Djuna Barnes

A Novel

Nightwood

Jamieson

"I have been loved by something strange, and it has forgotten me


This is one of those hoity toity literary books that your modernism professor who loved Gertrude Stein won't shut up about but also it's a lesbian classic and I am a sapphic girl who likes lesbian classics and sometimes reads a hoity toity classic so here we are

Anyway - going into this one was interesting because I'd heard it's very difficult to read but worth it. I actually didn't find this as difficult as I thought. Yes, it's metaphor heavy, but stylistically not as dense as some modernism, and much more familiar. Once I got used to how the chapters were set out, I found this relatively quickly to get through (though I do think this is a book you benefit from reading slowly). So I was surprised by how immersed I got in it

I did like this for its writing and characters. Djuna Barnes has beautiful writing and I tabbed or highlighted quite a few chapters. I really liked the use of metaphor and the monologues actually captured my attention rather than losing it. I also liked the almost vague construction of the characters and how there was a lot of room for interpretation and a good amount of unreliable narrator which I enjoy. The queerness was also good - multiple sapphic characters and the Doctor was transgender. 

But there was also a LOT of anti-semitism and racialisation that was hard to ignore. "its the time" blah blah but it doesn't mean it's exempt from criticism and I think it's something thats very hard to enjoy from a modern lens. The entire construction of the Jewish characters like Felix was just steeped in anti-semitic tropes and ideas. 

Overall though, an interesting read and definitely outside of the usual classics I read. I loved Barnes use of language and character and the lyrical sense of her prose. More of a 3.5 rating

Nightwood A Novel

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