Beautifully written. In that respect, this book is on par with the others in the continuous novel series. The first of two stories, ‘The Sealed Room’ is feverish; a coming of age story about an orphan/ballet dancer. It’s a near perfect Nin story, with a strong focus on the psychology of the characters. The second story, ‘The Cafe’ shifts the reader suddenly to adulthood, and the intertwined lives of Djuna, Lillian and Sabina. Having read many of Nin’s works, I think I’d be on solid ground to say that these characters *are* Nin, or composites of Nin herself and other women known to Nin. Well-worn Nin territory is explored (betrayal by the father and the lifelong fear of rejection that follows, experiments in casual sexual encounters, pursuit of self-realisation etc) as poetically as you would expect from Nin. ‘The Cafe’ I didn’t care for nearly as much as the gorgeous ‘The Sealed Room’ — but as ‘Albatross’ itself is quite short, I persevered.
In Nin’s last diary, she expressed disappointment that this book was misunderstood by the man charged with writing its preface. However I came to this book with an admiration of Nin’s style (and, I like to think, a fairly detailed knowledge of her life and art), and although it is beautiful, it is not flawless. In defense of ‘Albatross’, it evidences that only Nin could describe the phosphorescent bedroom where Djuna, Lawrence and Paul retreat to, and from which adults, and adult concerns, are forbidden from entering. Only she could describe the internal monologue of a woman who wakes after a sexual encounter with a man who has only a casual regard for her. ‘Albatross’ is a unique, highly stylised poetic novel that explores the private inner world of woman with rare and valuable insight. However, as the book transitions from childhood to womanhood quite without warning or logic (even an internal logic that would make sense within the context of the book), and because of the patchiness of ‘The Cafe’, I cannot count it with Nin’s very best work.
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