Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.
Lädt ... The unlit lamp (Original 1924; 1981. Auflage)von Radclyffe Hall
Werk-InformationenThe Unlit Lamp von Radclyffe Hall (1924)
Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. This is a book to give rise to mixed emotions. On the one hand, it makes you feel angry that Joan feels she has no other option but care for his mother, despite her ambitions and the support she has from Elizabeth. And angry at Mrs Ogden for being to too clingy. On the other, there's the relationship between Elizabeth and Joan that pushes both of them forward, until Joan disapppoints Elizabeth one final time. Radclyffe Hall didn't write this novel as her great lesbian love story, but that's how it reads, and in many ways it was more compelling than Stephen and Mary in The Well of Loneliness. ( ) ‘Joan! I don’t know you awfully well , and of course you’re only a kid as yet, but Elizabeth says you’re clever— and don’t you let yourself be bottled.’ ‘Bottled?’ she queried. ‘Don’t you get all cramped up and fuggy, like one does when one sits over a fire all day. I know what I mean, it sounds all rot, only it isn’t rot. You look out! I have a presentiment that they mean to bottle you.’ I figured I would The Unlit Lamp before attempting Radclyffe Hall's more famous (or infamous) work The Well of Loneliness - simply because I wanted to see where her writing was coming from without having any expectations. Radclyffe Hall doesn't quite manage to impress with her writing - there is a lot of telling rather than showing going on and a lot of repetition - but, to my surprise, I really liked The Unlit Lamp for being such an anti-hero of a book. It is as depressing as any Hardy novel I have read, and even when read as a kind of cautionary tale about wasted lives, selfishness, responsibility, and infuriating parental manipulation, the story kept its pace until the very last. Now I am still not sure who I want to slap more - Elizabeth or her mother. The Unlit Lamp, 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. It's grim, you want to shake Joan so much, but Radclyffe Hall writes the story not just for this one character but for all women whose lives are lived in quiet desperation submitting to the will of others. A powerful story to make anyone hesitant to jump at the chances life offers us. What a sad book. I expected a happy ending, although with hindsight I'm not sure why. So I read right to the end expecting the cavalry to come over the hill and save the day and make Joan happy, and was very blindsided when they didn't. It is interesting that the Well of Loneliness is thought of as the first lesbian novel, as this earlier novel is about Joan, who wants to leave her family home to go and live with Elizabeth, who she loves. There is no explicit nature to their love, but their strong feeling for each other is clear, and it is odd reading this as a modern reader trying to squeeze their relationship into my boxes and stereotypes. Joan is hindered by the strong sense of responsibility she feels for her aging mother, and by her own fears. I assumed it would be a book about how Joan eventually grew up and found herself and became happy, but instead it is a book about how Elizabeth gets bored of waiting, and Joan is miserable and stifled for the rest of her life. I wonder if it is a self-justifying novel? 'Oh, I had to leave my family, because wouldn't it be unbearable to end up like this'? The relationship between Joan and Elizabeth is uncomfortable as well. They meet when Joan is small (11ish?) and Elizabeth is her governess, and the progression of their relationship is surprisingly ikky when this fact is kept in mind. Joan is young and vulnerable, and it is oddly easy to frame Elizabeth's actions almost as 'grooming'. Oh but how I wanted Elizabeth to come back to her and save the day, and they could go off to Cambridge together and learn so much about the world and be happy! It was a heartbreaking book in so many ways. Zeige 5 von 5 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
The Unlit Lamp (1924) is a novel by Radclyffe Hall. After publishing several collections of poems, Hall turned to fiction in 1924 with two successful novels. The Unlit Lamp is the story of a young woman with an unhappy home life who falls in love with an older teacher and dreams of moving to London to become a doctor. Despite her independent spirit, Joan struggles to escape the clutches of her controlling mother. "Mrs. Ogden put her hand up to her head wearily, glancing at Joan as she did so. Joan was so quick to respond to the appeal of illness. Mrs. Ogden would not have admitted to herself how much she longed for this quick response and sympathy. [...] There were times, growing more frequent of late, when she longed, yes, longed to break down utterly, to become bedridden, to be waited upon hand and foot, to have arresting symptoms of her own, any number of them." Unhappily married to the Colonel, a cold and distant man, Mrs. Ogden depends on her daughters for emotional support. As Joan and Milly draw closer the age of independence, however, their mother begins thinking up ways to keep them at home, stifling their personal interests and desires. When Elizabeth Rodney, a governess, arrives to teach the sisters, Joan develops not only an attraction to the older woman, but a desire to move with her to London, where she dreams of becoming a doctor. Tragic and psychologically piercing, The Unlit Lamp is a story of friendship, family, and desire that continues to be recognized as a groundbreaking work of lesbian literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Radclyffe Hall's The Unlit Lamp is a classic work of British literature reimagined for modern readers. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineBeliebte Umschlagbilder
Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
Bist das du?Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor. |