Customer Reviews

Djuna: The Life and Work of Djuna Barnes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

While I appreciated being able to find something about Djuna Barnes whose life is quite fascinating but little told, I was put off by some of Phillip Herring's style. In several places he makes reference to claims Barnes was molested as a child by either her father or possibly even her paternal grandmother. But in instance when he is suggesting the grandmother molested Barnes he says it might have been a case of "good-natured fondling." Say what???

Barnes did not make it easy for anyone to write about her. She lived a long and eventful life but to the end she refused to cooperate with those wishing to write about her life rather than those who shared her life. She was an important facet of a stunningly creative time; Paris of the twenties, when many Americans sought refuge with each other as the entire world tried to put the tremendous tragedy of World War I behind them.

Although Barnes' writing does not have the acclaim today of many others from that time (Hemingway, Stein, Joyce and Eliot to name a few) she was lauded by some of those writers who would be acclaimed as literary giants as a great source of inspiration and encouragement. It is too bad we do not have more written about her other than this florid, rather precious account of her life.

JLH

I came across a reference to Djuna Barnes' name in another review comparing the author to Barnes. I had never heard of her despite her notoriety in the 40's. She was known for her alternate lifestyle as well as her writings, and hobnobbed with many well known artists. I purchased her book "Nightwood" at the same time I bought her biography but have not yet read it. Herring makes references to her books (with page numbers)throughout the biography and draws parallels to Barnes'life. Evidently all of her books were based on her family and their lifestyle. Her grandmother was a free soul, advocating sexual freedom and passed her views onto her son,Wald, Djuna's father. Not surprisingly, he was less than an ideal father. At one time in Djuna's childhood, her household consisted of her grandmother, her father and his wife,her many siblings, and her father's mistress and their multiple children. Despite the fascinating characters, I found Herring's book rather dry and mired in minutia. What kept me reading was the unfolding of the life of an extremely unusual and interesting person. I look forward to reading "Nightwood" and hearing about Djuna's life in her own words. I anticipate a more exciting read.

A biography of Anais Nin without a single mention of Gore Vidal!

Noel Riley Fitch, in his ANAIS: THE EROTIC LIFE OF ANAIS NIN, devotes a whole subchapter to Vidal. Though why Fitch writes a biography in the present tense is beyond me. This is as silly an approach as Beverly Lowry's in her biography of Madame C. J. Walker, HER DREAM OF DREAMS. Biographies are history, not fantasy. The lives of the dead have happened, are not happening as we read or as their biographers write. Please!

Better yet, read, Fred Kaplan's biography of Vidal and get more of Nin then Fitch gives us of Vidal.