Sunday, December 9, 2012

January 25 -- A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Meeting Information:
Date: Friday, January 25, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Plaza Branch Library, Small Meeting Room
Address: 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo

We will be discussing the book, A Room of One's Own, by Virginia Woolf. This books was first published on 24 October 1929 and is based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers of and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled "Women and Fiction", and hence the essay, are considered non-fiction. The essay is generally seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.

8 comments:

Clif Hostetler said...

Our group benefits much from the library's allowing us to use a meeting room at no cost to us. Thus, if you are looking for places to make tax-deductible donations I suggest you consider the Kansas City Public Library Foundation. If you do make a contribution, consider including a note thanking them for providing a place for us to meet.
http://www.kclibrary.org/ways-to-give

Clif Hostetler said...

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."
Virginia Woolf (I think this quotation is from "A Room of One's Own" but I can't verify. Let me know if you find it in your reading.

Other Quotations from "A Room of One's Own:"

"Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others."
Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own" (1929)

"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of a man at twice its natural size."
Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own" (1929)

Clif Hostetler said...

Check this link out if you're interested in some free vintage classic books:
http://www.forgottenbookmarks.com/2013/01/friday-giveaway-15-vintage-classics.html

Clif Hostetler said...

The closest I've found to the quotation about Anonymous being a woman is the following from Chapter 3:
"Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without singing them, was often a woman. "
I believe "Anon" to be used here as an abbreviation for an anonymous person.

Clif Hostetler said...

THIS LINK provides a fun quiz about quotes by famous women. Since this month's book is about the role of women in literature, this should be of interest to our group.

Clif Hostetler said...

Here's a LINK to a quiz about the book, A Room of One's Own.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/roomofonesown/quiz.html

Clif Hostetler said...

18 People were in attendance. There was good discussion. It's amazing the layers of insight into a book that can be uncovered when a group like that brings so many different perspectives. Those in attendance included: Brian Pauls, Tim Thurman, Tim and Debbie Lavin, Karen Hostetler, John Rasmus, Gaines A., Janelle Sjues, Mary Walker, Jan Carter, Bernard Norcott/Mahany, Bo Smith, Kristin, Ellen, Jennie Zou and Bill, Marty Hattan, and Clif Hostetler

Clif Hostetler said...

My review of A Room of One's Own is at this link:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/514751317