Virginia Woolf in the 1930s: *The Years* and *Three Guineas*

This course explores Virginia Woolf’s response to social, cultural and political developments in the 1930s with a focus upon two interlinked texts: her novel The Years (1937) and a feminist anti-war polemical essay, Three Guineas (1938). Written in a period of social upheaval and the rise of fascism in Europe, these two texts address questions of education, gender politics and war.

Virginia Woolf’s well-known works of the 1920s; Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando (1928) and A Room of One’s Own (1929), gave way to more politically-engaged writing in the following decade. Having taken her experimental Modernist prose to its furthest extent with the publication of The Waves in 1931, her next major project involved a move towards combining fiction with an analysis of social history. Her initial intention was to chart the changing realities of daily life for three generations of women in one family from the Victorian era to contemporary times alongside essays commenting upon the wider political and cultural implications of these changes. After a long and complex drafting process she eventually split this project into two separate texts; a novel originally titled The Pargiters (later The Years) and an extended essay expressing her feminist approach to pacifism, Three Guineas.  

This course will examine what Woolf tells us about the changing lives of women in Britain from the 1880s (the decade in which she was born) to the 1930s, a decade which was to end with the declaration of World War 2. The Years looks at the varying fortunes of women in the Pargiter family, from Rose’s militant action as a Suffragette to the limited choices available to middle-class women restricted to the domestic sphere. Woolf’s implied criticisms of the social system are made explicit in the text written in parallel; Three Guineas exposes the competitive, patriarchal education system as the root cause of its ultimate expression: war. We will discuss Woolf’s argument that equal access to education for men and women could be instrumental in the eradication of violence and war. We will also examine how her chosen structure of both texts (Three Guineas is written in the form of letters responding to the question “How are we to prevent war?”) affects how her message is conveyed.  

To get the most from the course you should read the two set texts before you come to Cambridge, and expect to re-read them while you are here. We will undertake some close textual analysis in class, which helps to understand the richness and complexity of Woolf’s writing. Please bring along your own copy of the books, if possible, as recommended on the Reading List. 

Learning outcomes

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• To gain a greater knowledge and appreciation of the two set texts, and an understanding of  their historical context.  
• To develop literary-critical ways of thinking and responding to fiction and non-fiction texts.  
• To participate in debate and discussion on questions addressed in both texts. 

Classes

1. Introduction: Woolf in the 1930s. What caused her to write The Years and Three Guineas?  
2. The Years: 3 generations of women in the Pargiter family. What about the men?  
3. The Years and Three Guineas: The split into fiction & essay. What else was Woolf writing  at this time?  
4. Three Guineas: Woolf, feminism and pacifism. Woolf’s critique of patriarchal society,  education and the professions leads to her declaration of pacifism. How was the text received?  
5. Conclusions: ‘Woolf on Women’ How does Woolf’s fiction and non-fiction complement  each other? How does her work speak to women today?  

Required reading:

Woolf, Virginia The Years (first published 1937). Oxford World Classics, ed. Hermione Lee, 1992 

Woolf, Virginia A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas Oxford World Classics, ed. Anna Snaith, 1992 

Typical week: Monday to Friday

For each week of study you select a morning (Am) and an afternoon (Pm) course, each course has five sessions, one each day Monday to Friday. The maximum class size is 25 students. Your weekly courses are complemented by a series of two daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to the learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events.

Evaluation and Academic Credit 

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses. 

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £65 per essay.

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit.

Certificate of attendance

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically within a week of your courses finishing.