7.4 /10 1 Votes7.4
Cover artist Sigrid Rothe Publication date 1936 Originally published 1936 Page count 180 Country United States of America | 3.7/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 180 Publisher Harcourt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Genres Modernism, Lesbian fiction Similar Lesbian books, Novels |
Will self s cult book corner nightwood
Nightwood is a 1936 novel by Djuna Barnes first published in London by Faber and Faber.
Contents
- Will self s cult book corner nightwood
- Bookmarks with chas book review charles frazier novel nightwoods north carolina thriller to read
- Conception
- Plot summary
- Characters
- Reception and critical analysis
- Works cited
- References
Nightwood is one of the earliest prominent novels to portray explicit homosexuality between women, and can be considered lesbian literature.
It is also notable for its intense, gothic prose style. The novel employs modernist techniques such as its unusual form or narrative and can be considered metafiction, and it was praised by other modernist authors including T. S. Eliot, who wrote an introduction included in the 1937 edition published by Harcourt, Brace.
Eliot wrote in his introduction that "... it is so good a novel that only sensibilities trained on poetry can wholly appreciate it." As a roman à clef, the novel features a thinly veiled portrait of Barnes in the character of Nora Flood, whereas Nora’s lover Robin Vote is a composite of Thelma Wood and the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.
Bookmarks with chas book review charles frazier novel nightwoods north carolina thriller to read
Conception
Author Charles Henri Ford typed an early version of the manuscript for Barnes during the summer of 1932, and it took Barnes several years to find a publisher.
Plot summary
Nightwood follows Robin Vote, who is in constant search of "secure torment". The story begins in Europe, where the false Baron Felix Volkbein is introduced to Robin by Dr. Matthew O'Connor. Felix who seeks her hand in marriage in order to emulate traditions of old European nobility, seeking to grant validity to his own family name and help Robin feel secure. After the birth of their son, Guido, Robin realizes that she does not wish to carry on this life. Felix seeks the counsel of O'Connor, who attempts to comfort him and turn his attention towards his disabled son.
Robin moves to America, where she begins a romantic relationship with Nora Flood, and they eventually move to Paris together. Both Nora and Robin seek security in their companionship, but Robin's nature strains their relationship and prevents them from remaining at peace. She feels driven by the conflicts of "love and anonymity", and spends her nights away from home, having flings with strangers while Nora waits nervously for her lover's return. During one such night Robin meets Jenny Petherbridge, a widow four times over, who "gains happiness by stealing the joy of others". Jenny turns her attention to stealing Robin away from Nora, and succeeds. In her despair, Nora (like Felix before her) turns to the counsel of O'Connor to recover from the loss of Robin.
Robin's relationship with Jenny is as fruitless as her previous relationships, and she continues to wander aimlessly through the nights. Felix is able to turn his attentions towards his son and begin to forget Robin, but Nora continues to long for her missing companion.
Some time later, both Nora and Robin have returned to America. While camping in the woods, Nora discovers Robin kneeling before an altar in an abandoned church. In the ambiguous scene, Nora attempts to enter only to accidentally fall unconscious. Robin frolics on the floor with Nora's dog, mimicking its bestial actions, before finally falling asleep.
Characters
The major characters are:
Reception and critical analysis
Roger Austen notes that "the best known, most deeply felt, and generally best written expatriate novel of the 1930s dealing with gay themes was Djuna Barnes' Nightwood". Austen goes on to advance the notion that Barnes's depiction of Dr. O'Connor probably confounded a number of American readers because he was neither a "scamp or a monster" nor does he pay a "suitable penalty" for leading a "life of depravity".
Because of concerns about censorship, Eliot edited Nightwood to soften some language relating to sexuality and religion. An edition restoring these changes, edited by Cheryl J. Plumb, was published by Dalkey Archive Press in 1995.
Dylan Thomas described Nightwood as "one of the three great prose books ever written by a woman", while William S. Burroughs called it "one of the great books of the twentieth century". It was number 12 on a list of the top 100 gay and lesbian novels compiled by The Publishing Triangle in 1999.
Nightwood is considered by Anthony Slide, a modern scholar, to be one of only four familiar gay novels of the first half of the 20th century in the English language. The other three are Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar, Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye, and Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms.