"DESTROY," H.D. had pencilled across the title page of this
autobiographical novel. Although the manuscript survived, it has
remained unpublished since its completion in the 1920s. Regarded by
many as one of the major poets of the modernist period, H.D.
created in "Asphodel" a remarkable and readable experimental prose
text, which in its manipulation of technique and voice can stand
with the works of Joyce, Woolf, and Stein; in its frank exploration
of lesbian desire, pregnancy and motherhood, artistic independence
for women, and female experience during wartime, H.D.'s novel
stands alone.
A sequel to the author's "HERmione, ""Asphodel" takes the reader
into the bohemian drawing rooms of pre-World War I London and
Paris, a milieu populated by such thinly disguised versions of Ezra
Pound, Richard Aldington, May Sinclair, Brigit Patmore, and
Margaret Cravens; on the other side of what H.D. calls "the chasm,"
the novel documents the war's devastating effect on the men and
women who considered themselves guardians of beauty. Against this
riven backdrop, "Asphodel" plays out the story of Hermione Gart, a
young American newly arrived in Europe and testing for the first
time the limits of her sexual and artistic identities. Following
Hermione through the frustrations of a literary world dominated by
men, the failures of an attempted lesbian relationship and a
marriage riddled with infidelity, the birth of an illegitimate
child, and, finally, happiness with a female companion, "Asphodel
"describes with moving lyricism and striking candor the emergence
of a young and gifted woman from her self-exile.
Editor Robert Spoo's introduction carefully places "Asphodel" in
the context of H.D.'s life and work. In an appendix featuring
capsule biographies of the real figures behind the novel's
fictional characters, Spoo provides keys to this "roman a clef."
General
Imprint: |
Duke University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
August 1992 |
First published: |
August 1992 |
Authors: |
Hilda Doolittle (H D. ).
|
Editors: |
Robert Spoo
|
Dimensions: |
158 x 234 x 8mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
240 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8223-1242-0 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General
Books >
Fiction >
Promotions
|
LSN: |
0-8223-1242-5 |
Barcode: |
9780822312420 |
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