25 pages 50 minutes read

Virginia Woolf

How Should One Read a Book?

Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1926

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Essay Topics

1.

Analyze the tone of the essay and how this enables Woolf to further the aims of her piece. Consider the essay as written for both oral and textual delivery.

2.

Trace Woolf’s extensive use of simile and metaphor. Why do you think she includes this imagery in her essay, rather than relying on more traditional forms of nonfiction argument alone?

3.

Research the Modernist literary movement. How does Woolf’s essay reflect Modernism in 1926? Do you think her voice is representative of Modernism or an outlier?