Virginia Woolf examines the presence of female writers and factors that have influenced their presence in the writing field. She begins her examination by constructing a model of the "ordinary" woman, during each time period, in order to understand the obstacles overcome by the "extraordinary" woman--the female writer.
By determining the outside factors that create the "extraordinary" woman, Woolf explains why women have not been a constant presence in literary work. Laws and customs have been one of these influences. Male-created laws and customs put women into a submissive position and environment that stunted the growth of female writers.
Woolf attributes the beginning of a steady female presence in writing, to the changing of these laws and customs. The novel was the chosen discourse for women due to its easiness. Although novels allowed women to express themselves, they were constrained by an "...order imposed upon them by convention"--a male convention.
Woolf attributes changes in women's writing to a change in their perspective on the world. Women began to see the world outside their homes with a new-found freedom, which they interpreted in their writing. Women were disregarding male values and creating their own which leads to writing that became more sincere with intentions of truthfulness. Woolf describes several female writers who wrote with great anger and resentment to argue the injustice done unto them. Armed with a new attitude and new experiences, women began to explore poetry presenting solutions to world problems. Their writing became a learned art rather than a leisure activity. With this exploring and learning, new writing forms will be experimented with.
Woolf concludes that there will be changes in the writing styles
of females following the introduction of factors that had been
previously denied to them. Novels, while less common, will be
better written and there is the possibility for expansion into
other forms.
The recent increase of women in writing has created many questions as to why now and not before. The essay looks at these questions from the viewpoint of a female writer. The author looks at the influence of past female repression and how it has been instrumental in the lack of female success in writing. As women come to realize they can be successful writers, the old system of male domination will slowly be destroyed.
Woolf defines several factors that previously repressed women, all of which pertain to men. Many of us know how males have been so controlling of the female population in the past, but her audience may not realize how much male control has restricted women as writers.
Woolf has a personal association with these restrictions and presents a very uplifting perspective for the future of female writers. Much change has occurred concerning laws and customs established by males. These changes allowed women to experience new things which created a determination to break the boundaries previously laid.
Women developed new attitudes which came through in their writing. The female writer moved from fiction to poetry. While both are important, fiction was the "suggested" writing style for women. Woolf suggests men believed fiction was an easy style to write and allowed for womanly duties to take precedence. Men may have believed women's natural occupation was a homemaker. By allowing women to write, men felt they were indulging women during the time period when Woolf's essay first appeared.
By getting away from this male-orchestrated restriction, women are beginning to make their own place in writing. Woolf's audience is pleased with the new opportunities which will surely follow. The expansion into poetry will hopefully progress into male-dominated styles of writing such as history, sociology, and other discourse. As the audience envisions these great prospects, they are fortified with the knowledge that males are not the ruling gender. Women can overcome the male-generated role of submissiveness and ignorance in values and ideas. Today, women are very successful writers in both aspects of traditionally male- and female-oriented writing forms.
As the styles of female writers changed, so did the content of
their writing. Women wrote with resentment and anger toward males
for their treatment of women. The writing was emotional and an
appeal for their rights. Poetry's content differed from fiction's
content. Women, able to see the world from a feminist perspective,
purposed solutions to world problems. Their writing became less
personal and started to focus on society as a whole. Women turned
writing into a learned form of art rather than a leisurely escape
from daily life.
© Beth LaCanne, Winona (MN) State University, 30 January 1997
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