J.J. Wilson (scholar)
J.J. Wilson (scholar)
J.J. Wilson (born c. 1930s) is an American literary scholar, author, and Professor Emerita of English at Sonoma State University. She is a foundational figure in Virginia Woolf studies and the co-founder of The Sitting Room, a private feminist library and archive in Penngrove, California.
Early life and education
Wilson pursued her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, during the 1960s. Her academic focus centered on 20th-century modernism, specifically the works of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group.
Career at Sonoma State University
Wilson joined the faculty of Sonoma State University in the early 1970s. During this era, she became a pioneer of the university's Women's Studies curriculum.
Women and Literature: In 1971, Wilson taught the first faculty-led course at SSU dedicated to women's literature.
Pandora’s Box: She was a lead coordinator for "Pandora’s Box," an influential interdisciplinary lecture series that brought feminist discourse to the North Bay community.
Virginia Woolf Miscellany: In 1973, Wilson co-founded the Virginia Woolf Miscellany, a scholarly gazette that became a primary resource for Woolf scholars internationally. She served as an editor for the publication for several decades.
The Sitting Room Library
In 1981, Wilson and librarian Karen Petersen founded The Sitting Room, a community library inspired by Woolf’s essay A Room of One's Own.
The library was established to provide a space for women to read, write, and engage in "uninterrupted thought." Originally located in a storefront in Cotati, it later moved to a residential house in Penngrove. Wilson described the space as "a library you can eat in," emphasizing a domestic, welcoming atmosphere over traditional academic rigidity. As of 2024, the collection holds over 7,000 volumes by and about women, including rare archives of women’s obituaries.
Selected publications
Women Artists: Recognition and Reappraisal from the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century (1976), co-authored with Karen Petersen. (ISBN 978-0060903879)
Virginia Woolf Miscellany (Editorial contributions, 1973–present).
"Landscape with Figures," an essay on the aesthetics of the Bloomsbury Group.
Honors and legacy
Wilson is a Professor Emerita at Sonoma State University. Her work in preserving women's history through The Sitting Room has been recognized by the National Women's History Alliance and various California literary organizations.
See also
Virginia Woolf
Feminist philosophy
Sonoma State University faculty
References
The Press Democrat, "The Sitting Room: A legacy of women's words in Penngrove."
Virginia Woolf Miscellany, Issue 1, Fall 1973.
Sonoma State University English Department Faculty Emeritus records.
Women Artists (1976) publication data, Harper & Row.
Categories
Category:Living people
Category:American literary critics
Category:Virginia Woolf scholars
Category:Sonoma State University faculty
Category:American feminists
Category:Women librarians
Category:20th-century American educators
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