Michèle Causse

One of the things that transpires from this little book (the text runs for only 24 pages) is that Djuna Barnes was very unapproachable.

The author of this text was Michèle Causse (1939 - 2010) was born in France, subsequently lived in Tunesia, Rome, where she studied Chinese, Martinique, the US and Canada. Her last years she lived in France. Causse was a radical queer activist, who was critical of the women's movement. She published many books and articles as well as multimedia show more productions.

Ontmoeting met Djuna Barnes first appeared as a 21-page contribution in L'almanach des dames, (Ed. Flammarion, Paris, 1982, Amsterdam), in French as Rencontre avec Djuna Barnes. It seems there is no separate book publication of this text in neither French nor English, besides the Dutch translation which I read.

The interview between Michèle Causse and Djuna Barnes on February 13, 1981. The conversation seems strained. Barnes appears as un unpleasant and unwilling interlocutor. Causse is provocative. Although she wonders why Barnes agreed to the interview with her, having remained in seclusian for years denying many other interviewers, Caussee's obstinacy may have just been the right thing. She does ask a number of interesting questions and cues, and from the interview readers learn quite something about Barnes and her contemporaries, and Barnes ideas about women.

The Dutch book edition comes with four and a half pages of notes and a short introduction by Rosa Pollé show less