
Have you ever read A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf?
There’s this scene in the essay where Woolf’s narrative persona is in the British Museum and can’t find a proper history on women. She can find a whole bunch of books by men about what women think, what they should think, what they shouldn’t think, who they are: but she can’t get at the actual woman. In fiction by men, she finds that women are either portrayed as angels or promiscuous monsters. Always they are portrayed in relation to men. In history, she finds that they are invisible, and that she cannot rely on the portrayal of women she finds in the British Museum:
“Suppose, for instance, that men were only represented in literature as the lovers of women, and were never the friends of men, soldiers, thinkers, dreamers; how few parts in the plays of Shakespeare could be allotted to them; how literature would suffer! We might perhaps have most of Othello; and a good deal of Antony; but no Caesar, no Brutus, no Hamlet, no Lear, no Jaques–literature would be incredibly impoverished, as indeed literature is impoverished beyond our counting by the doors that have been shut upon women.” – Virginia Woolf
We’re going to have an event. It officially starts today because it is no fun to wait until January. But you can wait until January if you want to. 🙂
The event? Read classic literature by female authors, & share your thoughts (or links to your thoughts) at #ccwomenclassics on Twitter, or in our quarterly check-ins, which we’ll have here in January, April, July, October, & December of 2016.
This event is way more a celebration than a “reading challenge.” It’s about hunting out those forgotten titles which didn’t make it into the official canon, & reading them & sharing the excitement. Or exploring the females who are in the canon. For example, if you want to spend the entire year poring over Middlemarch by George Eliot, going a chapter or two a month and gently journaling, we don’t want to stifle that by asking you to meet a title count.
You can make a preset list, if you want one. (We think preset lists are mighty fine!) You can give yourself a goal. Or you can do this thing organically: read as you’re inspired, and share as you’re inspired, & give us a wave now & then.
You can choose any genre you like: Gothics, sensation fiction, sentimental novels, children’s classics, letters, journals, essays, short stories, female writers from the American South, Irish classics by women, African classics by women, Australian classics by women, poetry, plays. You can do all Persephone titles, all Virago, all forgotten nineteenth century letter-writers, all journals, all novels, all essays, all feminist works — or a mix. You could do a deep exploration of a single author’s work, or pick a couple authors whose works you’d like to compare and contrast. You could set up your own dueling authors: read three by one author, and three by the other, and see who comes out on top. Really, you can get as creative as you want with this event. If the title was penned by a female and written or published before 1960, it counts. (We don’t actually care if you want to fudge that date.)
Biographies on classic females count, too. (Even if they were written recently.) If you go that route, it would be lovely if you shared your author findings in a post so others can learn! If you want to list a series of poems by women & call that your list, it counts. Often women wrote short stories for magazines when they couldn’t find a publisher for their novel. That counts! Tour the centuries and continents or locate yourself in England in the nineteenth century. Your list is the product of your own exploration and imagination. If you want to reread the whole Little House collection for the entire year — THAT COUNTS. 🙂 The point is to get people thinking about women writers & sharing favorite reads.
We encourage clubbers to host readalongs or join together in buddy reads, if you’d like. If you’re hosting a readalong, feel free to tweet it to #ccwomenclassics and @ourclassicsclub if you’re on Twitter so others have the opportunity to join, & remember you can toss a link here. Feel free to use the comments box or our twitter hashtag to work out group reads or buddy reads together, if it comes up.
- Check-Ins: We’ll check in January 2016, April 2016, July 2016, October 2016, & December 2016, just to have a little fun & see how everyone’s doing. These check-ins will be very casual: just a place to say hello, compare notes, & maybe mention some of our favorite reads so far. It would be fun to discover some new titles through the check-ins!
- Event Dates: Now through December 31, 2016.
- Sign Up: This is the sign-up post, & the comment box below is where you join. If you make a preset list, feel free to drop your link in the comment box at any time. If you want to share your titles as you read, you can do that in the comments for the current post for the event, or at Twitter: #ccwomenclassics.
What do you think? Can you suggest some titles or authors people might want to explore? Can you suggest some sources for discovering female authors?
Are you interested in taking part? Are you going to set a goal? Have you got a current favorite female classic writer? Who are you itching to meet through her books?
I know I’m starting late, but I’m definitely in. This is going to be so much fun.
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I’m latrine but I am in!
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I’m in! This event is what finally pushed me to start a blog and join the Classics Club. There are so many books by women writers that I’ve been dying to read and discuss. Life events prevented me from starting sooner, but I’m here now. You can find my introductory post and list here: http://canonofonesown.com/2016/03/15/its-a-literary-celebration/
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I’m in, as it is part of my full challenge to explore and highlight translated works by women (terribly under represented). My Classics Club list has 29 women writers of the 50 listed and I’ll be getting though quite a few of these in 2016.
http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/the-classics-club-my-reading-list.html
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Eliza Haywood’s wacky Adventures of Eovaai reviewed: http://skullandbook.blogspot.com/2016/01/adventures-of-eovaai-princess-of.html
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Well, I might as well join in! I don’t have any specific authors to read for this challenge right now, but I’m sure some will come along. 🙂
http://bookcasesanddaydreams.blogspot.com/
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I just joined! This fits perfectly with my goals of reading more classics and reading more of the books I already own this year. I’ve posted my list here: http://lineswrittenbyagirl.blogspot.com/2016/01/in-which-girl-becomes-classic.html
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I just joined in. Here is my post.
http://classicbookshelf.blogspot.in/2016/01/womens-classic-literature-event.html
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I just overhauled my Classics Club list and I have a decent number of women on there (though I probably could do better!) I’d love to participate, but I think I’m just going to wing it 🙂 Great idea to feature women since they are often underrepresented in classics.
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Is it possible to join this event even if one is not a member?
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I’m joining! The last few years I actively try to read more women, and of course I’m a member of the Classics Club anyway 😉 so this is perfect!
I’ve made a short list of potential reads, but who knows what’ll happen! My list is here: http://blog.brilliantyears.net/archives/3863
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I’m in and starting with a stack of Rumer Godden novels and children’s book. My first is a re-read of Episode of Sparrows.
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I’m in–I’ll definitely be reading classics by women this year. I mention it in my first-of-the-year post: https://simplerpastimes.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-old/.
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I think I’m in!
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I’m happy to join! I have so books that I really want to get to in 2016.
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I’m so happy to join! I have some books I’ve been meaning to read for a very long time and I’m glad I finally have a reason to.
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Yes, I’m putting together plans for 2016 and this is definitely one of them! Thanks for hosting!
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I’m so in! I really need to finally read Virginia Woolf and George Eliot. And, of course, more Austen 🙂 Here’s my post! http://purpleinkstudios.net/womens-classic-literature-event/
And I’m excited for the Little House On the Prairie Read Along! They’re re-reads for me but I was planning to knock them out next year :))
I’m also hosting a 2016 Anne of Green Gables Reading Challenge as well 🙂 Here’s the post: http://purpleinkstudios.net/2016-anne-of-green-gables-reading-challenge/
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I tried leaving a comment before, but I don’t think it took so… I’d like to join and here is the link for my list: https://rosieandbeatrice.wordpress.com/womens-classic-literature-event/
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Reblogged this on Anne Boyd Rioux and commented:
A really exciting reading challenge for 2016 focused on “classic” women’s writing (interpreted broadly). I’m going to participate by reading coming-of-age books. I would love to have some company. Send me an email or write in the comments below if you’d like to join me.
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You can join Bex of An Armchair By the Sea and me (Lynn @ Smoke & Mirrors) for a Little House Read-Along we’re hosting at http://books-n-music.blogspot.com/2015/11/little-house-read-along-2016.html?showComment=1449256241124#c6689850977109802699! Just an idea, especially since you wish to concentrate on coming-of-age! 🙂
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I’m in too.
Eilis
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Just joined up. Here’s my link-up post:
http://hibernatorslibrary.blogspot.com/2015/11/womens-classic-literature-event-2016.html
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This genre of reading really appeals to me. I will definitely be participating. I’ve recently been introduced to Persephone books and will add my reviews of some of these titles and some more.
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I’m happy to be joining up as well. Here are my answers to the survey questions.
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Count me in from January… no set list but have a few on the shelves I want to read – I’m going to set the target of one a month with anymore than that a bonus. Look forward to seeing what everyone else picks up too 🙂
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I’m in and here’s my post about the challenge.
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