Comments on: Djuna Barnes

Djuna Barnes

Joe Beese — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:43:02 -0800

Djuna Barnes (12 June, 1892 – 18 June, 1982) was an American writer who played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures in 1920s and 30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the Greenwich Village of the teens. Her novel Nightwood became a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction by T. S. Eliot. It stands out today for its portrayal of lesbian themes and its distinctive writing style. - Wikipedia

Her early works include The Book of Repulsive Women and Ladies Almanack. She spent the last 40 years of her life in seclusion in Greenwich Village's Patchin Place.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:46:44 -0800

Joe Besse, why do you like all the people I like?

By: Guy_Inamonkeysuit

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:09:46 -0800

Joe, do you do anything other than post on MeFi? :-)

By: creasy boy

creasy boy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:03:04 -0800

Nightwood is a seriously weird book. Large tracts of it are just the drunken monologue of a cross-dressing charlatan.

By: damehex

damehex — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:05:53 -0800

Nightwood is beautiful, haunting, weird, inspiring. I have had a soft spot for Ms Barnes's writing since college.

By: nightwood

nightwood — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:38:39 -0800

Nightwood is one of my favorite books (hence my name).

By: painquale

painquale — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:57:12 -0800

Djuna Barnes is great. I especially love her description of James Joyce in this article [pdf]. The whole thing is stellar, but here's the best part: His hands, peculiarly limp in the introductory shake and peculiarly pulpy, running into a thickness that the base gave no hint of, lay, one on the stem of the glass, the other, forgotten, palm out, on the most delightful waistcoat it has ever been my happiness to see. Purple with alternate does and dog heads. The does, tiny scarlet tongues hanging out over blond lower lips, downed in a light wool, and the dogs no more ferocious or on the scent than any good animal who adheres to his master through the seven cycles of change. Both the content and style of that segment are unreal. As I wrote in a previous thread (where I found this article linked): Seriously, a purple waistcoat covered in alternating doe and dog heads? Huuurrgh. Maybe his underwear had clowns on it. Not only is the waistcoat ridiculously overornate, the description of it is as well. "[T]he dogs [were] no more ferocious or on the scent than any good animal who adheres to his master through the seven cycles of change." What in the world? The only reference Google gives for "the seven cycles of change" is this very interview. After a bit of searching, I ended up finding this article. Maybe this isn't what Barnes is referring to -- these are are better described as "cycles of seven" than "seven cycles" -- but it's my best guess. If I'm right, the reference is to some obscure philosophy of the Austrian "anthroposophist" Rudolph Steiner. It's not even mentioned in Steiner's rather long wikipedia article. That is a long way to go for a description of some dogs on an ugly waistcoat! I'm not sure I was right about that "seven cycles of change" allusion now. If anyone has a better guess, I'd love to hear it.

By: LogicalDash

LogicalDash — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:18:14 -0800

painquale, I'm curious. Are obscure references like that characteristic of Djuna Barnes' work? Is that part of the appeal?

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:36:39 -0800

LogicalDash: ". Are obscure references like that characteristic of Djuna Barnes' work? Is that part of the appeal?" Yes, and yes.

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:46:49 -0800

I found Nightwood to be insipid and totally awful. Also, fairly overtly anti-semitic. I found myself wondering whether Eliot actually read the book before he wrote the introduction. And, seriously, why the need for the introduction? If a book is good, it doesn't need to piggyback on the respect given to an established literary figure. Yet even now, when Nightwood is fairly well-known, the introduction is still there. I'm pretty sure the only reason I bothered to read to the end of the book was because I was waiting to see the magic that Eliot apparently saw.

By: LogicalDash

LogicalDash — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:46:28 -0800

I'm pretty sure the only reason I bothered to read to the end of the book was because I was waiting to see the magic that Eliot apparently saw. I think that's the need for the introduction right there.

By: Glee

Glee — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:55:41 -0800

"And, seriously, why the need for the introduction?" Hm, could've sworn I read Eliot discussing that very question at length, throughout the introduction in question.

By: Diablevert

Diablevert — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:01:09 -0800

More pictures of Barnes in her later years here, at the lovely blog Ephemeral New York. As for Eliot not noticing the anti-Semitism in Nightwood ...you might want to check out Cynthia Ozick and Anthony Lane on the man. (Registration and/or subscription required; rather lengthy abstracts, free.)

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:36:26 -0800

Hm, could've sworn I read Eliot discussing that very question at length, throughout the introduction in question. That's very true, and it's embarrassing that I've forgotten that (I read the book about 10 years ago), but his central argument rings somewhat hollow: it's a book for people who like poetry. Well, I love poetry, and I despised this book. It's not that long a novel, and I don't want to turn off anyone who might be inclined to give it a try - you can probably finish it in a day. But for me it was very much like paddling against the current, and after I closed it I threw the book across the room.

By: thankyoujohnnyfever

thankyoujohnnyfever — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:27:59 -0800

For whatever it's worth I think Nightwood is my favorite book. Ever. Thanks for the post and the comments with the pics and interviews. As for the antisemitism, I don't remember it being any worse that Eliot's but I'm sure someone will set me right on that.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:00:07 -0800

hmm - that's been sitting in my shelf unread for a couple of years - thanks for reminding me about that

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:41:10 -0800

Nightwood is brilliant and woefully under-read, and Djuna Barnes is one of my all-time favorite human beings.

By: Lorc

Lorc — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:43:37 -0800

painquale, that sounds to me like a reference to Shakespeare's seven ages from "All the world's a stage". Presumably the point is that these particular dogs' aspect is of a loyal, lifelong companion rather than any kind of hunter.

By: painquale

painquale — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:27:08 -0800

Aha! That has got to be it! Thanks, Lorc. Now to file that away so I can inappropriately bust it out when writing some flowerly description of my own....