Decoding and Interpreting Virginia Woolf’s Writing Style

Taming the Woolf:
Decoding and Interpreting Virginia Woolf’s Writing Style

 

A Room of one’s Own is one of the most significant feminist texts of the twentieth century; modern female writers look to Virginia Woolf’s work for empowerment and literary inspiration.  There are many occasions throughout this essay where it is obvious that Virginia Woolf is undoubtedly a distinguished and intelligent writer. 

 

From the very beginning, the text detours from conventional expectations of style and presentation; it seems that Woolf is intentionally contradicting to the writing status quo of the 1900’s as she writes about women, fiction, and a literal and metaphorical room of one’s own.  Throughout the following paper, the effects and accomplishments of Virginia Woolf’s unique writing style, in particular her use of atypical paragraphs and long sentences, will be presented and examined.

Before analyzing the intricate and unfamiliar style of Virginia Woolf’s writing, it is beneficial to understand the purpose and context of her words.  A Room of one’s Own seems to be an inner dialogue where Woolf mainly presents her ideas and opinions.  For example, consider the three opening lines of the essay, “But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction-what has that got to do with a room of one’s own? I will try to explain” (3). The use of the first person pronoun so early into the essay clearly illustrates that the text consists of her thoughts, her feelings, and her views.  This bold statement and unique narrative use within the first few lines of the essay could be interpreted as Woolf’s attempt to imply that it is her essay and that she will make it what she wants it to be; no one, particularly no man, will confine her writing style. 

 

On the other hand, these opening lines could also be construed as Woolf’s proclamation that she will use her knowledge and past experiences to explain how women and fiction are related to having a room of one’s own.  Regardless of the interpretation, the point is immediately made that only Woolf’s ideas and opinions will be presented in the literary offering; the text is strictly a female writer’s approach to connecting three different, yet significant topics.

In addition to being a first person narrative, another aspect of the text worthy of mentioning, prior to analysis of the style, is the fact that Woolf’s ideas and opinions do not represent a final word on any issue, but instead initiate a debate.  Woolf never comes to an obvious conclusion on any of her major topics, she seems to be, more or less, prodding at the minds of the young women she is presenting to, igniting a desire in them to know more about women and fiction, and perhaps a bit more about themselves, as she writes:
All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point-a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved.  I have shirked the duty of coming to a conclusion upon these two questions-women and fiction remain, so far as I am concerned, unsolved problems (4).

 

 Moreover, throughout the essay, it is obvious that Woolf wholeheartedly believes that women should be different from men.  on page 88, she avows, “…it would be a thousand pities if women wrote like men, or lived like men, or looked like men.”  Is it plausible that Virginia Woolf sways from the conventional manly style of writing in the twentieth century, because she believes that women should not write using the same form as men?  Consider her opinion that women must maintain individuality in their experiences as writers, as she asks Mary Carmichael:
 “…are Jane Austen’s sentences not the right shape for you? Must they all be scrapped because Emma and Mr. Woodhouse are dead? Alas, I sighed, that it should be so.  For while Jane Austen breaks from melody to melody as Mozart from song to song, to read this writing was like being out at sea in an open boat.  Up one went, down one sank.  This terseness, this shortwindedness, might mean that she was afraid of something; afraid of being called “sentimental” perhaps; or she remembers that women’s writing has been called flowery and so provides a superfluity of thorns; but until I have read a scene with some care, I cannot be sure whether she is being herself or some one else (80-1).

Woolf challenges women to find and develop their own writing style, even if it does not conform to the style of their male counterparts.  She encourages women to venture out and seek their own room and their own pen in which to write about the world.

 After considerable reflection of Virginia Woolf’s essay, A Room of one’s Own, and an understanding of the purpose and context of her words, it is appropriate to analyze and dissect aspects of her writing style.  The author uses two obvious unconventional stylistic writing forms to engage the reader: atypical paragraphs and long sentences. 

 First, consider the paragraph, defined as “a division of a piece of writing that begins on a new, usually indented line and that consists of a single idea or aspect of the subject” (Phelps 702).  Clearly, Woolf does not follow this universal guideline as she meshes together many topics within one paragraph. on pages 17 though 20 Woolf eloquently describes a dinner party while simultaneously mentioning heaven, science, kings, nobles, and college all in the same paragraph.  This technique has an impact on the reader, who has to follow as Woolf connects usually unrelated topics, winds them around her opinions, and splashes them onto the paper with ink, all the while requiring the reader to stay right with her. This performance, and the amalgamating of topics, forces the reader to see Woolf’s main message as a whole, instead of having to piece together a series of smaller paragraphs.

 

As Woolf unconventionally describes her dinner, she strives to bring the reader to many different places and gives them an opportunity to compare the similarities and differences of a multitude of topics. Her ability to bridge the gap between dissimilar ideas within one paragraph is effective, extraordinary, and definitely uncommon in twentieth century male writing.

 Similar to Woolf’s style of atypical paragraph form, her sentences are also unconventional compared to male writers of her time. While most men authors in the twentieth century tend to keep their sentences short, simple, and to-the-point; no sentence is too long for Virginia Woolf. A distinct characteristic of Virginia Woolf’s writing style is her ability to compose an abundance of words and have them flow together, be understood, and reflected upon by the reader. 

 

There are two main ways in which she accomplishes this: punctuation and transitional words or phrases.  Page 68 clearly demonstrates how Woolf combines these characteristics to create a natural flow in the sentence:
That was how Shakespeare wrote, I thought, looking at Antony and Cleopatra; and when people compare Shakespeare and Jane Austen, they may mean that the minds of both had consumed all impediments; and for that reason we do not know Jane Austen and we do not know Shakespeare, and for that reason Jane Austen pervades every word that she wrote, and so does Shakespeare.

Although her sentences are different from men’s sentences, they are not of lesser value.  In this particular excerpt, Woolf compares Jane Austen to Shakespeare. Although they are two entirely different authors who write entirely different types of literature, she is able to develop a connection through her advanced and complex sentence structure.  In this sentence, Woolf uses semicolons to separate her thoughts and ideas, and ultimately allow the reader to reflect on each individual thought before proceeding to the next. 

 

The use of transitional words also contributes to the succinctness and flow of her words throughout the long sentence; the semicolons are followed by the word “and”, which allow the reader to connect the separate ideas about Jane Austen and Shakespeare and see the overall message that Woolf is trying to convey.  Virginia Woolf, is able to effectively engage the reader and maintain their interest through an exceptional sentence structure quite uncommon to the writing of males in the 1900’s.

In conclusion, Virginia Woolf’s essay, A Room of one’s Own, is a twentieth century feminist masterpiece, looked upon by many current-day female writers as empowerment and inspiration.  Throughout the text, there are many instances where it is obvious that Woolf exudes a unique writing style, different and distinguishable from those of her peers. From the very beginning of the essay, it is evident that Virginia Woolf’s writing style in A Room of one’s Own detours from conventional writing forms of the twentieth century. 

 

In an attempt to prove that contradicting the male writing status quo remains effective in text, Woolf utilizes atypical paragraphs and long sentences to connect women, fiction, and a literal and metaphorical room of one’s own.  Overall, the effects and accomplishments of Virginia Woolf’s unique writing style have been presented and thoroughly examined in this paper.

 

Works Cited
Phelps, Martha F., ed. The American Heritage Student Dictionary. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.
Woolf,Virginia. A Room of one’s Own.  New York: Harcourt Inc, 1929.