Palatable Poison - Critical Perspectives on the Well of Loneliness

Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-231-11874-3
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 432 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 685 g

Reihe: Gender and Culture Series

The Well of Loneliness the Radclyffe Hall novel at times referred to as "the bible of lesbianism" was released in Britain in 1928 and was immediately controversial. Pronounced obscene following a sensational trial, the book has become a cultural icon as well as a source of considerable debate, especially among feminists, lesbians, and transgendered persons.

Palatable Poison gathers together classic essays on Radclyffe Hall's book beginning with Havelock Ellis and early reviews as well as pieces by such contemporary critics as Esther Newton, Judith Halberstam, Teresa de Lauretis, and Terry Castle. Providing an understanding of how views of the book have changed over time and covering such topics as race, the nation at war, and melancholy, the collection presents new and provocative ideas about the immense cultural impact of The Well of Loneliness and its unique place in the literature of sexual nonconformity.

Palatable Poison gathers together classic essays on Radclyffe Hall's book beginning with Havelock Ellis and early reviews as well as new pieces by such contemporary critics as Esther Newton, Judith Halberstam, Teresa de Lauretis, and Terry Castle. Providing an understanding of how views of the book have changed over time and covering such topics as fetishism, inversion, and melancholy, the collection presents new and provocative ideas about the immense cultural impact of The Well of Loneliness and its unique place in the literature of sexual nonconformity.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Doan, Laura

Prosser, Jay

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies: Homosexualität, LGBTQ+

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Critical Perspectives Past and Present, by Laura Doan and Jay ProsserPart 1 Perspectives Past 1. Commentary (1928), by Havelock EllisThe First Wave2. "A Book That Must Be Suppressed'' (1928), by James Douglas3. Judgment (1928), by Sir Chartres Biron4. A Selection of Early ReviewsThe Second Wave5. "Radclyffe Hall'' (1975), by Jane Rule6. "The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman'' (1989), by Esther Newton7. "Perverse Desire: The Lure of the Mannish Lesbian'' (1991), by Teresa de LauretisPart 2 Perspectives Present New Sexual Inversions8. "Some Primitive Thing Conceived in a Turbulent Age of Transition'': The Transsexual Emerging from The Well, by Jay Prosser9. "A Writer of Misfits'': "John'' Radclyffe Hall and the Discourse of Inversion, by Judith Halberstam10. "The Outcast of One Age Is the Hero of Another'': Radclyffe Hall, Edward Carpenter and the Intermediate Sex, by Laura Doan11. "All My Life I've Been Waiting for Something.'': Theorizing Femme Narrative in The Well of Loneliness, by Clare HemmingsThe Well's Wounds12. The Well of Shame, by Sally R. Munt13. The Well of Lonelinessas War Novel, by Susan Kingsley Kent14. War Wounds: The Nation, Shell Shock, and Psychoanalysis in The Well of Loneliness, by Jodie Medd15. Of Trees and Polities, Wars and Wounds, by Trevor HopeOn Location16. "I Want to Cross Over into Camp Ground'': Race and Inversion in The Well of Loneliness, by Jean Walton17. "Something Primitive and Age-Old as Nature Herself'': Lesbian Sexuality and the Permission of the Exotic, by Sarah E. Chinn18. Once More unto the Breach: The Well of Loneliness and the Spaces of Inversion, by Victoria Rosner19. Great Cities: Radclyffe Hall at the Chicago School, by Julie Abraham20. Well Meaning: Pragmatism, Lesbianism, and the U.S. Obscenity Trial, by Kim Emery21. Writing by the Light of The Well: Radclyffe Hall and the Lesbian Modernists, by Joanne WinningAfterword: It Was Good, Good, Good, by Terry CastleSuggested ReadingsContributorsIndex

Über Autor(innen)

Laura Doan is professor of English at the State University of New York at Geneseo. She is the author of Fashioning Sapphism (Columbia, 2001), editor of The Lesbian Postmodern (Columbia, 1994), and coeditor of Sexology Uncensored, and Sexology in Culture.Jay Prosser is author of Second Skins: Body Narratives of Transsexuality (Columbia, 1998) and is lecturer in American literature at the University of Leeds.