Breaking Barriers: Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and the Feminist Pursuit of Creative Freedom

<p dir="ltr"><span>The article exposes how Woolf vividly illustrates the societal constraints, through the imagined figure of Judith Shakespeare, that stifled women's talents, juxtaposing Judith’s unrealised potential against her brother William's celebrated success. Woolf underscores how financial dependence and relentless domestic demands limited women's literary contributions, steering them toward forms like the novel, which could better accommodate interruptions. The essay’s narrative also examines gendered subjectivity, challenging patriarchal constructs in language and identity. Woolf adopts a fictional narrator to universalise her arguments, emphasising that women’s struggles transcend individual experiences. Her metaphor of the spider’s web highlights the delicate balance between fiction and material reality, revealing the pervasive impact of economic and societal limitations on literary creation.</span></p><div><span><br /></span></div>

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Publication Details

Journal
LiBRI Linguistic and Literary Broad Research and Innovation
Published
2025-02-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70594/libri/13.1/2
Primary Topic
Modernist Literature and Criticism
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Breaking Barriers: Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and the Feminist Pursuit of Creative Freedom

Loredana Ilie
LiBRI Linguistic and Literary Broad Research and Innovation
Modernist Literature and Criticism
article

Breaking Barriers: Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and the Feminist Pursuit of Creative Freedom

Loredana Ilie
article en

Abstract

<p dir="ltr"><span>The article exposes how Woolf vividly illustrates the societal constraints, through the imagined figure of Judith Shakespeare, that stifled women's talents, juxtaposing Judith’s unrealised potential against her brother William's celebrated success. Woolf underscores how financial dependence and relentless domestic demands limited women's literary contributions, steering them toward forms like the novel, which could better accommodate interruptions. The essay’s narrative also examines gendered subjectivity, challenging patriarchal constructs in language and identity. Woolf adopts a fictional narrator to universalise her arguments, emphasising that women’s struggles transcend individual experiences. Her metaphor of the spider’s web highlights the delicate balance between fiction and material reality, revealing the pervasive impact of economic and societal limitations on literary creation.</span></p><div><span><br /></span></div>

LiBRI Linguistic and Literary Broad Research and InnovationVol. 13(1)
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (RO)
Openalex Percentile: Top 97%
Modernist Literature and Criticism
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