Romano, Carlin. "Virginia, Jean, and Flannery: a Good Role Model Is Easy to Find." CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION March 13, 2009.

Woolf, Rhys, and O'Connor sounds like a law firm, and indeed it could be — a firm sure to lay down clear laws and illuminating precedents for women writers. First, however, Jean Rhys (1890-1979) and Flannery O'Connor (1925-64) would have to make full partner alongside the so-called "high priestess of Bloomsbury." The peculiar status of Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) as muse to every woman seeking a room of her own took off after fast sales of The Years landed her on Time magazine's cover in 1937. Next, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? hurtled her in the 1960s into catchphrase immortality. Feminist thinkers and literary critics then raised her up as a heroine, spurring a counterreaction that just added to Woolf's gleam. By the end of the 20th century, the trajectory of ascent from icon of 1930s modernist elitism to literary everywoman pointed straight up. The National Portrait Gallery sold more postcards of Woolf's face than of any other figure. The New York Times Book Review declared Woolf "a beacon for most of a century." The New York Review of Books and Bass Ale exploited her image to market their wares. The rock groups Virginia Woolf and Virginia and the Wolves paid homage. A towering photomontage in Chapel Hill, N.C., placed Woolf's head on top of Marilyn Monroe's body. Is such universal celebrity about to strike O'Connor and Rhys? . . . Get the answer here: http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=94fzc0zclmtwwfpvxf0jtjrn43dssd32.