androgynous protagonist from a masculine identity to a feminine identity. Woolf constructed this essay as a partly-fictionalized narrative to make her points vividly. She invents an imaginary female narrator, a talented contemporary novelist of some potential. Unfortunately, because she lacks models and a tradition to draw on, our narrator is a hundred years away from being able to develop her gifts fully, to "be a poet." A fictional historic character is introduced, Miss Judith Shakespeare, the very gifted sibling of Will, in order to illustrate the sorry fate of highly intelligent, creative women in the past. This device is extremely effective in bringing home the difficulties of talented women living in the traditional world. I highly recommend this extraordinary long essay to both men and women - to everyone interested in the creative process. It is a brilliantly written, perceptive thesis. JANA Written on May 16, 2005 Summary: An important read that also entertains Oh, this was VERY good. And totally still applies today, sometimes shockingly so. A few times this felt dated, but mostly it was a very sharp, entertaining, poignant, and important essay. I enjoyed the format of both lectures quite a lot. The first was brilliant, following the day of one woman thinking about the issues of women and literature, and seeing that woman encounter all types of barriers in her everyday living. The second provided more of the "meat and potatoes" (the heart and facts) of the problems faced by women who wish to participate in literature. The fictionalized story of Shakespeare's sister was very powerful. I'll definitely be thinking about this for awhile. Written on February 4, 2005 Summary: Woolf is a Brilliant Writer This may be a longer essay than many may be used to reading, but it is worth reading! It is brilliant! That is practically the only word I can describe it by. Some of her best work/thoughts and quotes on literature is in this essay. If you are a fan of Virginia Woolf, you must read this. If you are just starting to read her writings, this is a great introducion to her work. If anything it will make you want to read more of her writings( which is exactly what happened to me after I read this!) ! Written on December 27, 2004 Summary: Still a masterpiece Written in the late 1920's this long essay/book continues to be fresh and pertinent. The cause of feminist equality has improved somewhat in the intervening years but is still falls shamefully short of full emancipation. As Woolf so eloquently puts it, a woman needs money and a room of one's own. And it is still a rare woman who has both. Her use of the imaginary tale of Shakespeare's sister and her "feminine" fate still has weight and packs a significant punch of truth. The other significant factor that Woolf does not touch on in this essay is time. The weight of child rearing, housework and domesticity still falls heavily on women. There has been some movement with men being involved in that area but the movement is very, very slow. Added to that, it is a rare woman who does not have to work and bring income into the household. Woolf continues to speak with honesty to the issues of feminism and women over the intervening bridge of years. This book still resonates. Highly recommended. |
| Comparison map |
| Wondering how the book "A Room of One's Own" relates to similar books? Find out at a glance here: |
| Price comparison |
 A Room of One's Own |
 To the Lighthouse |
 Mrs. Dalloway |
 The Second Sex |
 Moments of Being |
 Orlando (Wordsworth Classics) |
| Our price | $10.40 | $10.01 | $10.40 | $12.21 | $11.20 | $4.99 |
| List price | $13.00 | - | $13.00 | $17.95 | $14.00 | $4.99 |
| Lowest used price | $2.33 | $0.01 | $1.50 | $6.93 | $6.78 | $2.50 |
| Lowest new price | $3.50 | $3.98 | $2.45 | $9.87 | $7.99 | $4.22 |
| Collectible price | $13.00 | $13.00 | $13.00 | $16.99 | $14.00 | - |
| Catalog | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book | Book |
| Release date | 1989-12-27 | 1989-12-27 | 1990-09-24 | 1989-12-17 | 1985-08-23 | 1999-12-05 |
| Media | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback | Paperback |
| Number of pages | 132 | 228 | 216 | 800 | 240 | 192 |
| Ean | 9780156787338 | 9780156907392 | 9780156628709 | 9780679724513 | 9780156619189 | 9781853262395 |
| Book Isbn | 0156787334 | 0156907399 | 0156628708 | 0679724516 | 0156619180 | 1853262390 |
| Link to shop* (opens in a new window) | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* | BUY IT NOW* |
| take one out? |
|
I am here: Home > Books > Subjects > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Room One s Own
This website will be shutdown on 2008-04-01.
|
 E-mail this page |
|
About the Simplest Shop | Help | Term of Use | Privacy Policy
Home | Contact us | Bookmark us | get paid for writing |
|
Copyright Simplest-Shop.com 2004. All rights reserved |