4. A Brief Biography
Adeline Virginia Woolf was born
January 25, 1882, into a large family,
in London, England. She grew up in
an atmosphere conducive to her
future career as a writer since her
father, Leslie Stephen, was a
respected and well-known
intellectual and writer. Although she
was not sent to a university as were
her brothers, she was able to educate
herself thoroughly by delving into the
volumes of her father's vast library.
5. Woolf grew up during a period of
intense feminist activity in London and
was an active member of various
women's organizations. By the time
she came into her own as a writer,
significant advances had been made in
women's rights. By 1918, a limited
franchise (vote) had been granted to
women in England. Also, since World
War I (1914-18) had thinned the ranks of
working men, women had begun to
enter the professions in large numbers.
Woolf began her career by writing
literary criticism, published her first
novel in 1915, and published both
fiction and nonfiction copiously until
her suicide in 1941.
6. She is well known internationally for her
many superb novels and collections of
essays. A Room of One's Own (1929)
and Three Guineas (1938) are important
feminist tracts written by Woolf.
Woolf and the man who would become
her husband, Leonard Woolf, were part
of a group of artists, writers, and
intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury
Group.
This group met regularly at Woolf and her brother's house
in the Bloomsbury neighborhood of London before Woolf
married, when she was still known as Virginia Stephen.
After their marriage, the Woolfs began a small publishing
house, Hogarth Press, in 1917.
7. After Virginia Woolf met fellow
writer Vita Sackville-West in the
early 1920s, the two women had a
romantic affair that lasted for a
number of years.
Virginia and Vita first met at a dinner
party in 1922. After learning that Vita
was a writer, Virginia invited her to
publish a novel with her small press,
Hogarth Press.
Vita was from an aristocratic family,
the Sackville-West’s of Sevenoaks in
Kent where they lived in their
ancestral home called Knole house.
Vita and her husband, who were
both bisexual and both writers, had
an open marriage.
10. Woolf suffered bouts of depression throughout her life. After each
bout, especially as her life advanced, she worried that the next
time she might not return to full sanity. It was this fear, combined
with her sense of horror at the events of World War II (1939-1944),
that led her to take her own life. She drowned herself in the river
Ouse in Sussex, England, on March 28, 1941.
12. In groups, Discuss
“Shakespeare’s Sister”
From
Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own
Consider her rhetorical strategies, the essay’s
content, and the “Questions for Critical
Reading” (page 776)
16. • How did
Elizabethan
gender roles limit
opportunities in
literature?
• Why does Woolf
begin by referring
to an eminent
historian?
17. • Why does history
treat sixteenth-
and seventeenth-
century women
with so little
notice?
• What is Woolf’s
point regarding
the behavior of
Oscar Browning?
19. What is the
difference
between the way
women are
represented in
history and the
way they are
depicted in fiction?
Why does Woolf
have Judith
Shakespeare
become pregnant?
20. QHQs: Woolf
• Q: Why does Virginia
Woolf approach her
piece, “Shakespeare’s
Sister” with an
impersonal and
slightly dispassionate
tone?
• Q: What type of
audience would
Woolf attract had
she taken a
different route with
her literary tone
(fervent,
demanding, angry)?
21. QHQ: Woolf
• Q: Were women in
Woolf’s time forced to
be in “the cave”
mentioned by Plato?
• Q: Was there an option
for women to be
educated back then?
Q: Would Virginia Woolf’s,
Shakespeare’s Sister, be
effective if it were only
historical facts and no
fiction?
Q: Does protest literature
in today’s society reclaim
voices drowned out in
history, or does it ignore
the real issue?
22. 1. How does Judith's fate show that "genius" is not above history and
material circumstance?
2. What was granted to Shakespeare that would not have been granted
to a sister with equal potential?
1. What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art?
2. Are the obstacles in the way of women’s success also in the way of the
Working Classes?
3. Woolf has sometimes been criticized for being elitist: how does Woolf’s
class position affect her views?
4. Are her theories about writing and poverty—for both men and
women—valid today?
23. Options: Essay # 4 Will be an in-class essay in response to
either Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” Or Woolf’s
“Shakespeare’s Sister”
24. Essay #4: An in-class essay on Plato’s “The
Allegory of the Cave” and Woolf’s
“Shakespeare’s Sister
You will respond to one of several prompts provided.
There will be prompts addressing each Plato and Woolf.
Your essay will be between 500 and 750 words. The number of
pages will depend on your handwriting!
You will have two hours to write.
You may use your textbook or copies of the essays (no other pages
or papers will be allowed).
Please bring a clean, large Blue Book: No Blue Book, no test.
(Approx. 8x10). You can buy them at the bookstore.
You may write with either a number 2 pencil (dark lead) or blue or
black pen.
25. Prepare for essay test 4
Post # 27 QHQ: How can we
apply the ideas of Plato and
Woolf to A Game of Thrones?
Make sure to include textual
support in your post. You
might consider how Woolf’s
notions can be extended
beyond the realm of women.
