The Common Reader' is a collection of essays by Virginia Woolf, published in two series, the first in 1925 and the second in 1932. The title indicates Woolf's intention that her essays be read by the educated but non-scholarly "common reader," who examines books for personal enjoyment. Woolf outlines her literary philosophy in the introductory essay to the first series, "The Common Reader," and in the concluding essay to the second series, "How Should One Read a Book?" The first series includes essays on Geoffrey Chaucer, Michel de Montaigne, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Joseph Conrad, as well as discussions of the Greek language and the modern essay. The second series features essays on John Donne, Daniel Defoe, Dorothy Osborne, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas Hardy, among others. Table of Contents: тАв Chapter 1 -- The Common Reader тАв Chapter 2 -- The Pastons and Chaucer тАв Chapter 3 -- On Not Knowing Greek тАв Chapter 4 -- The Elizabethan Lumber Room тАв Chapter 5 -- Notes on an Elizabethan Play тАв Chapter 6 -- Montaigne тАв Chapter 7 -- The Duchess of Newcastle тАв Chapter 8 -- Rambling Round Evelyn тАв Chapter 9 -- Defoe тАв Chapter 10 -- Addison тАв Chapter 11 -- The Lives of the Obscure тАв Chapter 12 -- Jane Austen тАв Chapter 13 -- Modern Fiction тАв Chapter 14 -- "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights" тАв Chapter 15 -- George Eliot тАв Chapter 16 -- The Russian Point of View тАв Chapter 17 -- Outlines тАв Chapter 18 -- The Patron and the Crocus тАв Chapter 19 -- The Modern Essay тАв Chapter 20 -- Joseph Conrad тАв Chapter 21 -- How it Strikes a Contemporary Adeline Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 тАУ 28 March 1941) was an English writer who is considered one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device.