Three guineas

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Three Guineas (Three Guineas) is a comprehensive feminist essay by Virginia Woolf , who in June 1938, ten years after its successful work on its own A room (A Room of One's Own) was published and should address the outstanding issues.

The essay

The essay is based on Woolf's replies to a series of letters. The question-and-answer format creates a dialogue about politically motivated statements on various topics:

  • How can a war be avoided?
  • How can women be encouraged to work?
  • How can women's education be promoted?

Originally, the title should the essay On Being Despised (If one is despised) loud. The reason for this title formulation was the refusal of the London Library to appoint Virginia Woolf to the board of directors three years earlier . She learned from Edward Morgan Forster , a Bloomsbury friend, that women were not welcome there.

The text of Three Guineas is coarser and sharper in expression than your earlier essay on the question of women. Her friends, including Leonard Woolf, were not impressed by her work, as they missed the fine irony that Woolf usually used . She draws a bow about the exploitation of women workers in the ammunition factories, the denial of meaningful training for women and the external control by men. Woolf claims that the root of fascism lies in patriarchy , the domination of men, and that one has to start small to find it in its nucleus. The war cannot be prevented by the obedience of women, but “by finding new words and devising new methods.” The women should work in solidarity and united alongside the men's society towards the same goal. German fascism, National Socialism , particularly affected Virginia Woolf since her husband Leonard was a Jew and a socialist.

Sources and literature

  • Werner Waldmann: Virginia Woolf: with self-testimonies and photo documents. Rowohlt, Reinbek, 12th edition 2006, ISBN 3-499-50323-9
  • Three guineas . Hogarth Press, London 1938 - Three guineas . In: A room of your own / Three guineas . Two essays. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 2001, ISBN 3-10-092573-4