Professions for Women by Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) Born in England, Virginia Woolf was the daughter of Leslie Stephen, a well-known scholar. She was educated primarily at home and attributed her love of reading to the early and complete access she was given to her father’s library. With her husband, Leonard Woolf, she founded the Hogarth Press and became known as member of the Bloomsbury group of intellectuals, which included economist John Maynard Keynes, biographer Lytton Strachey, novelist E. M. Forster, and art historian Clive Bell. Although she was a central figure in London literary life, Woolf often saw herself as isolated from the mains stream because she was a woman. Woolf is best known for her experimental, modernist novels, including Mrs. Dalloway(1925) and To the Lighthouse(1927) which are widely appreciated for her breakthrough into a new mode and technique--the stream of consciousness. In her diary and critical essays she has much to say about women and fiction. Her 1929 book A Room of One’s Own documents her desire for women to take their rightful place in literary history and as an essayist she has occupied a high place in 20th century literature. The common Reader (1925 first series; 1932 second series) has acquired classic status. She also wrote short stories and biographies. “Professions for Women” taken from The collected Essays Vol 2. is originally a paper Woolf read to the Women’s Service League, an organization for professional women in London. Questions for Comprehension and Consideration 1. Woolf’s essay is titled “Professions for Women.” Which profession does she discuss in detail? What reasons does Woolf give for finding writing a comfortable profession for a woman to pursue? What do these reasons suggest about the relationship between women, their families, and the world of work? Woolf says, “Pianos and models, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin, masters and mistresses, are not needed by a writer.” What does she mean by saying that? What actually does the author want to emphasize in the first paragraph? Do you detect some bitterness in tone in the first paragraph? If you do, can you point out where it lies? What is left unsaid here? 2. What point does the writer make through the sardonic mention of her Persian cat in paragraph 2? 3. What metaphors are used in paragraph 3? Who is the Angel in the House? What is her main qualities? Why did the Angel become symbolic of the emotional trmoil Woolf experienced when trying to work ( writing reviews of men’s writing for instance)? Who or what does the Angel represent? Why does the author take great pains to describe the Angel and the killing of the Angel? What does the author want to tell her audience in this paragrph? Write a dialogue between Woolf and the Angel. Develop the connflict that leads up to the murder of the Angel and reveals what Woolf learns during the struggle. 4. In paragraph 4, Woolf asks, “What is a woman?” Explain her response to this question and then work on your own definition. Try also to answer the question “What is a man?” How is your definition different from your definition of a woman? How do you explain the discrepancies? 5. What problem did Woolf encounter when she moved from writing reviews to writing novels? How does she use the analogy of the “fisherman lying sunk in dreams” to explain the problem she was facing? Who does the fisherman represent? The line racing through the girl’s fingers? The smash? What is the “something hard” that the imagination smashes against? 5. What conclusion does the author come to in paragraph 6? 6. Note the relationship between paragraph 6 and paragraph 7. The author might well have stopped at paragraph 6 or after the fourth sentence of paragraph 7, but she goes on and introduces something new. What is it? How is the theme broadened and deepened at the end of the essay with the series of questions the author raises on the rooms women occupy (or will occupy) “in the house hitherto exclusively owned by men.” Woolf wrote “Professions for Women” in 1931; how would you answer her questions today, from the perspective of the 1990s? 7. How does the essay impress you as a whole? How does the last paragraph impress you? Give your reasons. 女人的职业 听说你们协会是有关妇女就业的。协会秘书要我就职业问题谈谈自己的阅历。不错，我是女人，我也正在就业。可是我有些什么阅历呢？这个问题似乎很难回答。我的职业是文学，文学给予女人特有的阅历比其他职业要少，舞台表演除外。这是因为许多年前范妮•伯尼、阿普拉•贝恩、哈丽雅特•马蒂诺、简•奥斯丁、乔治•爱略特就在这条路上披荆斩棘了。无数知名的、不知名的女人在我之前扫除了障碍，调整了我的步伐。我开始写作时，这个职业已经不拒绝女性了。写作是个高尚而无害的职业，家庭的安宁不会被钢笔的嚓嚓声打破，也不需要很多的经济投资。花十六便士买的纸足够写下莎士比亚所有巨著 --------假如你也有个莎士比亚的脑袋的话。作家不需要有钢琴、模特儿，不要周游巴黎、维也纳和柏林，也不需聘请家庭教师。纸张便宜也许是女人在写作领域比其他领域成功的原因。 言归正传吧。我当作家的故事其实很简单，你们大可想象一个手执钢笔的姑娘坐在卧室，从左到右不停地写着，写着，从十点写到一点。然后，她把这些稿件装进信封，贴上一便士邮票投进信筒。我就是这样成为报纸撰稿人的。第二个月的第一天 ---- 那对我是辉煌的一天 --- 我竟收到编辑给我的信，还附了张一镑十六便士的支票。可我多不懂生活的艰辛呀！我没用这钱买面包和黄油，买鞋子或袜子，或者付杂货店老板的欠单，而是用它买了一只漂亮的波斯猫，一只不久便令我陷入邻里唇枪舌战的小猫。 还有什么比写文章，比用稿费买小猫更容易呢？可是，等等！文章得表明见地。记得那篇文章是评论某个著名作家小说的。写那篇文章时我就发现，评论作品时我需要与一种幻影搏斗。这个幻影就是女人。多次交锋以后，感觉开始明晰，我借一首著名诗歌里女主人公之名，称她为“屋子里的天使”。她横亘在我和稿纸之间，困绕我，折磨我，消耗我，令我最终忍无可忍，杀了她。你们年轻一代比较幸运，可能没听说过她--------因而不知道何为“屋子里的天使”。我简要地解释一下。她温柔可爱，善良无私。她擅长持家，富有牺牲精神。如果餐桌上有一只鸡，她哪的是鸡脚；如果屋里有穿堂风，她就坐在那里挡着。总之，她没有思想，没有渴望，只会附和与赞同。她最为引人注目的--------不必说--------是她的单纯。单纯是她最为动人之处--------那羞怯，那优雅，实在令人倾倒。维多利亚女王时代末期，每间屋子里都有这样的天使。我从写作伊始便面临这样的天使，每一页书稿上都碰到她的翼翅，听到她裙边相碰之声。当我握笔准备抨击某个作家作品时，她便悄悄溜到我身后低语，“亲爱的，你一个年轻女子竟要批评男人写的书？温柔贤淑些，显出虚心求教的样子，充分展示女人的妩媚和技巧，可不要表现自己的思想。单纯才是女性美。”她试图要指导我怎么写作。我可以自豪地告诉你们我是怎样采取行动的。也许这得归功于给我留下财产的我出色的先辈们，他们给我留下了一定数量的金钱--------也许每年五百镑，它让我能不靠美貌可爱过活。我转过身，扼住她的喉咙用力杀死她。假如我被押上法庭，我的借口是：我是在进行正当防卫。我不杀她，她会杀我，她要抽掉我作品的精神。没有思想，我怎么表现自己对人性、道德和性别的理解？而“屋子里的天使”们声称女人是不该公开讨论这些问题的。她们要的是可爱、迷人，想成功还得说谎--------说得粗鲁些。我一发现书桌上有她们羽翼的阴影或晕圈的光辉，就拿起墨水瓶向她们投去。上的，扼死她并不容易，她温柔可爱的外表极富欺骗性；而扼死假象中的幻影比扼死真实中的存在更困难。每每我要与其搏斗时，它便隐退了。虽然我自以为我终于杀死了她，但这场搏斗确实惊心动魄，其耗时不 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/8f6ac75e312b3169a451a4bb.html