Virginia Woolf, Three Guineas

Anna Snaith (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Three Guineas

, published in June 1938 by Woolf's own Hogarth Press, is a feminist, pacifist, anti-fascist, anti-imperialist polemic. It shows Woolf, prior to World War II, at her most politically urgent and reveals how constantly attuned she was to her political, social and cultural surroundings. She was proud of the essay, but grew increasingly worried about the reaction it would elicit from readers and reviewers. She knew she had laid herself bare in this text; her arguments were radical and challenging.

Three Guineas had a long and complex gestation and in many ways the text was the fruit of a decade's research. In 1931 the Junior Council of the London and National Society for Women's Service (a former suffragist organisation) invited Woolf and composer, Ethel Smyth, to give a talk on

1911 words

Citation: Snaith, Anna. "Three Guineas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8321, accessed 19 March 2024.]

8321 Three Guineas 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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