Product Description

The version of Nightwood published in 1936 and revered ever since both as a classic modernist work and a groundbreaking lesbian novel differs in many ways from the book Djuna Barnes actually wrote. The Dalkey edition not only restores to the main text the material Barnes reluctantly allowed to be cut, but also reproduces in facsimile the seventy pages of discarded drafts that survive of earlier versions. More than sixty years after its publication, Nightwood is firmly established as a twentieth-century classic, and this critical edition will allow readers and scholars to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of this unforgettable work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #519901 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

From Library Journal
The expatriate Barnes's 1936 novel was a breakthrough both as a work of modernist fiction and for its frank treatment of lesbianism. Although it no doubt raised an eyebrow or two, the original version had actually been toned down by T.S. Eliot. This edition restores much of the deleted material and includes facsimiles of early drafts as well as a scholarly introduction and notes. The best version of Nightwood ever to see print.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Admired by Joyce, Nightwood is as important to the history of the 20th century novel as Finnegans Wakeand more readable." -- Miranda Seymour, New York Times Book Review 11-26-95

"Djuna Barnes remains a reminder of the Road Not Yet Takeninternational, devious, perverse, verbally abundant, psychologically subtle." -- Edmund White, Voice Literary Supplement 11-95

"I read Nightwood back in the 1930s and was very taken with it. I consider it one of the great books of the twentieth century." -- William Burroughs

"Nightwood . . . is one of the top ten novels written this century and is undoubtedly . . . one of the greatest gay novels ever written. It is a magnificent, passionate, lyrical work which probes deep beneath the surface skin of life where so many novels are content to stay. . . . The editor, Cheryl J. Plumb, is to be congratulated . . . It is a work which goes on resonating after every reading." -- Gay Times 3-96

"The 72 discarded pages, full of Barnes' wonderful poetic prose, alone makes this edition worth purchasing. We need as much of Djuna Barnes' writing available as possible." -- Harvey Pekar, Chicago Tribune 11-26-95

"[Nightwood possesses] the great achievement of a style, the beauty of phrasing, the brilliance of wit and characterisation, and a duality of horror and doom very nearly related to that of Elizabethan tragedy." -- T. S. Eliot

Written in convoluted and poetic language, Nightwood is an obsessive romance illuminating the demonic and destructive aspects of love. It tells the story of a beautiful young woman, Robin Vote, and Nora and Jenny, the two women who desire her and are eventually overwhelmed and destroyed by their own passions. Robin Vote, sketchy and paradoxical, angelic yet amoral, intriguing because of what is kept from the reader rather than what is revealed, is the pivotal point upon which the story turns. A gothic undercurrent charges the book with tension: human is transformed into beast, beast into human. This theme appears over and over, and Djuna Barnes' obsessive telling of the tale melds style with subject matter. Throughout the book, Djuna Barnes interjects monologues from Dr. Matthew O'Connor, a gender-bending character and unusual literary device whose monologues illuminate the storyline and provide a cohesive understanding of the plot. Formal, dense, even verbose, yet fluid and vivid, Nightwood circles and spirals, swirling around the shadowy plot to create a timeless tale of love and tragedy. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Heather Downey

About the Author
Djuna Barnes (1892-1982) wrote in all genres—journalism, poetry, drama, fiction—and after a period of neglect is now considered one of the most important figures in the modernist movement. Two of her other books of fiction, Ladies Almanack and Ryder, are also available from Dalkey Archive Press.

Cheryl J. Plumb is also the author of Fancy's Craft: Art and Identity in the Early Works of Djuna Barnes.

Customer Reviews

A first and great incite into a mystery concerning manuscrip
It was thought for many years that there was another manuscript, or that there were more pieces to this book than the slim version which became a prose masterpiece included in the canon of American Lit 1900 to 1940. Because of the editing and work by Eliot etal, and because of Barne's reclusiveness, wse didn't know much about this manuscript. Thus Cheryl Plumb's work helps us understand more about the process of this book, it's starts and stops, it's magic and mystery. A must for Djuna Barnes fans

A Definitely Minor Writer
In this edition, the novel itself takes up only 143 pages. The rest is apparatus, excerpts of discarded text, and a lot of other editorial mumbo-jumbo. However, there is one big thing missing from this edition, and that is T. S. Eliot's preface. I have read only the first chapter, but I don't think I'm going to appreciate the remaining chapters either.

I managed to plow my way through this truly awful book, but I couldn't make myself read more than a chapter a day. It was just pointless. There was no story, none of the characters were even remotely interesting, nor did they have anything memorable to say.

There are certain books I have just not been able to appreciate: IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT, A TRAVELER (Calvino), THE MAN WITHOUT QUALITIES (Musil), all of Rabelais. It's probably a missing gene, one I'm glad I haven't got.