'Noble, accomplished, wealthy, self-sacrificing, and honourable,
Stephen Gordon is the perfect hero,' says Rebecca O'Rourke. But
Stephen is a woman, and a lesbian. Here is an indication of the
tantalizing complexity of The Well of Loneliness. Banned for
obscenity when first published in 1928, The Well is now a
bestseller, translated into numerous languages, but it must rank as
one of the best known and least understood novels of the twentieth
century. It combines the life and times of Stephen Gordon, the
novel's female protagonist, with a plea, directed to God and
society, for tolerance towards homosexuality. Stephen Gordon has
embodied what it means to be a lesbian for generations of women
readers. But, as the perfect hero, she makes for an awkward
heroine. Originally published in 1989, herself a novelist, critic,
and lesbian, Rebecca O'Rourke examines what makes the figure of
Stephen Gordon both infuriating and inspiring to lesbian and
non-lesbian readers alike. She details the novel's fascinating
publishing history through an analysis of the motives and
preoccupations of previous critics and biographers, many of whom
mistakenly saw in The Well of Loneliness a fictional account of
Radclyffe Hall's own life. The novel's status as the 'bible of
lesbianism' has been a mixed blessing, often confirming the worst
stereotypes of lesbianism, while at the same time ensuring its
visibility. Rebecca O'Rourke includes a fascinating survey of
reader's reactions to the book which was still, at the time, so
many years after its first publication, the first 'lesbian' novel
many women picked up.
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