Djuna Barnes wrote modernist fiction, drama and journalism about sexuality, exile, performance and relationships that resist conventional social categories. Nightwood follows a circle of expatriates in 1920s Paris whose lives revolve around the elusive Robin Vote, using dense, baroque prose and long monologues rather than straightforward realism. Ryder is a more comic and formally disruptive family novel, while Ladies Almanack satirises a lesbian artistic circle through mock-archaic language and illustrated parody. Barnes's journalism and interviews show another side of her work, but her fiction is deliberately difficult, image-rich and theatrical. Her books fit queer modernism, expatriate fiction and experimental literature, especially for readers of Gertrude Stein and Mina Loy who are comfortable with unconventional syntax and fragmented narrative. Read more Less
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