The celebrated author of To the Lighthouse examines the role of women in literature in this critical essay that paved the way for modern feminism.

During the week of the release of her novel Orlando, author Virginia Woolf gave two lectures at the University of Cambridge on the subject of “women and fiction.” Those talks served as the basis for this extended essay.

In “A Room of One’s Own,” Woolf offers a feminist critique of society as she discusses women’s history in literature and writing. She imagines if William Shakespeare had a sister who was just as smart and talented as he was. Yet given the nature of society in Shakespeare’s era, she doesn’t have the means to express her creativity and thus dies without writing down a word. Ultimately Woolf argues that women must have intellectual and financial freedom: “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”