There seems to be a consensus to describe this work as an extended essay, whatever that means. Why not just say "essay"? I worry that some may be put off by the implication that this work falls into some unreadable limbo between essay and book.
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (January 2021)
For those who need more information to make a reading decision, I'll cut right to the chase - Woolf's main point is that in order to write fiction, a woman must have a room of her own, which implies a certain degree of accompanying financial support. Despite not being the fiction for which she is known, Woolf's superlative writing is on display in A Room of One's Own. The structure of the essay is suited for the stream of consciousness approach, and I often found myself flipping back a few pages just to figure out how the narrative had wound its way to the current point. This essay, published in 1929, was based on a series of lectures (or is it extended lectures?) that she delivered at two women's colleges in 1928. I can relate to this sequence, having written many TOA posts based on some remarks originally made around friends, family, or colleagues. There is something logical about treating spoken pieces as rough first drafts, particularly considering all the writing advice out there based on the unusual premise that writers, of all people, have an impossible time getting started - just write, baby!
Of course, although the lectures led to the book, I have no way of knowing if the lectures produced the work. It's entirely possible that at some point earlier in her life Woolf wrote about this topic until she inspired herself to speak in public; writing can change the way we live. I can also relate to this process, specifically in how writing on TOA has preceded a shift in the way I notice details about the world. The posts I've written about gender bias in the literary world, for example, may have influenced me when I noted the way Woolf describes how prevailing masculine values influenced the way her culture thought about literature. As Woolf notes, the critics have always been male, and they have reinforced these values, making books about war more culturally important than those about domestic work. This male, in his own little corner of the critical world, is delighted to state his certainty that this book is far more culturally important in 2021 than any book about those unspecified masculine values - my guesses are wars, sports, and being a business bro.
TOA Rating: Three extensions out of four.
