Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Literary recluse Djuna Barnes (1892-1982) had spent 40 years cloistered in a Greenwich Village garret when O'Neal, a record producer, first dropped by in 1978. A mutual acquaintance, photographer Berenice Abbott, had asked him to befriend the alienated, eccentric novelist-playwright-artist. O'Neal attended Barnes for three years, finding her by turns complex, intriguing and repulsive. She was full of engrossing memories; she seethed with homophobia (though bisexual herself), racism and simple meanness. She also struggled with writer's block, a condition made sadder by the promise evident in the snippets of poetry she managed to write. Unfortunately, O'Neal's "informal memoir" is disorganized and inconclusive, providing just a few biographical tidbits and a smidgen of psychological speculation. Only confirmed Barnes enthusiasts are likely to be interested. Photos.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Though her 1936 novel Nightwood is often cited as a neglected modernist masterpiece, Barnes sank into obscurity after its publication, spending the rest of her long life in a tiny Greenwich Village apartment. O'Neal became her friend and assistant during her last years, but eventually found the strain too great--Barnes was, he notes, both sustained and imprisoned by "pride, independence, solitude, and anger." Illustrated with a number of striking Berenice Abbott photographs of Barnes, this memoir is a valuable supplement to Andrew Field's biography Djuna ( LJ 5/1/83). Recommended for modern American literature collections.
- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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