- Nightwood
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Nightwood 
Cover of the 2006 editionAuthor(s) Djuna Barnes Cover artist Sigrid Rothe Country United States Language English Genre(s) Modernist
NovelPublisher Harcourt Trade Publishers Publication date 1936 Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages 180 ISBN 978-0811216715 (New Directions Publishing Paperback Reprint) OCLC Number 70107094 Dewey Decimal 813/.52 22 LC Classification PS3503.A614 N5 2006 Nightwood is a 1936 novel by Djuna Barnes first published in London by Faber and Faber. An edition published in the United States in 1937 by Harcourt, Brace included an introduction by T. S. Eliot.[1].
Nightwood is notable because it is one of the earliest novels written by a well-known novelist to portray explicit homosexuality.[2] It is also notable for its intense, gothic prose style.[3]. Regarding the difficulty of reading the novel's dense prose, T.S. Eliot writes in his introduction, "only sensibilities trained on poetry can wholly appreciate it."[4]
Contents
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 focuses on Robin Vote, a woman in constant search of "secure torment." Robin's story begins in Europe, where she meets, and marries the false Baron Felix Volkbein, who wants nothing more than an heir to carry on his family name and uphold the traditions of old European nobility. The birth of their son, Guido, causes Robin to realize that she does not wish to carry on this life. She moves to America, where she begins a romantic relationship with Nora Flood. The two move to Paris together. Unfortunately, Robin is unable to remain peacefully with Nora. She feels driven by the conflicts of "love and anonymity," and spends her nights away from home, having quick flings with strangers while Nora waits nervously for her lover's return. It is during one such night that Robin meets Jenny Petherbridge, a widow four times over, who gains happiness by stealing the joy of others. She immediately turns her attention to stealing Robin away from Nora, and succeeds. In her despair, Nora (like Felix before her) turns to the counsel of Dr. Matthew O'Connor to recover from the devastating loss of Robin.
Some time later, Nora has returned to America, and is camping in a forest with her dog when she discovers Robin kneeling before an altar in an abandoned church. Attempting to enter, Nora hits the door jamb, and is knocked unconscious. Robin and the dog frolic on the floor before finally succumbing to sleep.
Characters
The major characters are:
- Baron Felix Volkbein
- The only son of a Guido, who pretended to be a Baron. Felix is driven by his desire to maintain the beauty of old-world Europe in the continued traditions of the nobility. When his son, also named Guido, is born, Felix is forced to give up on his ideas of nobility to help the disabled child enter the church.
- Nora Flood
- A salon keeper and lover of Robin.
- Dr. Matthew O'Connor
- A transvestite who pretends to be a doctor, performing both deliveries and abortions in a futile struggle for legitimacy. A native of San Francisco, he was a soldier during World War I, but notably remarks that he wishes to have been the female lover of a soldier. Despite his removal from the novel's primary action, O'Connor's seemingly aimless philosophical babblings provide the backbone of the novel's dialogues. Writer Jane Rule claims that O'Connor is the main character of Nightwood and that his "ironic cynicism and self-pity" set the novel's tone.[5].
- Jenny Petherbridge
- Four times a widow, she has lost the ability to know what she wants out of life. She spends her life stealing happiness from others in order to acquire some for herself.
- Robin Vote
- Robin flies chaotically through the lives of Felix, Nora, and Jenny, eternally trying to get away from what makes her unhappy without realizing what makes her happy.
Reception and critical analysis
Roger Austen notes that "the best known, most deeply felt, and generally best written expatriate novel of the thirties dealing with gay themes was Djuna Barnes' Nightwood."[1]. Austen goes on to advance the notion that Barnes' 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."[6].
Due to 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.[citation needed]
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.[7]
Nightwood is considered by Anthony Slide, a modern scholar, to be one of only four familiar gay novels of the first half of the twentieth century. The other three novels are Gore Vidal's The City and the Pillar, Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye, and Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms.[8]
George Lamming quotes Nightwood in the epigraph to his 1958 novel Of Age and Innocence, which begins: "A strong sense of identity makes a man feel he can do no wrong; too little accomplishes the same."[9]
References
- Notes
- ^ a b Austen, Roger, Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977, p. 82
- ^ Young, Ian, The Male Homosexual in Literature: A Bibliography, Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1975, page 153
- ^ Young, Ian, The Male Homosexual in Literature: A Bibliography, Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1975, page 153
- ^ Barnes, Djuna, Nightwood, New York, NY: New Directions Publishing, 2006, introduction
- ^ Austen, Roger, Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977, p. 83
- ^ Austen, Roger, Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977, p. 81
- ^ The Publishing Triangle's list of the 100 best lesbian and gay novels
- ^ Slide, Anthony. Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works from the First Half of the Twentieth Century, (Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press), page 2.
- ^ Lamming, George. Of Age and Innocence. London: Allison & Busby, p. 5.
- Bibliography
- Austen, Roger (1977). Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America (1st ed.). Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company. ISBN 978-067252287X.
- Barnes, Djuna (2006). Nightwood (reprint ed.). New York, NY: New Directions Publishing.
- Slide, Anthony (2003). Lost Gay Novels: A Reference Guide to Fifty Works from the First Half of the Twentieth Century (1st ed.). Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park Press. ISBN 978-156023413X.
- Young, Ian (1975). The Male Homosexual in Literature: A Biography (1st ed.). Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810808617.
Categories:- 1936 novels
- American novels
- Lesbian novels
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