The Trials of Radclyffe Hall
by Diana Souhami
On This Page
Description
Diana Souhami's Lambda Award-winning biography is a fascinating look at one of the twentieth century's most intriguing lesbian literary figures. Born in 1880, Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall was a young unwanted child when her parents put an end to their tempestuous marriage by filing for divorce. She had already made tentative forays into lesbian love when her father died, leaving her an heiress at eighteen. Her income assured, Hall moved out of her mother's house, renamed herself John in honor show more of her great-great-grandfather, and divided her time among hunting, traveling, and pursuing women. She began to write--songs, poetry, prose, and short stories--and achieved success as a novelist, but it was with the publication of The Well of Loneliness in 1928 that Radclyffe Hall became an internationally known figure. Dubbed the "bible of lesbianism," the book caused a scandal on both sides of the Atlantic. Though moralistic in tone, because of its subject matter it was tried as obscene in America and in the United Kingdom, where it was censored under the Obscene Publications Act. The Trials of Radclyffe Hall is a fascinating, no-holds-barred account of the life of this controversial woman, including her torrid relationship with the married artist Una Troubridge, who was Hall's devoted partner for twenty-eight years. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall was born into a degree of wealth and society but also into a family torn apart by conflict. Abandoned by her father, treated badly by her mother and abused by her stepfather, her early years were difficult. However on the death of her father she came into money and Marguerite transformed into Radclyffe Hall, writer and 'invert'.
Perhaps most famous as the author of 'The Well of Loneliness', a lesbian novel famously banned for obscenity, this biography tells how the trauma of Marguerite's early life had such an influence on her writing and her lifestyle. Mannish in her appearance, Radclyffe Hall had three serious affairs with women lasting many years. Her lifestyle was extravagant, travelling extensively and show more keeping various pets (usually discarded after a short period for various faults), Radclyffe wrote several books but none matched the impact of 'The Well...'
Souhami is an excellent biographer who produces an unflinching portrait of a woman I found hard to like. Yes, she suffered because of her sexual proclivities but she chose to flaunt her 'inversion' in a conservative society. She felt that she was a great writer but critics were not in agreement and, whilst her most famous oeuvre was banned for obscenity, there was no sex in it. As a sexual predator and great manipulator of her lovers Hall does not present as a sympathetic character but Souhami does a great job of placing her actions into context. show less
Perhaps most famous as the author of 'The Well of Loneliness', a lesbian novel famously banned for obscenity, this biography tells how the trauma of Marguerite's early life had such an influence on her writing and her lifestyle. Mannish in her appearance, Radclyffe Hall had three serious affairs with women lasting many years. Her lifestyle was extravagant, travelling extensively and show more keeping various pets (usually discarded after a short period for various faults), Radclyffe wrote several books but none matched the impact of 'The Well...'
Souhami is an excellent biographer who produces an unflinching portrait of a woman I found hard to like. Yes, she suffered because of her sexual proclivities but she chose to flaunt her 'inversion' in a conservative society. She felt that she was a great writer but critics were not in agreement and, whilst her most famous oeuvre was banned for obscenity, there was no sex in it. As a sexual predator and great manipulator of her lovers Hall does not present as a sympathetic character but Souhami does a great job of placing her actions into context. show less
Unappealing people unsympathetically portrayed.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
15+ Works 1,913 Members
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Radclyffe Hall
- Important events
- Birth of Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall (1880-08-12); Marriage of Radclyffe and Mary at St. Andrew's Parish Church, Southport (1878-07-02); Death of Radclyffe Radclyffe Hall at Lees Hotel, Folkestone (1898-10-24); Marriage of George & Mabel Batten (1875-11-20); Marriage of Dolly Diehl and Robert Conigsby Clarke at St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge (1909-10-19); Death of King Edward VII (1910-05-06) (show all 20); Death of Grandmother Diehl (1910-10-18); Death of George Batten (1910-10-24); Lunch with Wiliam Heinemann (1915-06-01); Death of Una Troubridge's Father (1907-03-05); Death of Mabel Batten (Ladye | 1916-05-25); Funeral of Mabel Batten (Ladye | 1916-05-30); Death of Raymond Lodge (1916-09-15); Publication of "The Forge" (1924-01-25); Commencement of the writing of "Food" (1925-04-14); Death of Troubridge (1926-01-28); Una writes "The Life of Radclyffe Hall) (1945-02-19 - 1945-03-18); Death of Mrs Visetti (1945-04-14); Death of Evguenia (1958-07-16); Funeral of Evguenia (1958-07-21)
- First words
- In January 1998 the British government released into the public domain papers about the ban, seventy years earlier, of Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness. My book was in manuscript, but I was keen see this... (show all) new material. Radclyffe Hall and her solicitor Harold Rubinstein had kept all notes, letters and transcripts about the trial, but I wanted to find out what the law makers and enforcers had written in private to each other. -Private Matters
On a summer day in 1884 a blue-eyed four-year-old with ash blonde hair walked with her English nurse in the old cemetery in West Philadelphia near her grandmother's house. It was quiet there, the day was clear, she could smel... (show all)l boxwood, pine and new-mown grass. She walked on a gravel path littered with tiny shells, which she stopped to collect. There were high trees to her right, an avenue ahead and, to her left, bare grass, mounds of earth and new graves. -Chapter 1, The Fifth Commandment - Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 821.912
- Canonical LCC
- PR6015.A33
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 226
- Popularity
- 143,624
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.55)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 4
