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"No Modernism Without Lesbians"
Jan. 30th, 2022 03:38 pmNo Modernism Without Lesbians, by Diana Souhami, Head of Zeus Press, London, 2020
I really wish I had been able to read this book when I was 14, 15, 16, and know that there were not only other women who loved women, but that they could be famous and successful. Four women are profiled in this book: Sylvia Beach, who started the bookstore Shakespeare & Co.; Bryher, who funded modernist writing and film; Natalie Barney who had many women lovers; and Gertrude Stein, who had only one - Alice B. Toklas. They came from the United States, and from England, to Paris to be free (or more free) from social constraints. Two of them had inherited wealth, which enabled them to finance many of the writers and poets and painters and performers who pioneered modernism. James Joyce might never have published "Ulysses" if not for Sylvia Beach. Gertrude Stein's sponsorship of Picasso was crucial to his success. This is important lesbian history that many may find worth reading.
I really wish I had been able to read this book when I was 14, 15, 16, and know that there were not only other women who loved women, but that they could be famous and successful. Four women are profiled in this book: Sylvia Beach, who started the bookstore Shakespeare & Co.; Bryher, who funded modernist writing and film; Natalie Barney who had many women lovers; and Gertrude Stein, who had only one - Alice B. Toklas. They came from the United States, and from England, to Paris to be free (or more free) from social constraints. Two of them had inherited wealth, which enabled them to finance many of the writers and poets and painters and performers who pioneered modernism. James Joyce might never have published "Ulysses" if not for Sylvia Beach. Gertrude Stein's sponsorship of Picasso was crucial to his success. This is important lesbian history that many may find worth reading.
