Virginia
Woolf's Non Acceptance Letter
Dear
Trustees:
I
received your letter addressed to me with lines “....of utmost
respect,” “...it would be a real honor,”
with
the invitation to give this year's Commencement address to Smith
college graduates. It really is quite a great offer, something that
came out of the blue, and left me feeling truly accomplished.
With
that in mind, I had to ponder the entirety of my life, and with it,
you must understand why I will not be able to fulfill this wish you
have presented me. You see, I was home schooled, and I later watched
my brothers go off to Cambridge, something that I was not privvy too.
I have never been to university to pursue formal studies, and yet
I've had strong women teach me the Greek mythology, Classics, and
international literature. It would not be right for me to give a
speech to graduates considering I was woman who knew ultimately it is
a Man's World.
Still,
the thought is tempting, and will be inticing in some of my circles,
that an all women's college would carry on the tradition we have
pursued in liberating women. I have personally never had a female
editor, and rarely a reviewer of my works. I should like your
graduating class to know that we are making great progress in getting
the right to vote, getting into the workplace, yes, having our own
money, and a room of one's own to write.
You
seem to have hinted around that among the graduates would be another
Virginia Woolf, and that did make me smile, to think I may have
inspired a young woman to follow in my footsteps. Another reason
that I should have to decline your offer, is these terrible nerves of
mine, and now doing physical things instead of mental, it would be
next to impossible to write a speech, let alone give one.
I
don't want you to think that I'm not for the “intellectual”
obviously I've built my life upon it, but that I am not a graduate
and I had to learn my way at home through those educated friends of
my brothers, and not within classrooms. I did never know my own
potential in that way, and can't say, even after all my writing, that
my achievements are many.
In
closing, I'd just like to thank you again for thinking of me with
this invitation. It does make me proud to be considered for such a
noble role, and I do hope the person who fills it, will have a better
story to tell.
Sincerely
Yours,
Virginia
Woolf
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