A Room of One's Own

A Le Monde 100 Books of the Century book

Women have burnt like beacons in all the works of all the poets from the beginning of time. … [Woman] pervades poetry from cover to cover; she is all but absent from history. She dominates the lives of kings and conquerors in fiction; in fact she was the slave of any boy whose parents forced a ring upon her finger. Some of the most inspired words and profound thoughts in literature fall from her lips; in real life she could hardly read; scarcely spell; and was the property of her husband.

A Room of One's Own is an extended essay, originally delivered in 1928 as two lectures at two of Cambridge University's women's colleges—Newnham College and Girton College. Through the use of several metaphors, lauded author Virginia Woolf explores the social injustices and structures that prevent women from engaging in free expression and contributing to literature.

A Room of One's Own was published as a book in 1929, and would go on to become a seminal work of feminist criticism. Considered one of the great modernist writers of the 20th century, Virginia Woolf has been named as an influence for writers including Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, and Gabriel García Márquez.