Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes (June 12, 1892 - June 18, 1982) played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing by women and was one of the key figures in 1920s and 30s Bohemian Paris.
Her 1936 novel Nightwood became a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction written by T.S. Eliot, and stands out for its portrayal of lesbian themes.
Early Life and Writings
Barnes was born into Cornwall-on-Hudson, a New York artists' colony. Her father, Henry Budington Barnes, was an unsuccessful artist and her mother, Elizabeth Chappel, was a musician from England. Barnes was brought up by her mother and grandmother and her early education was received at home. In the early 1910s, she studied art in New York at the Pratt Institute and the Arts Students League. By 1913, her parents had divorced and she was writing and illustrating a regular column for The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A collection of her celebrity interviews from this period, I Could Never Be Lonely without a Husband: Interviews by Djuna Barnes was published in 1987. In 1915, she published her first book, a collection of poems and drawings called The Book of Repulsive Women.
Paris
In 1919, after a failed marriage, Barnes moved to Paris with letters of introduction to Ezra Pound and James Joyce and soon entered the Parisian world of expatriate bohemians who were at the forefront of the modernist movement. Her circle in Paris included Pound, Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Robert McAlmon, Natalie Barney, Peggy Guggenheim, and Kay Boyle. She also maintained a friendship with the Italian poet Eugenio Montale.
Writings
In Paris, Barnes published a second book of poetry, A Book in 1926 (enlarged edition A Book - A Night Among the Horses, 1929) and a novel, Ryder in 1928. Her reputation as a writer was made when Nightwood was published in an expensive edition by Faber and Faber with Eliot's introduction. She returned to New York in 1940 and published several more works, including the verse play, The Antiphon in 1958.
Later Life
Back in New York, Barnes became a recluse, living in a small apartment in Greenwich Village. She was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1961.
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