8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Achievement, July 4, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Ryder (American Literature Series) (Paperback)
This is an amazing work. A mostly autobiographical parody, Barnes uses Ryder as sort of a twisted extended metaphor for the rest of the world. The beautiful and inventive prose, though often obscure, illustrates the life of the Ryder family poignantly and indignantly. Written in various styles, the book is bound to touch each and every reader.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an astonishing writer, September 22, 2006
This review is from: Ryder (American Literature Series) (Paperback)
It wasn't only T.S. Eliot who described Djuna Barnes's style as Elizabethan. (Though the poet Marie Ponsot has described her as Jacobean.) What period could encompass this twentieth century writer's talent for casting spells both psychological and atmospheric? I've never read anyone quite like her. If only James Joyce had been a little more talented, he might have been Barnesian--but few of us know this; join us!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No