325. The Well of Loneliness

The Well of Loneliness
Radclyffe Hall
1928
Around 415 pages

One of the reasons I love doing the List in chronological order is that you get to spot trends that might not stick out as much if you jump around. I would have never noticed that there were a cluster of iconic queer novels in 1928. It's also difficult to determine what is considered shocking if you don't have the context of what came before. To modern readers, the most offensive element of this novel is Radclyffe Hall's obvious self-loathing.

Sir Phillip and Lady Anna have a child, who they just assumed would be a boy, for reasons best known to themselves. Stephen is born female, but I guess they really liked the name. It's okay for the parents to subvert gender roles with their nomenclature, but that's pretty much the extent of their open-mindedness. Stephen is deemed an invert, which is Victorian for a woman who wears pants. She falls in love with women, with varying levels of success.

James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express, said, "I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel." I wonder if he actually read it, I can't see a deranged cis man reading 400+ pages written by a lesbian.

As I said, modern audiences will be desensitized to scandalous plot, but it makes you appreciate how far we've come with discussions about gender. Hall seemed to be viewing lesbianism as though your gayness is determined by the amount of "male spirit" in your soul. How about lesbianism has nothing to do with men and their parts? Can we wrap our brains around that concept? Stop butting in.

But it was certainly gutsier than Proust's foray into gayness. Worth reading if you are binging on lesbian fiction, but Hall is no Woolf.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The book was defended by Morris Ernst in the censorship trial in the US, and statements in defense of the novel were given by Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, and other prominent writers of the era. 

Hall's lawyer first tried to argue that the relationships in the book were platonic, but Hall threatened to tell the magistrate the truth. Her lawyer then switched to a defense arguing for the novel's literary merit.

UP NEXT: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence