Radclyffe Hall

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Standard Name: Hall, Radclyffe
Birth Name: Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall
Nickname: John
Self-constructed Name: Radclyffe Hall
RH is best-known today for her landmark lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness, 1928. But she herself explained that she waited until she had made a name for myself as an author . . . because I felt that it would . . . be difficult for an unknown writer to get a novel on congenital sexual inversion published.
Hall, Radclyffe. Radclyffe Hall’s 1934 Letter About The Well of Loneliness. Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation.
1-2
Her literary reputation was based first on her poetry but later, and more substantially, on her novels, particularly Adam's Breed.
Black and white photograph of Radclyffe Hall, shown from the waist up. She is wearing a man's suit and tie, and her short hair is slicked back. In her left hand she holds a small black dog.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
politics Virginia Woolf
The New Censorship, a letter to the editor protesting against the suppression of Radclyffe Hall'sThe Well of Loneliness and signed by VW and E. M. Forster , appeared in the Nation.
Bishop, Edward. A Virginia Woolf Chronology. Macmillan.
115
politics Virginia Woolf
During the trial of Radclyffe Hall 's novel The Well of Loneliness, VW attended with many friends and associates in order to give evidence, but the magistrate refused to hear testimony on literary merit.
Bishop, Edward. A Virginia Woolf Chronology. Macmillan.
117
Friends, Associates Virginia Woolf
She and Forster began to know one another this year and became lifelong friends. He reviewed her books, and she his, and in defence of Radclyffe Hall 's The Well of Loneliness they wrote jointly....
politics Amabel Williams-Ellis
A tea-party at the London studio of architect Clough Williams-Ellis (probably hosted by him and his wife AWE ) was held to discuss possible legal support of Radclyffe Hall 's The Well of Loneliness.
Woolf, Virginia. The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Editors Nicolson, Nigel and Joanne Trautmann, Hogarth Press.
3: 555
Textual Production Michelene Wandor
MW has specialized in adapting and abridging novels for radio. Between 1980 and 2004 she adapted a wide array of fiction by women writers, including works by Jane Austen , Charlotte Brontë , George Eliot
Publishing Una Troubridge
Gallimard published Léo Lack 's and UT 's French translation of Radclyffe Hall 's novel The Well of Loneliness, as Le puits de solitude.
Ormrod, Richard. Una Troubridge: The Friend of Radclyffe Hall. Carroll and Graf.
205
Cline, Sally. Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John. John Murray.
272
OCLC WorldCat. http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Textual Production Una Troubridge
UT published her biography, The Life and Death of Radclyffe Hall, which she had finished writing by 19 February 1945.
Norman, Sylva. “A Woman’s World”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 3119, p. 883.
883
Troubridge, Una. The Life and Death of Radclyffe Hall. Hammond, Hammond.
5
Ormrod, Richard. Una Troubridge: The Friend of Radclyffe Hall. Carroll and Graf.
291, 307-8
Cline, Sally. Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John. John Murray.
107
Author summary Una Troubridge
Twentieth-century translator and biographer UT is best remembered for her numerous translations from the French and Italian, and for her biography of her lover of twenty-eight years, the writer Radclyffe Hall . UT also published...
Occupation Una Troubridge
By the age of sixteen, UT had begun receiving commissions for her sculptures and had rented a studio of her own in which to exhibit her works. The money she earned from these commissions gave...
Family and Intimate relationships Una Troubridge
UT later said of her marriage: Almost before I knew it I was grown-up.
Ormrod, Richard. Una Troubridge: The Friend of Radclyffe Hall. Carroll and Graf.
39
Ernest Troubridge, who came from a distinguished naval family, was a friend of the Taylor family and a widower in...
Family and Intimate relationships Una Troubridge
On the outbreak of World War One, Ernest Troubridge , as the Commander of the Second Squadron, was assigned to the task of preventing German ships in the Adriatic from sallying out into the Mediterranean...
Occupation Una Troubridge
By 1925 UT was working as a reader of manuscripts for Cassells and for Radclyffe Hall 's agent Audrey Heath . She had also begun reviewing books for the Sunday Times.
Ormrod, Richard. Una Troubridge: The Friend of Radclyffe Hall. Carroll and Graf.
162
Cline, Sally. Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John. John Murray.
201, 234
Other Life Event Una Troubridge
The obscenity trial of Radclyffe Hall 's novel The Well of Loneliness began on 9 November 1928, when Hall's publisher received a summons. It and culminated on 16 November, when the novel was declared obscene...
death Una Troubridge
The Times obituary notice recollected the cultural significance of UT 's lifelong companionship with Radclyffe Hall, declaring, Few who remember London and the Continent in the twenties and thirties will fail to recall the appearances...
Publishing Una Troubridge
During her involvement with the Society for Psychical Research , from about 1916 to 1921, a number of UT 's papers appeared in the Proceedings, some of which she co-wrote with Radclyffe Hall .
Troubridge, Una. The Life and Death of Radclyffe Hall. Hammond, Hammond.
57

Timeline

1904: Madame C. de Broutelles founded the Prix...

Writing climate item

1904

Madame C. de Broutelles founded the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse, a prestigious French literary prize awarded by a jury of twelve women. A. Mary F. Robinson (an English writer living in France) was a co-founder.

1931: The Obelisk Press in Paris was established...

Writing climate item

1931

The Obelisk Press in Paris was established by Jack Kahane , in part to combat prudery in British publishing.

1965: Barrie and Rockliff publishers (formerly...

Writing climate item

1965

Barrie and Rockliff publishers (formerly James Barrie imprint) bought out both Herbert Jenkins Limited , publisher of P. G. Wodehouse , and Hammond, Hammond , publishers of Radclyffe Hall .

14 July 2006: The Bow Street Magistrates Court, one of...

Building item

14 July 2006

The Bow Street Magistrates Court , one of London's most famous courts, closed after dispensing justice for 267 years.

9 December 2006-17 July 2007: The National Portrait Gallery in London mounted...

Writing climate item

9 December 2006-17 July 2007

The National Portrait Gallery in London mounted an exhibition of photographs of women writers, mostly novelists, from 1920 to 1960.

Texts

Hall, Radclyffe. ’The World’ and other unpublished works of Radclyffe Hall. Editor Funke, Jana, Manchester University Press, 2016.
Hall, Radclyffe. ’Twixt Earth and Stars. J. and E. Bumpus, 1906.
Hall, Radclyffe. A Saturday Life. Arrowsmith, 1925.
Hall, Radclyffe. A Sheaf of Verses. J. and E. Bumpus, 1908.
Hall, Radclyffe. Adam’s Breed. Cassell, 1926.
Fairbairns, Zoë, and Radclyffe Hall. “Introduction”. The Unlit Lamp, Lester and Orpen Dennys, 1981.
Hall, Radclyffe. “Introduction”. Your John: The Love Letters of Radclyffe Hall, edited by Joanne Glasgow, New York University Press, 1997.
Hall, Radclyffe. Le puits de solitude. Translators Troubridge, Una and Léo Lack, Gallimard, 1932.
Hall, Radclyffe. Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself. William Heinemann, 1934.
Hall, Radclyffe. Poems of the Past and Present. Chapman and Hall, 1910.
Hall, Radclyffe. Radclyffe Hall’s 1934 Letter About The Well of Loneliness. Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation, 1994.
Hall, Radclyffe. Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems. Chapman and Hall, 1913.
Hall, Radclyffe. The Forge. Arrowsmith, 1924.
Hall, Radclyffe. The Forgotten Island. Chapman and Hall, 1915.
Hall, Radclyffe. The Master of the House. Jonathan Cape, 1932.
Hall, Radclyffe. The Sixth Beatitude. William Heinemann, 1936.
Hall, Radclyffe. The Unlit Lamp. Cassell, 1924.
Hall, Radclyffe, and Havelock Ellis. The Well of Loneliness. Jonathan Cape, 1928.
Hall, Radclyffe, and Havelock Ellis. The Well of Loneliness. Anchor Books, 1990.