Theodora Keogh (1919–2008)

I discovered this book, first published in 1950, by reading about it in the author's obituary. According to the obit, Keogh was an emancipated woman who broke with convention & wrote books considered shocking in their day. THE DOUBLE DOOR tells of a cruel, self-centered gigolo who marries a rich woman & sets up a double house. One side is his residence & outer persona. The other (reached through a double door in his bedroom) is a private playground for his gay lovers, a place of "depravity," where his daughter trespasses & becomes "corrupted." Keogh has a peculiar, primitive, awkward writing style that feels rushed & unpolished yet oddly compelling. She places verbs and adjectives strangely, using them to personify inanimate objects. For example, "The street, nursing its fresh and gaping wound, ..." or "the two perfumes, natural and artificial, were still at war on her body...".
The story feels like a raw fantasy, the projection of the inner playacting of an imaginative, uninhibited but also unsophisticated adolescent.… (mehr)

I've seen Theodora Keogh described before as being Patricia Highsmith-esque, and that seems fairly appropriate. While lacking in the psychological claustrophobia that is common in Highsmith, Keogh presents characters who are likable on the one hand and just.not.quite.right. on the other. Gemini, as you could probably have guessed, is a story about twins. Not just any twins though--incestuous twins. Not only is this a taboo relationship, but it is also a dark one, giving the novel a nice amount of depth. How an obsessive love between twins leads to murder makes for an interesting twist that Keogh handles both subtly and powerfully. Definitely worth a read if you're inclined toward your friendly neighborhood sociopath.… (mehr)