Radclyffe Hall

The Well of Loneliness was banned for obscenity when published in 1928. It became an international bestseller, and for decades was the single most famous lesbian novel.

The Well of Loneliness

First published in 1928, this timeless portrayal of lesbian love is now a classic. The thinly disguised story of Hall's own life, it was banned outright upon publication and almost ruined her literary career.

The Classic of Lesbian Fiction

The Unlit Lamp

El pozo de la soledad

Quell der Einsamkeit

Marguerite Radclyffe Hall

" On la jugeait singulière, ce qui, dans ce milieu, équivalait à une réprobation. Troublée, malheureuse, comme un tout petit enfant, cette large créature musclée se sentait seule, elle n'avait pas encore appris cette dure leçon : elle n'avait pas encore appris que la place la plus solitaire en ce monde est réservée aux sans-patrie du sexe. " Le puits de solitude fit scandale lors de sa parution à Londres en 1928, où il fut interdit et les exemplaires imprimés jetés au feu. Marguerite Radclyffe Hall y dépeint l'amour de deux femmes, contrarié par une société hostile, et prend la défense de cette minorité incomprise et méprisée. Véritable plaidoyer en faveur de l'homosexualité, Le puits de solitude est aujourd'hui une référence littéraire reconnue par tous.

Le puits de solitude

Well of Loneliness

This early work by Radclyffe Hall was originally published in 1906 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'Twixt Earth and Stars' is a collection of poems that include 'In a Garden', 'Drifting', 'A Memory', and many more. Marguerite Radclyffe Hall was born on 12th August 1880, in Bournemouth, England. Hall's first novel The Unlit Lamp (1924) was a lengthy and grim tale that proved hard to sell. It was only published following the success of the much lighter social comedy The Forge (1924), which made the best-seller list of John O'London's Weekly. Hall is a key figure in lesbian literature for her novel The Well of Loneliness (1928). This is her only work with overt lesbian themes and tells the story of the life of a masculine lesbian named Stephen Gordon.

Twixt Earth and Stars

Il pozzo della solitudine

Despite his success as a waiter in London's best hotel, Gian-Luca is unable to come to terms with his uncertain parentage

Adam's Breed

Kniha vypráví o osudech Štěpy Gordonové, dceři nižšího britského šlechtice z Mortonského zámku, která postupně rozpoznává své lesbické založení. První je pochopil její vzdělaný a osvícený otec. Obává se však dceři i ženě pravdu vyjevit. Proto, když po tragické nehodě umírá, zemře s nedopovězenou pravdou na rtech. Vyjevení této pravdy mohlo být v dané chvíli projevem jeho životního hrdinství, neboť od chvíle, kdy ji poznal, znamenala pro něj nutný krok, kterého se nemohl odvážit. Místo toho zanechá zmatenou dceru i její okolí na pospas nepoznané skutečnosti. Štěpa se musí ke svému sebepoznání propracovat sama. Nikdy ji nepochopí matka a po skandálu se ženou, do které se Štěpa zamilovala, ji vyžene ze zámku. 
Ze Štěpy se stane spisovatelka, všimne si jí homosexuální dramatik Brockett, který pochopí její založení. Přiměje ji k odchodu do Paříže, kde se Štěpa seznamuje se světem homosexuálů i jejich subkulturou. 

Román anglické spisovatelky, vydaný r. 1928, způsobil tehdy podobné pozdvižení, jako hlavní díla J. Joyce a D. H. Lawrence. Autorka, poučena výtěžky Freudovy psychoanalýzy, se pokouší vystihnout fyzickou i psychickou osamělost lesbické ženy, která je ve společnosti uznávající jen heterosexuální lásku bytostí vyvrženou, nechápanou a přinucenou skrývat své tužby. Svědomitou snahu R. Hallové o pravdivé a rozumějící vypodobnění ocenil i významný sexuolog H. Ellis.

Studna osamění

A Saturday Life

Virginia Woolf

Lucas Malet

Oscar Wilde

Bayard Taylor

Theodore Winthrop

Robert Hichens

Henry Blake Fuller

Jack Saul

Sheridan Le Fanu

Harlan Cozad McIntosh

Musaicum Books presents the classics of gay literature by the most authentic and controversial authors of the past: Orlando by Virginia Woolf The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Cecil Dreeme by Theodore Winthrop Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu Joseph and His Friend by Bayard Taylor This Finer Shadow by Harlan Cozad McIntosh Bertram Cope's Year by Henry Blake Fuller The Sins of the Cities of the Plain by Jack Saul The Green Carnation by Robert Hichens The History of Sir Richard Calmady by Lucas Malet

Joseph and His Friend, This Finer Shadow, Regiment of Women, Sappho, The Picture of Dorian Gray…

Gay Classics - Boxed Set: 10 Novel Collection

It is a deep tragedy that same-sex love was long seen as an anomaly. Luckily, the times are changing and there is a wide acceptance of LGBTQ+ community. Thanks to our cherished but at the time - controversial authors, who created the space for some of the most iconic gay and lesbian characters, we know have classics that were always claiming that love knows no boundaries. So come and indulge in the magic of these queer classics with our special edition that celebrates love and the freedom to love. _x000D_ Contents:_x000D_ Orlando by Virginia Woolf_x000D_ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde_x000D_ Cecil Dreeme by Theodore Winthrop_x000D_ Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall_x000D_ Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu_x000D_ Joseph and His Friend by Bayard Taylor_x000D_ The Green Carnation by Robert Hichens _x000D_ This Finer Shadow by Harlan Cozad McIntosh_x000D_ Bertram Cope's Year by Henry Blake Fuller_x000D_ The Sins of the Cities of the Plain by Jack Saul_x000D_ The History of Sir Richard Calmady by Lucas Malet

Orlando, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Cecil Dreeme, The Sins of the Cities, Well of Loneliness, Carmilla...

Out & Proud: Gay Classics Collection

"The Well of Loneliness" is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall that was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" (homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection, which Hall depicts as typically suffered by "inverts", with predictably debilitating effects. The novel portrays "inversion" as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: "Give us also the right to our existence". "Carmilla" is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later revealed to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein (Carmilla is an anagram of Mircalla). Le Fanu presents the story as part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from medical orthodoxy rank him as the first occult doctor in literature. The story is often anthologized and has been adapted many times in film and other media. It is a one of the earliest works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by 26 years.

Carmilla & The Well of Loneliness

The Well of loneliness, by Radclyffe Hall, with a commentary by Havelock Ellis

This volume contains the first novel; as well as the most famous novel, by author Marguerite Radclyffe Hall.Hall's first novel, The Unlit Lamp, is the story of Joan Ogden, a young girl who dreams of setting up a flat in London with her friend Elizabeth (a so-called Boston marriage) and studying to become a doctor, but feels trapped by her manipulative mother's emotional dependence on her.The other novel in this volume is Hall's best known work, The Well of Loneliness, the only one of her eight novels to have overt lesbian themes. Published in 1928, was the subject of an obscenity trial and forbidden at the time in England. It deals with the life of Stephen Gordon, a masculine lesbian who, like Hall herself, identifies as an invert. Although Gordon's attitude toward her own sexuality is anguished, the novel presents lesbianism as natural and makes a plea for greater tolerance.

Radclyffe Hall

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