解析《一间自己的房间》中的女权主义

解析《一间自己的房间》中的女权主义

内容摘要：伍尔夫是蜚身世界文坛的英国女作家，同时也是西方女权主义的先驱者，一位超越时代的女性主义思想家。一间自己的房间是以作者两次在剑桥大学作的以‘妇女与小说’为题的演讲为基础整理而成的，是他主张女权运动的一本名著同时也是最早在文学领域展开了对父权文化的清算的作品，被誉为西方女权主义运动的宣言，文中她对父权制文化对女性的压抑进行了严厉的批判，肯定了被父权社会拒绝的女性文学传统的存在，为女性写作找到了一个历史支撑点。本文旨在通过伍尔夫作品的分析，以妇女与小说这两大主题为线索，解析伍尔夫对女权主义的思想在文中的展现。

关键词：女权主义双性同体女性文学

The Feminism in A Room of One’s Own

B.A candidate: Jiang Jiaqin Supervisor: Feng Li

Abstract:Woolf is one of the authoresses in Great Britain who was famous in the world literary world, at the same time she is also a precursor of the feminist in west, a feminist thinker who was in advance of the age in which she lived. The book A Room of One’s Own was based on a series of lectures Woolf had delivered in Cambridge University which were on the topic of women and fiction. It‘s a famous masterpiece in which she protest feminism as well as the first book which bring the paternity culture to account in the filed of literature. The book was also being praised as the declaration of western feminist movement. In the book, she criticized the oppression the paternalism had given to women, confirmed the existence of women literature tradition, and discovered a history support point for women‘s writing. The essay is designed for a better understanding of Woolf‘s feminism by analyzes the book A Room of One’s Own through two main clues: the women and the fiction.

Key words: feminism, Androgyny, female literature

Contents Introduction (1)

Chapter one The society position of women (2)

Chapter two The bias against women‘s writing (3)

Chapter three The best way for writing- Androgyny (5)

Conclusion (7)

Notes (9)

Bib liography (9)

Acknowledgements (10)

Introduction

Virginia Woolf, (1882~1941), a famous English novelist, essayist, feminist, and writer of short stories, had made great accomplishments in both fiction writing and literary criticism. At the same time, she was one of the three most famous writers who write in stream of consciousness, forerunner of feminism movement. Both of her parents had strong family association with literature. Her father was a famous editor, critic, and biographer, so that Woolf was raised in an environment filled with the influences of Victorian literary society. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse and Orlando, and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own, with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is going to write fiction."

A Room of One's Own, written in 1929, was a representative work to show Virginia‘s thought of feminism, in this book, she explicitly demonstrates the social realities that in the traditionally paternity society that women had been oppressed for such a long time. They had to face to the sex discrimination and also the tradition-bound. And she brought forward the history reason and the reality reason of this phenomenon. she pointed out the factors that restrict women‘s creativity in literature, first is the absence of financial independence, and second is the poor social position, and then she jump to the conclusion that if a woman want to start writing, she must have at least 500 pounds income a year and a room of her own.

Woolf said that most works at the age she lives created by men were largely identical but with minor differences, because their writing ways were all got into conventional pattern that couldn‘t strike a chord among the readers. For this reason, Woolf made a suggestion to all the female writers that they should create their own unique ways of thinking and creativity to demonstrate the existence of women. In the work, Woolf encourages women to be themselves, to be an independent one differs from men, not leech on to men at the same time get together harmoniously with men and the whole world. She creatively put forward a new writing concept, Androgyny, which means both sexes one body. She claims that androgyny is the best situation both for women and men who want to write, and it‘s also the best way to eliminate the differences between men and women. It is precisely because the put forward of this creative concept, this book is still be considered as one of the most outstanding masterpiece in women‘s literature area.

On the other hand, A Room of One’s Own is also a controversial work in the critics‘ eyes. It has been

repeatedly reviewed, critiqued, and analyzed since its publication in 1929. Some critic states that this essay is not a feminist work but completely apolitical ideology and reduces the essay‘s scope to a collection of musings on women and fiction. Some other critic enlarges the scope to a wide, universal feminism because at the period in which Woolf was writing, feminism, by popular definition, meant wanting the vote for women. This is certainly not Woolf‘s brand of feminism.

Woolf‘s own intention in writing A Room of One’s Own may have actually been to create a work that lay somewhere in between these two extremes. But in fact, her feminism is in actuality quite limited in that she only applies it to British, upper middleclass women writers.Her essay which to someone seemed non- feminist and to some others seemed feminist-universalist is, by our modern definition, feminist; however, because the limitation of culture, class, and profession, Woolf‘s feminism was a kind of narrow feminism.

Even thought A Room of One’s Ow n is such a controversial work, it‘s no doubt that the essay is also a masterpiece in the women literary world, and had made a great contribution to the later female literature.

Chapter one: The society position of women

In the first period of the book, Woolf first defines the questions of women and fiction as being three inextricable questions: women and fiction, that‘s may be women and what they are like, or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; or it might mean women and the fiction that is written about them or it might mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together.①

To solve these three doubts Woolf first talked in voice of another person, about her experiences in Oxbridge, been drove out from the lawn and been kept out from the library all because she is a female. Through the two experiences, she illuminated the low stations of female in the high education organizations. Then, she turned to look back the women‘s history station. She went to the British museum in hopes of finding some reasonable answer to the three questions but only find it difficulty because most books wrote about women were written by men. She read some of them, and summed up that, women, from of old, are always be deemed to be appendix of men.

Many men in history had state the point of view that women are lower than men in many aspects, intelligence, moral and also physical force. Women have served all these centuries as looking–glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size.②Because of this mirror, men gained some kind of self-confidence to believe that they are born to be

superior to half of the human beings. Men can‘t bear any criticize from women, because once women tell the truth, men‘s shadow in the mirror will be shorter, they will be more doubtful of their superiority. This may be the reason why Napoleon and Mussolini insisted the inferiority of women, and also may be the main reason why men are always in need of women.

To keep men‘s absolute superiority, women are forbidden to do the same works men could do, and their lives are almost the same. Most females are not access to a fair education since their childhood, and then large numbers of them get married at the age of 15 or 16, which followed with bearing and life long‘s tedious housework at home. They have no ways to get enough money for themselves and no chance to own a moment‘s freedom.

Women are really live in the lowest class of the society at that time because the absence of both financial independence and intelligence independence.

Chapter two: The bias against women’s writing

In the third period of the book, the author discovered the phenomena that in Elizabethan Era, a time literature develops rapidly, we still can‘t find any writing of women.

The author list some examples of women in men‘s writing, like in the works of Shakespeare, find that the heroine are always full of personality and humanity, even as same great as men, but, they are only imaginary. The true condition is that women were locked and whipped by their husband, without any freedom. There are hardly any describes of women in history, especially women from middle-class, they don‘t attend any society activities, they have no autobiographies, no diaries, and without any useful information.

Someone declared that it was impossible for any woman, past, present, or to come, to have the genius of Shakespeare. But the author thinks that it would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.③In the age of Shakespeare, it‘s totally impossible for any woman to have the chance to experience what Shakespeare had experienced, which were the sources of his writing. At that time, if a woman has great talent in writing, but she absolutely can‘t get the same achievement with men, she will be exclude by men, by the society, and at last, be crazy, lonely, distorted.

The author supposed that Shakespeare has a sister, who has the same talent with Shakespeare, but her life will surely be different with his brother at that time, people will exclude her writing, and she had no choice but to live all her life under humiliation and oppression.

Then, the author looked back to the difficult way women enter in the literary world. In the 16th century, few women like peers had the chance to write, but their writings are on the purpose to abreact their angry and discontent to their low status in society. Margaret Cavendish and Duchess, both born in high-class family, without children and love poems, became freaky and screwy for the same reason, cynicism from others.

Dorothy, a woman who had great talent in writing, but said that, 'if I should not sleep this fortnight I should not come to that‘④, a female who actually love writing made herself believe that writing for women is fantastic，we can feel the strong against feelings in the air at that time.

In the 17th century, Aphra Behn, a woman lived in middle-class, full of humors, energy and courage, worked like men so that she could support herself, became the first woman who earn money by her writing. Since then, more and more female realized that women also could writing, and live a better life. At the end of 18th century, women‘s thoughts became unprecedented lively, female come from middle class started to write. In some sense, we can say it was Aphra Behn who wins the right of writing for women.

In the 19th century, more women began to write, but most of them wrote fictions. The four most famous female writers are: George Eliot, Emily Bronte, and Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austin. All of them have some points in common, live in middle class family, without their own living room and have no their own private time. These may be also the reasons why they write fictions but not plays, because write fictions don‘t need to be so devotional. Even so, they created masterpieces like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and so on.

Women writers at that time still meet many difficulties, no tradition to follow, no one to ask for help because their thoughts are totally differ from men‘s. So, for women, it‘s urgent to discover a new way of writing, a way of their own features. Only by this way, women could create more great works which could last longer in the history.

Chapter three: The best way for writing-Androgyny

The author compared Jane Austin‘s work to Charlotte Bronte‘s, and found the difference between them.

Jane Austin wrote pride and prejudice in a bad environment, with a lot of interferences, but we can‘t see any influence by this from her work. We can‘t feel any abomination, discontent, eeriness or preachment from his work. It seems that all obstacles are removed from her brain when she writing,

that just the way how Shakespeare wrote.

Then we turn to Charlotte Bronte‘s writing, Jane Eyre, in this book, the heroine showed strong desire to explore the unknown world for her even been blamed by others. We can easily feel some kind of discontentment indignation to destiny, for she‘s not only write fiction but also write her own story. This made her writing contorted and not so perfect.

The biggest difference between the two female writers is that Jane wrote as a woman, but Charlotte tends to imitate men‘s way of writing intentional, which made her work not so outstanding among so many similar works. For this reason, Woolf encourages all the female writers to write in their own thoughts and special ways.

There is a spot the size of a shilling at the back of the head which one can never see for oneself. It is one of the good offices that sex can discharge for sex--to describe that spot the size of a shilling at the back of the head.⑤And men, from the earliest ages, with humanity and brilliancy, have pointed out to women that dark place at the back of the head. Now, female should walk behind men and point out the spot for them!

She believes t here are two sexes in the mind corresponding to the two sexes in the body, sometimes the part of men works more, some times the part of women play the main role, but both of them are not strong enough to meet the complex world,and the best situation is that the two live in harmony together, and cooperate with each other spiritually. Therefore, Woolf put forward a totally new idea of writing to solve the problem of the imperfect of both sexes, that‘s androgyny,She thinks only when the two sexes in our mind cooperate with each other, our brain will become active and productive enough, and then perfect work will come into being. A highly developed brain won‘t think about sex, so a great mind must be androgynous, Shakespeare is just like this.

When we turn to the male writers of the time, we will easily find it‘s more difficult for them to be androgynous. Men sensitively felt the problem that women got more rights like be allowed to join the political events which never happened in the past that they have stronger desire to hold on their own opinions that they think a lot of the sex of their own. When read reading their writings, one can easily find the repeating describes of ―I‖, the most important ―I‖, and all the other things will fade away and be flooded by the shadow of ?I‘. This made their writings dull and tiresome like some kind of obstacles had blocked the authors‘mind. For female, these kinds of works are meaningless that they can‘t discover any thing they want from them.

Anybody who wants to write must forget the sex at first. Only the works done under cooperation of

two sexes in the mind could last long.

At last, Woolf quoted a passage of Arthur Quilter–Couch ?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 writi ngs are born‘⑥then jump to the conclusion that intellectual freedom depends upon material things. Poetry depends upon intellectual freedom. Women are always poor from the beginning of time, so if a woman decided to start writing, she will make sure enough money and freedom in intellectual, that‘s why a female writer needs 500 pounds income a year and a room of her own.

At last, Woolf gave some suggestions for the females who are interested in writing. A great writer, no matter what bad characters he or she may has, he or she must be a kind person, so, for female writers, the author hopes all of them to be kind persons first, and never forget the responsibility of a writer, that‘s to seek for the reality and deliver it to readers. Women had been oppressed for a long time, now they have more rights to change the ways of life, more time to read, and more ways to make themselves be accepted by others. That‘s a great time for every female, so Woolf also hopes all the female writers could work harder, even struggle in poor or objection and never give up, the sister of Shakespeare may be any one of them.

Conclusion

Woolf is one of the forerunners in feminism. Her thoughts are still being highly praised nowadays. In the essay, Woolf expressed her strong feminism thoughts by her exaggerated and ironical describe writing ways. Her words seem fragmented in the book, but we can still dig out her feminism thought lively. Her courage to challenge the Patriarchal society and attack the Male hegemony had become the guiding inspirit for the later feminism.

In the essay, the author first narrated the problem that women‘s self-awareness had been oppressed for a long time. In the times before 19th century, if a woman wrote a book, she will surely be attacked by others including other women. In the paternity world, most women had identified with the idea that they were born to be lower than men not only on physical force, moral but also on intelligence. Some females even agree with the idea that woman is a rib from man. This kind of self-denial had strongly furthered men‘s discrimination on women.

Then, Woolf pointed out the truth that women are facing serious economical problems. Because the lack of steady income, females had lost the main station in the society and became attachment of men.

To change the disadvantage position of women, women had no choice but to strive for independent financial position. That‘s why a female should have at least 500 pounds a year before she starts to write.

A room of one’s own for a female, in the author‘s eyes, is not only a room but also a symbol of independence, both on financial and intellectual. A woman, live in father‘s room when she was young, then live in husband‘s room after got married, and live in her son‘s room when she was old. The room in the essay means an independent space for women. Only when they had their own room, they will own freedom thoughts to write what they want to write.

At last, Woolf put forward the concept of androgyny in writing and believes it‘s the best state for writing, which influenced the later female writers a lot and is still being highly praised nowadays. Anyway, this essay has made a great contribution to the developing of feminism thoughts and has great importance in the literary world.

Notes:

①Virginia Woolf. A Room of One’s Own [M]. London: Penguin Classics Press, 2002.2 P1

②Virginia Woolf. A Room of One’s Own [M]. London: Penguin Classics Press, 2002.2 P55

③Virginia Woolf. A Room of One’s Own [M]. London: Penguin Classics Press, 2002.2 P73

④Virginia Woolf. A Room of One’s Own [M]. London: Penguin Classics Press, 2002.2 P99

⑤Virginia Woolf. A Room of One’s Own [M]. London: Penguin Classics Press, 2002.2 P146

⑥Virginia Woolf. A Room of One’s Own [M]. London: Penguin Classics Press, 2002.2 P174

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