Nightwood

Nightwood is a 1936 novel by Djuna Barnes first published in London by Faber and Faber. An edition published in the United States in 1937 by Harcourt, Brace included an introduction by T. S. Eliot.. Author Charles Henri Ford typed an early version of the manuscript for Barnes during the summer of 1932, and it took Barnes several years to find a publisher. Nightwood is one of the first lesbian novels (or, for that matter, homosexual novels) to be ... more

Nightwood is a 1936 novel by Djuna Barnes first published in London by Faber and Faber. An edition published in the United States in 1937 by Harcourt, Brace included an introduction by T. S. Eliot.. Author Charles Henri Ford typed an early version of the manuscript for Barnes during the summer of 1932, and it took Barnes several years to find a publisher. Nightwood is one of the first lesbian novels (or, for that matter, homosexual novels) to be published. It is also notable for its dense, high prose style. Regarding this difficulty and its rewards, T.S. Eliot writes in his introduction, "only sensibilities trained on poetry can wholly appreciate it." The novel, like many of its time, is essentially plotless. It focuses on Robin Vote, a bisexual woman in constant search of "secure torment." Robin's story begins in Europe, where she meets, and marries the false Baron Felix Volkbein, who wants nothing more than an heir to carry on his family name and uphold the traditions of old... less