Djuna Barnes (1892-1982)
"To be 'one's self' is the most shocking custom of all."
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This site is about amazing women;
their brilliance, talent, and passion;
and the power of all women
to be amazing.
Nightwood  by Djuna Barnes Silence and Power (literary criticism) Please visit my bookstore for more Djuna Barnes items. |
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© Amy Brown
Djuna Barnes was an amazing writer, illustrator, and woman. Because she is one of the the least-known women on this site, my page on her will be a bit different from the others. My approach to describing Djuna's place as an amazing woman will be mostly a biographical account of her life. Once you read it, you will have little doubt why I think she's an amazing woman!
The full biography is forthcoming. For now, here's a bare-bones version. Djuna Barnes was born in 1892 in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, and died in 1982 in New York City. However, much of her life was lived far from New York. She was an author of fiction, poetry, and plays, who started out as a freelance journalist and illustrator in New York in 1913. Her talent and her connections with the artistic community in Greenwich Village soon led to the publication of her poetry and to the production of several of her plays. Assignments from magazines took her to Europe in 1921, where she lived until 1939. During that time she published several book-length works, including the novel Nightwood, which is considered her masterpiece. In 1940 she moved to Greenwich Village, where she lived for the remainder of her life. She continued to write poetry up until her death, though little was published. While decisively disregarded as a major author and member of the literary canon, the novelty of her work and fascination of her characters have securely placed her in the aesthetic annals of literature's history.
To learn more about Djuna, please visit the sites listed below.
