A Book - Softcover

Barnes, Djuna

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798986610993

Publisher: Atopon Books, 2023

Synopsis

Much of A Book is adapted from writing that appeared in the earliest years of Barnes' career, during the 1910s and early 1920s . . .Of the twenty-six pieces of writing between its covers - twelve stories, eleven poems, and three plays - at least nine had appeared in print beforehand, in modernist "little magazines" like The Little Review, or in one of the several news publications that Barnes wrote for in New York. She republished A Book twice after its first appearance, though under different titles, as A Night Among the Horses (1929) and Spillway (1962), revising, retitling, and cutting along the way. . .A Book's short stories and plays, which range from a few pages in length to no more than seventeen, often feature few characters, are heavy with dialogue, and exploit this structure to portray stilted, often viciously exploitative, economies of human difference. Among her common themes are: divides of class and status and the space between urban and rural sensibilities ("A Night Among the Horses," "Three from the Earth," "The Valet"); the differences of sexuality and gendered embodiment ("To the Dogs," "No-Man's-Mare," "The Dove"); the relationships of always-precocious children to their guardians and older generations ("Oscar," "A Boy Asks a Question of a Lady"); and the "performance" of national and racial belonging ("The Rabbit," "Katrina Silverstaff"). 

- from the Introduction

About this title

About the Author

DJUNA BARNES was born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, in 1892. She was an American novelist, poet, playwright, journalist, and visual artist as well as an important figure in the Modernist movement. Her works include the novels Ryder (1928), Ladies Almanack (1928), and Nightwood (1937). Barnes died in New York City in 1982.

Edition details

• Publisher: Atopon Books
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798986610993
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200