The Well of Loneliness

by Radclyffe Hall

Overview

First published in 1928, this timeless portrayal of lesbian love is now a classic. The thinly disguised story of Hall's own life, it was banned outright upon publication and almost ruined her literary career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385416092
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/18/1990
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	149,017
Product dimensions:	5.19(w) x 7.93(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Radclyffe Hall, the pen name of Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall, was born in Bournemouth on August 12, 1880. She was educated at King's College, London, and later undertook further studies in Germany. Hall was renowned for her open homosexuality, a subject dealt with in her best-known novel, The Well of Loneliness (1928), a semi-autobiographical work and the only one of her eight novels to deal with overt lesbian themes. Her open treatment of lesbianism in The Well of Loneliness occasioned a trial for obscenity; it was banned and an appeal refused, which resulted in all copies in Britain being destroyed. The United States allowed its publication after a long court battle. She also published several volumes of verse including Twixt Earth and Stars: Poems (1906) and Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems (1913). Adam's Breed (1926), a sensitive novel about the life of a restaurant keeper, won the Prix Femina and the 1927 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Hall died in 1943 at the age of sixty-eight from cancer.

Table of Contents

Biographical PrefaceIntroductionNote on the TextSelect BibliographyA Chronology of Radclyffe HallTHE WELL OF LONELINESSExplanatory NotesAppendix

Editorial Reviews

The bible of lesbianism—The Times

The outpouring of support Hall received from members of the public around the world, who wrote to thank her for creating, in her heroine Stephen Gordon, a character with whom they could identify—Alison Flood, Guardian

Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness still holds a place as a beacon for sexual self-discovery—Hephzibah Anderson, BBC Culture

A pioneering lesbian novel—Daily Telegraph

Beautifully written and constructed, with delightful prose. It is the standard-bearer; the lesbian The Grapes of Wrath—Lee Lynch

The archetypal lesbian novel —Times Literary Supplement

One of the first and most influential contributions of gay and lesbian literature—New Statesman

Passionately felt and courageous—Spectator

From the Publisher