Silence and Power: A Reevaluation of Djuna Barnes

Broe, Mary Lynn (ed.)

ISBN 10: 0809312557 / ISBN 13: 9780809312559

Published by Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville, 1991

About this Item

Magenta and white illustrated covers with red and white printing; some wear on edges; bottom front corner curls. Previous owner's name in ink on title page. 424 pp. including index, b/w illustrations; clean, unmarked. "An introduction by Mary Lynn Broe is followed by contemporary interpretive essays seeking to resituate this enigmatic and power author's works in the context of literary theory and feminist revisions of modernism.".

Seller Inventory # 003722

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Silence and Power: A Reevaluation of Djuna Barnes
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale and Edwardsville
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0809312557
• ISBN 13: 9780809312559
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Roughly chronological, these essays explore Barnes’ early work in the New York newspaper world of the ‘teens, proceed through the 1954 publication of The Antiphon, and include several approaches to such works as Ryder, Ladies Almanack, and Nightwood. This judicious mix of essays—many of them illustrated by photographs and drawings—presents a comprehensive picture of the creative imagination of Djuna Barnes.

Essayists include Mary Lynn Broe, Nancy J. Levine, Ann Larabee, Joan Retallack, Carolyn Allen, Carolyn Burke, Sheryl Stevenson, Marie Ponsot, Frances M. Doughty, Susan Sniader Lanser, Frann Michel, Karla Jay, Jane Marcus, Judith Lee, Julie L. Abraham, Meryl Altman, Lynda Curry, Louise A. DeSalvo, and Catharine Stimpson. Individuals sharing personal recollections of Barnes are Ruth Ford, James B. Scott, Alex Gildzen, Hank O’Neal, Chester Page, Andrew Field, and Frances McCullough. Janice Thom and Kevin Engel provide an updated bibliography.

From The Book of Repulsive Women to The Antiphon, Barnes challenged old gender dichotomies as she shaped radical sociopolitical views. Her textual methods celebrated a multiplicity of voices, heterodox forms, and genres, transgressing those tenets of modernism that privilege the “high art” of a single, unified textual identity or a discrete discourse. These essays offer various critical approaches and sinuous readings of the full range of Barnes’ achievement. Interwoven through the essays and reminiscences is a lively commentary from Barnes’ friends and contemporaries as well as Barnes herself.

About the Author

Mary Lynn Broe is Noun Professor of Women’s Studies and English at Grinnell College.