Djuna: The Life and Work of Djuna Barnes

by Phillip Herring

Book Overview

This is a biography of Djuna Barnes (1892-1982), a familiar figure in Greenwich Village and bank literary and lesbian circles during the 1920s and 1930s. Mostly remembered for her novel "Nightwood",... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670849693
• ISBN13: 9780670849697
• Release Date: November 1995
• Publisher: Viking
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

indispensible

I will weigh in because there are only 3 reviews here and a couple of them seem rather misguided. Before this volume there was only Barnes' work and an extremely self indulgent book by Edward Field - to my mind a horrible writer - which, after the example set by Djuna's own interviews - her journalism gigs - is much more about the writer writing than the subject being written about. Whatever flaws the Herring bio has (to me, none were evident) it provides valuable insight into Barnes' life and writing. As for shock effect, there isn't a "free spirit" I've ever read about who's left me as slack jawed as daddy Wald Barnes. Unless you want to include maybe Leonard Lake and Kenneth Ng, Aleister Crowley or maybe Jim Jones or the Matamoros Cult leader guy. And where else would you learn that Djuna's brother was one of the men responsible for composing the immortal line "Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?" Subsequently there has appeared the rather cruel account of Djuna in her dotage which is more a portrait of dementia than anything else - not uninteresting but unpleasantly exploitative and axe grinding. I suppose that guy earned the right to take advantage for what it was worth, which was likely not a great deal! Anyway, I would venture to guess this book will fascinate even if you don't care for Djuna Barnes as a writer. After all, it appears that this feisty femme might have murdered Hitler! My recommendation is that you purchase it for sure and lap it up! Starting at 2 cents a copy? Order now!

Powerful book and very disturbing

Biographies are sometimes the powerful of all writing to me. The best ones are the books that open a person's life, that reveal without judgement how the person became what they were. Djuna Barnes's early life was horrific almost beyond understanding. Rape(?),incest(?), paternal abandonment and grinding poverty -she was the financial supporter of her extended family while she was still in her late teens. Yet it is a mark of her genius that she was able to overcome all the odds and become a true modern author. All of her best works were autobiograpical and all dealt with the critical tragedies of her life. 'Ryder' was an attempt to deal with her father - incest or rape,'Nightwood' to deal with her failed relationship with Thelma Wood, and finally 'Antiphon' to deal with her entire disfunctional family. The wellspring of her most bitter invective was her own life. This biography is good, thorough and complete. Djuna suffered pain and repaid that pain over and over again. Her venom, her rage, the sheer angst she had flows like blood on every page. But in spite of all that, her artistry was able to give her pain a rich voice and this book captures her spirit as well as her wraith. But in some ways, this book is almost like watching a car wreck...there is a human impulse to look away not see such suffering. I was both repelled by and drawn into the recounting of such public agony by such a private person. Djuna Barnes's writing is not meant for everyone, and this biography isn't either.