Predominately feminist readings of Woolf’s essay have appropriated her work too narrowly; the voluminous appropriation suggest that the primary import of Woolf’s essay is as a tract maligning male literary tradition.

These critics, ironically, in seeking to elevate Woolf’s essay, diminish and weaken it, implicitly suggesting that the essay cannot be seriously considered outside of a feminist context, that its contribution to avlarger and inclusive literary canon is, therefore, limited.