“THE WELL OF LONELINESS – Denounced, banned, and applauded — the strange love story of a girl

“THE WELL OF LONELINESS – Denounced, banned, and applauded — the strange love story of a girl who stood midway between the sexes – RADCLYFFE HALL,” Perma Books, 1951 ed. On July 27, 1928, eighty-eight years ago today, London publishing house Jonathan Cape released Radclyffe Hall’s “The Well of Loneliness,” the story of an upper-class Englishwoman whose “sexual inversion” (i.e., homosexuality) is apparent from childhood. The protagonist, Stephen Gordon (so named because her parents expected a boy), falls in love with Mary Llewellyn while the former is serving as an ambulance driver in World War I. The couple’s relationship ultimately fails because of social isolation and rejection, and the novel closes with Stephen’s plea to God: “Give us also the right to our existence!” “The Well” came under immediate attack by the editor of “The Sunday Express,” James Douglas, who wrote: “I would rather give a healthy boy or girl a vial of prussic acid than this novel. Poison kills the body, but moral poison kills the soul.” The novel was pulled in the United Kingdom, and subsequently banned in France, though it nonetheless became an international bestseller. And, while few claim that “The Well” is a piece of great literature, its early treatment of lesbianism and gender fluidity influenced writers including Ann Bannon and Rita Mae Brown, and the novel continues to inspire study and debate. #lgbthistory #lgbtherstory #lgbttheirstory #lgbtpride #queerhistorymatters #haveprideinhistory #wellofloneliness #radclyffehall -- source link

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