Desert of the Heart

Desert of the Heart
Desert of the Heart  
Desert of the Heart 2nd Edition Cover.jpg
Desert of the Heart 1977 Talonbooks cover
Author(s) Jane Rule
Country Canada
Language English
Genre(s) lesbian fiction
Publisher Macmillan Canada
Publication date 1964
Media type print
ISBN 159493035X
OCLC Number 137262687

Desert of the Heart is a 1964 lesbian-themed novel written by Jane Rule. The story was adapted loosely into the 1985 film Desert Hearts, directed by Donna Deitch. The book was originally published in hardback by Macmillan Canada. It was one of the very few novels that addressed lesbianism that was published in hardback form; most books during this period with female homosexuality as a topic were considered lesbian pulp fiction until 1969.

At the time the novel was published, Rule was a lecturer at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and because the novel dealt with lesbianism, her job was threatened.[1]

Desert of the Heart was first republished in paperback form by Talonbooks in 1977.

Contents

Background

Rule's family lived in Reno, Nevada, where the book is set, and although she was not a resident, she visited them. One summer, Rule worked in a casino to research for the book and was impressive in her competence.[2] Rule completed the book in 1961 and spent three years trying to find a publisher for it, eventually sending it to about 25 American publishers. Rule remembered that one publisher told her, "If this book isn't pornographic, what's the point of printing it ... if you can write in the dirty parts we'll take it but otherwise no..."[2]

Plot summary

Evelyn Hall is an English professor from the University of California. She arrives in Reno to establish a six-week residency to attain a divorce. After being married for 15 years, she is overwhelmed with guilt for feeling as if she is ruining her husband's mental health. While in Reno, she stays in the guest home of Frances Packer with other women who are also awaiting their divorces. Frances also lives with Walter, her 18-year-old son and her late lover's 25-year-old daughter, Ann Childs. Evelyn and Ann are startled at how alike they are in appearance, despite their 15-year age difference.

Ann works as a change operator at a local casino and a relatively successful cartoonist. Ann is revealed to reject significant relationships in her life and although is romantic with both men and women, refuses to become attached to anyone. She is ending a relationship with her boss named Bill, that was significant enough to make her friends believe they were to be married. Ann's best friend is Silver who works with her at the casino as a dealer, and is also a sometime lover.

Evelyn and Ann begin a friendship that evolves into a romantic relationship in which Evelyn must deal with her guilt after being asked by her husband's doctor to divorce him for his own good. Despite the symptoms of his deep and chronic depression, Evelyn takes the responsibility for the failure of the marriage and his depression upon herself, but after divulging how caustic she is to Ann, she is relieved to realize that the responsibility is not hers to take. And Ann must deal with committing to a relationship wholeheartedly. Being employed by the casino, she is rather well-paid, but is stifled within the atmosphere there, though she continues to work despite her abilities.

Ann is fired from the casino after a slot machine is stolen on her shift when she is distracted by Evelyn being at the casino. Her previous split with Bill is not amicable, despite Bill beginning to date another of his employees. There is some suspicion that Bill is spying on Ann and Evelyn, and he threatens to contact Evelyn's husband's lawyer to notify him of Ann and Evelyn's lesbian relationship, but the divorce is finalized without his interference. Immediately after the final hearing, Evelyn and Ann decide to live together "for a while."

Origin of the title

The story is set in Reno, Nevada, around which spreads an expanse of desert that initially strikes fear into Evelyn upon her arrival and has been a comfort to Ann during her existence there. It is used to describe Evelyn's lack of knowledge of what real love is, when she tells Ann that she lives, "in the desert of the heart." After she falls in love with Ann, the desert surrounding Reno ceases to terrify her. Simultaneously, the desert also ceases to comfort Ann as a place to run to be alone.

Along with the climate desert as a symbol, the setting of the casino in which Ann works and Evelyn visits is also considered a desert of morality. Ann is witness to what the addiction of gambling does to people of all walks of life, including the employees. Being fired from the casino frees Ann from her refusals to care about what happens to the gambling addicts, dealers, other change aprons, and the casino management, and allows her to commit to a more refined life with Evelyn.

The title is taken from a poem by W.H. Auden, his elegy for Yeats. "In the desert of the heart, Let the healing fountain start." Evelyn is a professor of English literature, and she quotes from some of Yeats' poems.

Reception

Rule's first novel received warm praise from literary critics who described it as, "an intelligent novel, not afraid of ideas, and not committed to them overdiagrammatically."[3] Rule's prose did not sensationalize the relationship between Evelyn and Ann, choosing a detached method of writing one reviewer noted, "Miss Rule is so arbitrary in her depiction of the major characters' psyche-searching and so sketchy in her description of minor figures that the reader is apt to have little empathy with anyone."[4] One reviewer cautioned potential readers that despite the lack of sensationalism, "The Desert of the Heart is not recommended to those who find sexual perversion an uncomfortable subject."[5]

Desert of the Heart was highly recommended by Gene Damon in The Ladder, who called it "a symbolic delight."[6]

Rule remembered the mail she got from women who read the book. "I got a huge amount of fan mail which I didn't expect. I thought movie stars got fan mail. People were writing things like you are the only person in the world who could possibly understand who I am, how I feel, if I'm not able to talk to someone I'm going to kill myself...it just felt to me overwhelming and depressing that there was so much fear and so much self-hatred and so much loneliness."[7]

It tied for 10th place on a list of top ten gay novels by Bibliofemme, an Irish book club.[8]

Editions

  • 1964 - Toronto: Macmillan Canada
  • 1964 - London: Secker and Warburg
  • 1965 - Cleveland: World
  • 1975 - New York: Arno
  • 1977 - Vancouver: Talonbooks
  • 1985 - Tallahassee, FL: Naiad
  • 1991 - Vancouver: Talonbooks
  • 1995 - London: Silver Moon

References

  1. ^ Heath. Profiles in Canadian Literature. Vol. 7.Dundurn Press Ltd., 1996
  2. ^ a b Hannon, Gerald. "Jane Rule: The woman behind Lesbian Images.". http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=3980&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=1.  Xtra.ca (Toronto). Retrieved November 29, 2007.
  3. ^ Salvesen, Christopher. "Desert of the Heart (book review)." New Statesman; February 14, 1964.
  4. ^ Bresler, T. "Desert of the Heart (book review)." Library Journal; June 15, 1965.
  5. ^ Penta, A. "Desert of the Heart (book review)." Best Sellers; September 1, 1965.
  6. ^ Damon, Gene. "Lesbiana." Ladder, Jun64, Vol. 8 Issue 9, p12
  7. ^ Bealy, Joanne. "Jane Rule.". http://www.hillgirlz.com/pages/Jane_Rule12.php?project_id=12.  Hillgirlz.com. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
  8. ^ Bibliofemme: Tales of the City named best gay novel
  • Sonthoff, Helen. "A Bibliography." Canadian Fiction Magazine 23 (Autumn 1976): 133-138.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Desert (in the Bible) —     Desert (in the Bible)     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Desert (in the Bible)     The Hebrew words translated in the Douay Version of the Bible by desert or wilderness , and usually rendered by the Vulgate desertum, solitude , or occasionally… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Songs of the Heart — Infobox Album Name = Songs of the Heart Type = Album Artist = Daniel Amos Released = 1995 Recorded = The Green Room (Huntington Beach, California) Desert Moon Studios (Anaheim, California) Genre = Christian rock Length = Label = BAI Records… …   Wikipedia

  • One from the Heart — For the soundtrack recorded by Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle, see One from the Heart (album). One from the Heart theatrical poster Directed by …   Wikipedia

  • Dark Rivers of the Heart —   …   Wikipedia

  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream — by Hunter S. Thompson (1971)    A significant portion of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is set on the road, but the particular version of self discovery that hunger s. thompson gives the reader is vastly different than the version jack kerouac… …   Encyclopedia of Beat Literature

  • Desert Hearts — This article is about the film Desert Hearts. For the rock group Desert Hearts, see Desert Hearts (band). Desert Hearts Promotional movie poster for the film Directed by …   Wikipedia

  • The Carmelite Order —     The Carmelite Order     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Carmelite Order     One of the mendicant orders.     Origin     The date of the foundation of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been under discussion from the fourteenth century to …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Desert Mothers — Saint Paula and her daughter Eustochium with their spiritual advisor Saint Jerome painting by Francisco de Zurbarán. The Desert Mothers were female Christian ascetics living in the desert of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 4th and 5th… …   Wikipedia

  • Desert Solitaire (album) — Desert Solitaire Studio album by Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and Michael Stearns Released …   Wikipedia

  • Desert Solitaire (альбом) — Desert Solitaire …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”