Passionate and revealing love letters from the iconic lesbian
novelist. Radclyffe Hall, one of the most popular lesbian writers -
and personalities - in history, is getting a fresh look (see Terry
Castle's Noel Coward and Radclyffe Hall, p. 1437). Now Glasgow has
collected Hall's love letters to White Russian emigree Evguenia
Souline, which were written over a period of eight years, beginning
in 1934, when the two women met. At that time, Hall ("John" to her
friends) was 54 years old and living with Una Troubridge, her
devoted life partner of 18 years. Troubridge was devastated by
Hall's wandering affections but stayed with her, even helping with
the logistics of the affair. Troubridge contacted officials about
visas and naturalization papers for "the other woman" (since
Souline was a refugee living in Paris, arranging for her to travel
was always complicated). And when Hall became too ill to write to
Souline herself, Troubridge took dictation. The letters are
thoroughly engrossing; sexually frank, they provide a window into
the obsessive eroticism, and simple sadness, of doomed love
affairs. They also reveal much about Radclyffe Hall's politics,
which are disturbingly fascist and anti-Semitic at points. More
interestingly, the letters suggest the kind of lover she was -
caring, yet often manipulative and unreasonable. Her writing, and
her life with Una, are non-negotiable commitments, yet when
Souline's concerns - her work as a nurse, her desire for a more
exclusive relationship - threaten the affair, Hall angrily
dismisses them. She gives Souline considerable financial support
but often uses money as a means of control. Glasgow (English and
Women's Studies/Bergen Community College) has chosen these letters
well and provides helpful context. Sometimes, though, she leaves
crucial questions unasked, such as why only one letter from Souline
to John survives. These letters will be much enjoyed by the
enduring Hall fan club, and by literary enthusiasts and voyeurs.
(Kirkus Reviews)
"Passionate and revealing love letters from the iconic lesbian
novelist . . . Radclyffe Hall is getting a fresh look. . . .
Glasgow has chosen these letters well and provides helpful
context." --Kirkus Review "Many assumptions have been made about
the degree to which Radclyffe Hall's lesbian classic, The Well of
Loneliness, may be autobiographical. Your John dismisses such
notions. This exhaustive collection of letters written between 1934
and 1942 to Evguenia Souline, a White Russian emigre with whom Hall
fell deeply in love are detailed, intimate records of Hall's
personal life and convictions. . . . the collection is a
heart-wrenching record of how politics, money, and geography
converged to undermine these women's dreams." --Publisher's Weekly
This landmark book represents the first publication of original
writing by Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness, in
over 50 years. One of the most famous and influential lesbian
novelists of the twentieth century, Hall became a cause clbre in
1928, upon the publication of her novel The Well of Loneliness,
when the British government brought action on behalf of the Crown
to declare the book obscene. Probably the most widely read lesbian
novel ever written, the book has been continuously in print since
its first publication and remains to this day an important part of
the literary landscape. Expertly deciphered and edited by Hall
scholar and biographer Joanne Glasgow, Your John is a selection of
Hall's love letters to Evguenia Souline, a White Russian emigre
with whom Hall fell completely and passionately in love in the
summer of 1934. Written between this first meeting and the onset of
Hall's last illness in 1942, these letters detail Hall's growing
obsession, the pain to her life partner Una Troubridge of this
betrayal, and the poignant hopelessness of a happy resolution for
any of the three women. It was ultimately this relationship,
Glasgow argues, which tragically precipitated the decline in Hall's
creative work and her health. The letters also provide important
new information about her views on lesbianism and take us well
beyond the artistic limits she imposed on the characters in The
Well of Loneliness. They shed light on her views on religion,
politics, war, and the literary and artistic scene. Illuminating
both the nature of her relationships and her views on the current
politics of the time, Your John will greatly extend the range of
our knowledge about Radclyffe Hall.
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