Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The title of this chapter is problematic in at least two senses. First, just as there is no simple definition of “feminism,” there is no single definition of “feminist novel.” Second, while Virginia Woolf has been a vital inspiration for female writers, few novels written by women during the second half of the twentieth century demonstrate the direct influence of her masterpieces of formal experimentation and unique poetic language. Rather, for the purposes of this discussion, Woolf's “wake” was formed principally by her groundbreaking feminist essays, most notably A Room of One's Own . The essay, which began as a series of lectures at Cambridge, was published in 1929 and subsequently went out of print for several decades – a period not particularly hospitable to Woolf's important argument that a woman needed £500 and a room of her own in order to write. During the 1960s and 1970s – formative years of the women's movement – the essay was rediscovered and enthusiastically embraced by writers and feminist scholars. In succeeding decades, it has remained required reading for anyone interested in women and writing, and, of course, in Virginia Woolf herself. Among the essay's many unforgettable images and observations are the author's plea for the rebirth of the imaginary Judith Shakespeare – the spirit of women's writing -and her contention that “we think back through our mothers if ... log in or subscribe to read full text