This is the first of three books of Jill’s that I read recently. Since I was planning to hand her A.S. Byatt’s Possession (my pick for the best book that I read last year), she felt that it would take three books to make an equivalent trade, and I agreed to the terms.

I had seen part of a dramatization of this essay once, and had heard many references to this work, so it was about time that I read it for myself (one of these days I’ll pick up Heart of Darkness in the same vein). I’m happy to have done so, for now I understand where Shakespeare’s sister and Chloe likes Olivia falls into the scheme of the argument. It’s nice to note that the state of women’s writing has improved tremendously since this was originally presented. As a man, I like to see this same argument now as genderless–that is, the room and the money that one needs to support oneself is necessary to any writer, no matter what gender.

[Finished 22 August 1994]