Djuna Barnes and affective modernism

233 Pages·2012·1.69 MB·English

by  Barnes

D j u n a B a r n e s
a nD
af f e c t i v e
M o D e r n i sM
julie taylor
Djuna Barnes and Affective
Modernism
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Djuna Barnes and Affective
Modernism
Julie Taylor
Edinburgh University Press
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© Julie Taylor, 2012
Edinburgh University Press Ltd
22 George Square, Edinburgh
www.euppublishing.com
Typeset in 10.5/13 pt Sabon
by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and
printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7486 4675 3 (hardback)
ISBN 978 0 7486 4676 0 (webready PDF)
ISBN 978 0 7486 6437 5 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7486 6436 8 (Amazon ebook)
The right of Julie Taylor
to be identifi ed as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Illustrations ix
Introduction: Broken Hearts and Bleeding Wounds – Traumatic
Modernism? 1
1 ‘The Excellent Arrangement of Catastrophe’: Witnessing and
Performance in The Antiphon 36
2 Djuna Barnes Beside Herself: Mixed Feelings, Sentimental
Modernism and Ryder 74
3 ‘The Infected Carrier of the Past’: Nightwood, Shame and
Modernism 110
4 ‘That Magic Reiteration’: Ladies Almanack and Happiness 145
Conclusion 182
Notes 184
Bibliography 202
Index 215
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To my parents, Rita and Ivan, and my sister, Jane
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Acknowledgements
This book grew out of a PhD dissertation at the University of York. I am
grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding three
years of doctoral study and a research trip to the Djuna Barnes archives
at the University of Maryland. I thank Beth Alvarez, Curator of Literary
Manuscripts, and her colleagues in Special Collections, University
of Maryland at College Park Library for being so kind, effi cient and
accommodating during my visit. The insights of my PhD supervisor,
Victoria Coulson, have been indispensable to this project. Victoria’s
imagination, support and terrifi c generosity have continued to enrich
my intellectual life: among the many things I’ve learnt from her is that
pleasure is a signifi cant part of the critical task.
A number of people have generously offered their advice, support
and practical help at various stages of this research. I thank Trev
Broughton, Jane Elliott, Vicki Mahaffey and Joanne Winning for care-
fully reading and commenting on my work. Thanks are also due to Alex
Goody, Susan Manning, Ann Martin, Fiona Stafford and Philip West.
I am grateful to my anonymous readers at Edinburgh University Press
for their helpful suggestions and would like to thank my editor, Jackie
Jones, for her enthusiasm and interest.
I am grateful to the fellows of Lady Margaret Hall for appointing me
Joanna Randall MacIver Junior Research Fellow. This opportunity has
given me valuable time and space to revise my work on Djuna Barnes.
Thanks in particular to Helen Barr, Christine Gerrard, Erin Goeres and
Bharat Tandon for showing me just how congenial a department can be.
New friends have made Oxford a pleasant place to return to and old
ones have continued to provide love and support. Kim Hackett and
Emma Crabtree have been immensely loyal and kind over the last few
years. Diz Manning deserves extra special thanks for repeatedly dem-
onstrating that a best friend is indeed a wonderful thing. Rita Taylor
and Ivan Taylor have offered all kinds of support and I’m continually
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viii Djuna Barnes and Affective Modernism
thankful to and for them. I owe more than I can say to my fabulous
sister, Jane Sally Taylor.
A portion of Chapter 1 appeared under the title ‘Revising The
Antiphon, Restaging Trauma; or, Where Sexual Politics Meet Textual
History’ and fi rst appeared in Modernism/modernity, 18.1 (January
2011): 125–47. Copyright © The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Reprinted with permission by The Johns Hopkins University Press. I am
grateful to the publishers for permission to reprint here.
Citations from published works and reprints of artwork by Djuna
Barnes are copyright The Authors League Fund, as literary executor
of the Estate of Djuna Barnes. I thank The Author’s League Fund for
permission to cite from Barnes’s unpublished works, drafts and corre-
spondence, and am grateful to its Executive Director, Isabel Howe, for
her help and generosity.
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List of Illustrations
2.1 ‘Going To, and Coming From’, Ryder 89
2.2 ‘Midwives’ Lament, or The Horrid Outcome of Wendell’s
First Infi delity’, Ryder 94
4.1 Illustration for ‘July’, Ladies Almanack 155
4.2 ‘Zodiac’ illustration for ‘August’, Ladies Almanack 160
4.3 Illustration for ‘March’, Ladies Almanack 162
4.4 ‘The book all ladies should carry’, Ladies Almanack 166
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