Virginia Woolf and feminism

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was one of the most important female authors in the transitional period from Victorian age to the Edwardian age. Until her death at the age of 59 she published several novels, feminist essays and held two classes in Cambridge about 'Women and Fiction'. In this term paper I would like to introduce the feminism aspects of her life and novels, and give an over-view of the essays she wrote. After giving a short introduction with the most important facts about Virginia Woolf's life, my first intention is to define the theory of feminism and show how it affected Virginia already as a young girl and mainly as an independent woman. Later, three of her novels are taken to demonstrate how Virginia Woolf's development influenced her literary output. I would also like to show the differences between Virginia Woolf's attitude towards women and men and compare it to theories of the feministic movement in the 20th century. This will be followed by a summary and conclusion, and a Bibliography, which only shows the most relevant books published for this subject, for there are numerous biographies and essays written on Virginia Woolf's life.