A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf is an analysis of the role of women in fiction and women’s history of authorship. Now known as a popular feminist essay, this was written at a time when feminism was not popular (1929). I hadn’t read Woolf before but had heard good things. What struck me from this essay - which originally formed as two lectures given at Women’s Colleges - is that Woolf employs storytelling to demonstrate how she pursued her research on Women and Fiction. Her thesis is that in order to successfully write fiction, women need to have a room of their own and a livable income.
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Marie Rilke (also published in 1929*) is a very popular book for writers, poets, creatives, and the like. My sister gave me this book for Christmas 2022 and I loved it. Some of the primary advice in the letters that resonated with me were to go into oneself, i.e., explore one’s solitude, and to go into nature, which, arguably, has been a healthy and healing practice since the origin of our species.
*P.S. When I picked these two books to put together, I was honestly just thinking that they would have an interesting dialogue, especially as they are both speaking to writing, one with a focus on women from a woman’s perspective, and the other from the male poet’s perspective. Since I read it more recently, I knew when Woolf’s was published, but I did not realize that they were both published in the same year until writing this. What a lovely coincidence! Certainly, a bad year for the stock market, but also certainly at least two great books came out of that year.
I found a great deal of wisdom in both.
Now, let’s let the books talk.
I hope that you enjoyed this book talk and gained some inspiration from these wonderful writers’ words. I highly suggest reading the books in their entirety (and discussing them with me in the comments!).
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