In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf writes of the notion of the androgynous mind, that is, when the mind encompasses both sexes, and they correspond together. Woolf views this mind as a type of spiritual cooperation, with both sexes within the mind working together, “united in order to get complete satisfaction and happiness” (NA 1025). When reading this, I was thinking what?! How in the world is somebody supposed to accomplish this? How does Woolf suggest that people become this way? Are we to train our minds to think “man-womanly,” or “woman-manly?” (NA 1026).
Although Woolf does not specifically address my questions, she does describe what this androgynous mind should look like, and says that the androgynous mind “is resonant and porous; that it transmits emotion without impediment; that it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided” (NA 1026). This type of mind should resound with everything both male and female, and, with this type of capability, should be able to communicate any type of emotion to any type of reader without any problem because it transcends the singular, gendered mind.
It seems to me that Woolf believes that with this type of mind, the one who is author will be able to emotionally serve every type of reader, and will be able to reach both male and female readers. Woolf cautions the female reader against reading books by Mr. Galsworthy and Mr. Kipling because, within their pages, the female reader will not find what she is looking for (NA 1028). But what is the female reader looking for? What is it that she so desperately needs to find?
I think that Woolf would say that the female reader is seeking an intimate, emotional connection that non-androgynous minds simply cannot provide, and, without this androgyny, the reader cannot be properly served.
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