Queerv Classics Rototclytllle Hall's “Tlrxe well oil Lovxelivxess" BY ERNIE MCLEOD Though Radclyffe Halls "The Well of Loneliness” is probably the .most famous lesbian novel of all time and is still a best seller today, neither it nor its auflior have ever enjoyed an easy popularity. As Esther Newton states in her article “The Mythic Marmish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman”: “Heterosexual conserva- tives condemn The Well for defending the lesbian’s right to exist; lesbian feminists condemn it for presenting lesbians as dilferent fi'om women in general.” Since it was first published in 1928, “The Well of Loneliness” has been loved and loathed in perhaps equal measures. Unlike Virginia Woolfs “Orlando” (published the same year to far less notoriety), it contains little timeless ambiguity or literary hipness. It also lacks a reas- suringly romantic happy ending 21 la E.M. Forster’s “Maurice.” What it does contain is a brave and com- pelling argument put forth with old- fashioned excess. You’ll likely wince at Hall’s “sexual inversion” theories (influenced by certain sex- ologists of the day), but it’s hard not to find a kernel of truth in much of what she writes, or to deny the power of her‘ convictions. T '1 Marguerite Radclylfe Hall was bom in England in 1880, was known as Peter as a child, and called herselflohn. Her early years were privileged but unhappy, her care lefl mainly to nannies. When her father died in 1898, she inherit- ed a fortune, enabling her to live lavishly. She published poetry and two well-received novels before “The Well” appeared. An outraged editorial (calling the novel “moral poison”) was followed by a trial which declared the book “obscene libel.” It was banned in Britain and endured a court battle inAmerica as well. Hall continued to write nov- els, none of which contained overt lesbian themes or matched “Well’s” success. In 1907 she met Mabel Batten, with whom she lived alter Batten’s husband died. Her longest relationship was with Batten’s cousin, Una Troubridge, and her novels are dedicated to “Our Three Selves,” meaning her- self, Batten and Troubridge. From all reports Hall was an unpleasant person with political leanings against feminism and towards fas- cism. She apparently demanded absolute fidelity from her lovers but applied less rigorous standards to herself. _ “The Well of Loneliness” is undoubtedly an autobiographical work, its grandeur matching the oversized nature of its authors life. It follows Stephen Gordon from early childhood at her beloved fam- AQTS september 2001 OlTl'l ' 25 CI-IERIE AND YOLANDA Channel 15 . Tuesdays and Sundays at 10 pm, Saturdays at 12 am Adelphia INTHELIFE Vermont Public Television Movers & Shakers Check Local Listings for Dates and Times ' St. Iohnsbury WVTB Channel 20 Rutland WVER Channel 28 Burlington WETK Channel 33 Windsor WVTA Channel 41 Manchester W36AX Channel 36 Bennington W53AS Channel 53 T This month on In The Life,Tony Award-winner Cherry. Jones is the ' guest host of our Special Edition: The Best of ITL episode, a compila- tion that brings together five of our 1 best stories from recent past sea sons. Actor Steve Buscemi is fea- ( tured in_Parting Glances for his por- trayal of a person with AIDS in this 1986 groudbreaking film. From Hong Kong to mainland China, the unique challenges of coming out in Asian communities are shared by gay students in China: Communism and Culture. The legacy of Judy Garland and what may have been a link to the Stonewall Rebellion is the focus of The /udy Connection. NEWSANDVIEWSFROM THE VT ST ATEHOUSE Bane Channel 7 Wednesday 7 pm and Thursday 9 am & 12 pm . Burlington Channel 15 and 17 Check local listings Colchester Channel 15 Monday 10:30 am, Wednesday 10 pm, and Thursday 7:30 pm Manchester Channel 15 Check local listings Middlebury Channel 15 Monday 11 :30 am, and Thursday 11:30 am & 9:30 pm Montpelier Channel 15 Wednesday 7 pm, and Thursday 1pm , Monday 8 pm Rufland Channel 15 Check local listings St.Albans Channel 10 Check local listings St. Iohnsbury Channel 7 Check local listings Waitsfield Channel 44 Monday through Friday 12 pm & 5 pm THE VERMONT RAINBOW CONNECTION Burlington Channel 15 Friday 9 pm Adelphia Bane Channel 7 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at 8:30 pm Helicon ' ily estate, Morton, through her adult exile as a writer in Paris. Outlining the plot in any detail would far exceed the confines of this article; let’s just say there’s no shortage of melodrama along the way. What the novel is really concerned ‘with, however, is what it means to be bom with a gender orientation and sexual desires at odds with societal expectations. From ‘birth, Stephen sees herself and is seen by others as an oddity, a girl who should have been a boy. As she grows older, her longing to love women “the way a man loves a woman” colors every facet of her existence. “The Well” is ultimately a plea for understanding and compassion towards -those who, in society’s eyes, “have no right to love.” Eventually the novel focuses in gilephlff anziellfil/E3:/flgli)/Ou::t:Vn:‘:)r_l l970’s it really was THE lesbian Probably because it confronts all of Cent Stephen meets while serving novel. l']Ihat'it s fall:]r(r oufieifi‘ favor Ere stereotypes son: like to pretend H as an ambulance driver in World Zplmflelw at since rn ‘es T mgth it on t C)l(lS°t(.j Few o l].lS wanthto -0. War I‘ AS Strong as their love is, e more instructive. rue, e our evo‘y queersevesat ‘e their relationship will never be prose is altematelyleaden and over- tom of The Well of ‘Loneliness, Sanctioned" by Society, a fact wrought,’but its expertly V plotted but the fact that it still touches a and Hall s moral stance 15 never nerve suggests we haven t yet fin- Stephen_whO has no Cgancfi to bl: less than fierce A tour of the “gar- ished exploring its depths “nOm1al”_~Can accept or "em ish and ‘c hi t life of Paris” I (:5 §O1ll:Sl\(/iIiTeyr;1r;I1lE:eis“;fla)sIciI}1I::,E_l and somgaflolorftrglhside characters F“'he" R°“dl“g‘ C ins, if infilriatine owl.’ add to the mlngue“ “Radcl ff Hall: A Woman Called Much has been written about Wl11y‘:l0eS;.mS.n9S::l mgktehsl) Jlc/rhn” by Sally Cline “The Well of Loneliness” andits "F" es. ‘a§,,;S‘;““N Va‘ 1°35‘ “infamous mannjsh lesbian” pm. _a 1:5 squ"Tnl' abo erwfh Oalailw “The Trials of Radclyffe Hall” tagonist Stephen Gordon. 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