Djuna Barnes

Author profile

born

June 12, 1892 in Cornwall-on-Hudson, The United States

died

June 18, 1982

gender

female

genre

Literature & Fiction, Gay & Lesbian

About this author

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Barnes has been cited as an influence by writers as diverse as Truman Capote, William Goyen, Isak Dinesen, John Hawkes, Bertha Harris and Anaïs Nin. Writer Bertha Harris described her work as "practically the only available expression of lesbian culture we have in the modern western world" since Sappho.

Barnes played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures in 1920s and 30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the Greenwich Village of the teens. Her novel Nightwood became a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction by T. S. Eliot. It stands out today for its portrayal of lesbian themes and its distinctive writing style. Since Barnes's death,...more

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Books by Djuna Barnes

Average rating: 3.72 · 2,603 ratings · 293 reviews · 32 distinct works

	Nightwood 3.71 avg rating — 2,128 ratings — published 1936 — 23 editions	My rating:
	Ryder by Djuna Barnes, Paul West (Afterword) 3.68 avg rating — 88 ratings — published 1979 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Ladies Almanack 3.63 avg rating — 97 ratings — published 1972 — 12 editions	My rating:
	The Book of Repulsive Women: 8 Rhythms and 5 Drawings 3.79 avg rating — 75 ratings — published 1989 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Smoke: And Other Early Stories 3.92 avg rating — 53 ratings — published 1984 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Collected Stories 3.74 avg rating — 34 ratings — published 1996 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Selected Works of Djuna Barnes 4.14 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1980 — 2 editions	My rating:
	At the Roots of the Stars: The Short Plays 3.86 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 1995	My rating:
	The Antiphon 4.08 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 1958 — 2 editions	My rating:
	New York 3.69 avg rating — 13 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:

More books by Djuna Barnes…

Quotes by Djuna Barnes

“I talk too much because I have been made so miserable by what you are keeping hushed.”
― Djuna Barnes, Nightwood

31 people liked it

“A man is whole only when he takes into account his shadow.”
― Djuna Barnes

tags: jungism , personhood , shadow-self

21 people liked it

“The very condition of Woman is so subject to Hazard, so complex, and so grievous, that to place her at one moment is but to displace her at the next.”
― Djuna Barnes

9 people liked it

See all Djuna Barnes's quotes »

Polls

Which book would you like to read for January/February?

Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

35 votes, 40.2%

The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst

21 votes, 24.1%

Rat Bohemia by Sarah Schulman

18 votes, 20.7%

A Different Light by Elizabeth A. Lynn

13 votes, 14.9%

87 total votes

8 comments

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