Radclyffe Hall (1880–1943)
Author of The Well of Loneliness
About the Author
Born Marguerite Radclyffe Hall, the writer called herself John as an adult. Educated at King's College, London, Hall began her career writing poetry set to music and performed prominently before World War I. Under the influence of the socialite Mabel Batten, Hall became devoutly Roman Catholic and show more met Una, Lady Troubridge, who was to become Hall's lifelong companion. The Well of Loneliness (1928), a frank and touching portrayal of lesbian sensibilities, was banned in Britain and America (despite George Bernard Shaw's comment that the novel told of things people should know about), nearly ruining her literary career. Copies of the book were widely confiscated; censors expressed moral outrage, especially because Hall's characters showed no contrition for their "vices" and were portrayed sympathetically. Despite aggressive attempts at censorship, though, audiences clamored for the novel, which attained a strong popularity. Hall wrote of lesbianism as natural and pleaded for tolerance, yet her writing manifests a degree of guilt that in some way affirms her society's widespread prejudice that homosexuality was a deformity. Despite her fierce defense of The Well of Loneliness, none of Hall's later writing explicitly deals with homosexual themes. Still, though Hall was less self-accepting than contemporary gay writers, The Well of Loneliness endures as a relatively rare and valuable documentation of lesbian lives and aesthetics in the early twentieth century. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Radclyffe Hall
Hall, Radclyffe Archive 1 copy
Songs of Sun and Shade 1 copy
Associated Works
Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian Literature from the 17th Century to the Present (1994) — Contributor — 447 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Hall, Radclyffe
- Legal name
- Radclyffe-Hall, Marguerite Antonia
- Birthdate
- 1880-08-12
- Date of death
- 1943-10-07
- Burial location
- Highgate Cemetery, London, England, UK
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Country (for map)
- England, UK
- Birthplace
- Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, UK
- Place of death
- London, England, UK
- Cause of death
- cancer
- Places of residence
- Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, UK
London, England, UK
Rye, East Sussex, England, UK - Education
- King's College, London
- Occupations
- novelist
poet - Relationships
- Troubridge, Una (lover)
- Organizations
- International PEN
Society for Psychical Research
Zoological Society of London - Awards and honors
- Gold Medal of the Eichelbergher Humane Award (1930)
Members
Discussions
Group Read, October 2020: The Well of Loneliness in 1001 Books to read before you die (October 2020)
The Well of Loneliness in Book talk (March 2011)
Reviews
Lists
Modernism (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 22
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 3,404
- Popularity
- #7,488
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 63
- ISBNs
- 91
- Languages
- 13
- Favorited
- 3
I have this on my TBR since 2019, glad to finally get it read. It wasn't my kind of book but I do think the author intentionally or maybe not, did explore factors that might lead to "invert". Also the book definitely looked at the difficulty one would face in 1920s. I think that one would experience a lot of loneliness.