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Palatable Poison: Critical Perspectives on the Well of Loneliness

by Laura Doan

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A critical history of a landmark and contested lesbian novel

$174.42 USD
$174.42 USD $174.42 USD

Hardcover New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A critical history of a landmark and contested lesbian novel

Edited by Laura Doan, this substantial collection examines the shifting critical life of Radclyffe Hall’s 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness, from early commentary and its British obscenity trial to later feminist, lesbian, and transgender analysis. The essays place the novel’s cultural status alongside debates about sexual nonconformity and address subjects including race, wartime nationhood, melancholy, fetishism, and inversion. By bringing historical responses into conversation with contemporary criticism, Palatable Poison traces how one novel became a continuing site of argument over representation, identity, and literary history.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Students and scholars of LGBTQ+ literary criticism
  • Readers studying Radclyffe Hall and The Well of Loneliness
  • Those interested in feminist, lesbian, and transgender critical debates

Themes

LGBTQ+ literary historyCensorship and obscenitySexual nonconformityFeminist and transgender criticismCultural reception

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

The Well of Loneliness-the Radclyffe Hall novel at times referred to as "the bible of lesbianism"-was released in Britain in 1928 and was immediately controversial. Pronounced obscene following a sensational trial, the book has become a cultural icon as well as a source of considerable debate, especially among feminists, lesbians, and transgendered persons.

 

Palatable Poison gathers together classic essays on Radclyffe Hall's book-beginning with Havelock Ellis and early reviews-as well as pieces by such contemporary critics as Esther Newton, Judith Halberstam, Teresa de Lauretis, and Terry Castle. Providing an understanding of how views of the book have changed over time and covering such topics as race, the nation at war, and melancholy, the collection presents new and provocative ideas about the immense cultural impact of The Well of Loneliness and its unique place in the literature of sexual nonconformity.

 

Palatable Poison gathers together classic essays on Radclyffe Hall's book-beginning with Havelock Ellis and early reviews-as well as new pieces by such contemporary critics as Esther Newton, Judith Halberstam, Teresa de Lauretis, and Terry Castle. Providing an understanding of how views of the book have changed over time and covering such topics as fetishism, inversion, and melancholy, the collection presents new and provocative ideas about the immense cultural impact of The Well of Loneliness and its unique place in the literature of sexual nonconformity.

 

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