Female Literary Accomplishments

In the modern period, Virginia Woolf was the first to examine from an avowedly female perspective the conventional views of what is held to be great literature. In A Room of One's Own, Woolf questions whether the assumptions and institutions of literary convention are adequate to explain the undeniable fact that most of the world's profound literature has been created by men. Tying together economics and literature, she notes that the lack of a profound female literary tradition can be traced directly to the economic powerlessness of women throughout history; their social responsibilities, set for them by men, precluded the collective development of their genius. On this view, the history of female literary accomplishment becomes an exception that proves the rule.

In the first place, to have a room of her own, let

alone a quiet room or a soundproof room, was out of

the question, unless her parents were exceptionally

rich or very noble, even to the beginning of the

nineteenth century. . . . [H]er pin money . . .

depended on the good will of her father.1

Pampered, provided for, womenor at least those of Woolf's social class, with whom she appears to have been principally concernedhad no capacity for authentic artistic creation and especially no opportunity to create a tradition of art. The lack of such a tradition "must have told enormously upon the writing of women" (Woolf 80). The key to i

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lled abolitionist social consciousness. All of this becomes possible for her on a small scale when she places Nancy on the underground railroad. No less significantly, Rachel has done her part to help the American South reclaim something of its own decency. In this regard, Donald reminds one of the known fact that two of the most prominent abolitionist leaders were the Grimke sisters of South Carolina. Nancy gone, Sapphira reclaims something of a sense of decorum within her family unit, attempting a reconciliation with both Rachel and Colbert as she faces the prospect of an invalid old age. The decorum is there; that is all. The relationship between mother and daughter descends into a situation of mutual civility and conversation. Ultimately, indeed, they live in the same house. But the emotional bond between them, never very strong, is broken when Nancy flees, as surely as the civilizing influence of the Emancipation Proclamation and the decisive if less civilizing influence of the Civil War broke slavery itself and the way of life it supported. To the degree Rachel acts decently at a difficult moment of history, she, like Alexandra, becomes the focus of dramatic action which has a parallel in American history as a whole. T

Category: Literature - F