The Well of Loneliness
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The Well of Loneliness is a novel by Radclyffe Hall. Published in 1928, The Well of Loneliness deals with the life of Stephen Gordon, a masculine lesbian who identifies herself as an invert.
The book was the subject of an obscenity trial, involving Hall, editors, Pascal Covici and Donald Friede, and illustrator Wallace Smith, which resulted in all copies of the novel ordered destroyed. It was subsequently reprinted, and is currently in print in the United States, published by Anchor Press.
Not only a classic of lesbian literature, The Well of Loneliness is also an example of sentimental literature. There is much debate as to the status of this novel with regards to autobiography. Some consider it to be a thinly veiled autobiography of Hall. In recent years, the book has also been considered by some critics to be a description of a transman rather than that of a lesbian woman.
Books and Articles about The Well of Loneliness
- Judith Halberstam Female Masculinity, Ch. 3: "'A Writer of Misfits': John Radclyffe Hall and the Discourse of Inversion"
- Eds. Laura Doan and Jay Prosser Palatable Poison: Critical Perspectives on The Well of Loneliness
- Radclyffe Hall's 'The Well of Loneliness' as an early example of transsexual autobiographical writing, Dr Barbara Schaff ([abstract])
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