The Well of Loneliness

The Well of Loneliness is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family. The novel became the target of a campaign by James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express.

About The Well of Loneliness in brief

The Well of Loneliness is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family. The novel became the target of a campaign by James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express. For decades it was the best-known lesbian novel in English, and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find. Some readers have valued it, while others have criticised it for Stephen’s expressions of self-hatred, and viewed it as inspiring shame. Although critics differ as to the value of the work of literature, its treatment of sexuality and gender continues to inspire study and debate. The book’s protagonist, Stephen Gordon is born in the late Victorian era. She hates dresses, wants to cut her hair short, and longs to be a boy. Stephen’s father, Sir Phillip, dotes on her; he seeks to understand her through the writings of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the first modern writer to propose a theory of homosexuality. Her mother, Lady Anna, is distant, seeing Stephen as a \”blemished, unworthy, maimed reproduction\” of Sir Phillip. At eighteen, Stephen forms a close friendship with a Canadian man, Martin Hallam, but is horrified when he declares his love for her. Stephen begins to dress in masculine clothes made by a tailor rather than a dressmaker. At twenty-one she falls in love with Angela Crossby, who is having an affair with a man.

Then Stephen discovers that Angela is having a sexual element, at least for Stephen seems to have some sexual element. The pair conduct a relationship, although Stephen shows a letter to her husband Fearing exposure from her husband, who sends a copy of the letter to Stephen’s wife. Stephen and Angela’s relationship is described as an ‘anodyne’, allowing her to ‘invert’ rather than ‘reward’ herself for being a ‘sexual inversion’ The novel was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. In the U.S. the book survived legal challenges in New York state and in Customs Court. Publicity over the legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. In April 1928 she told her editor that her new book would require complete commitment from its publisher and that she would not allow even one word to be altered. Her goals were social and political; she wanted to end public silence about homosexuality and bring about ‘a more tolerant understanding’ – as well as to “spur all classes of inverts to make good through hard work… and sober and useful living’”. She had long thought of writing a novel about sexual inversion; now, she believed, her literary reputation would allow such a work to be given a hearing. In 1926, her novel Adam’s Breed, about the spiritual awakening of an Italian headwaiter, had become a best-seller; it would soon win the Prix Femina and the James Tait Black Prize.

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