GLR September-October 2023

ESSAY 1928: Out Came Hall and Woolf M EGHAN T IBBITS -L AMIRANDE

O N AUGUST 15, 1921, the British House of Lords squirmed in discomfort as they debated the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which had recently passed the House of Commons. The Commons had modified the Act to include a clause making “ gross acts of indecency ” be tween women illegal, and “ punishable in the same manner as any such act committed by male persons. ” In response to this amendment, House representatives set about the mind-twisting task of attempting to legislate lesbian ism while refusing to speak its name. “ MyLords, ” began the Earl of Malmesbury, “ I am extremely sorry to raise a discussion upon what must be, to all of us, a most disgusting and polluting sub ject. ” Agreed the Earl of Desart: “ I much regret that such a ques tion has even been discussed. ... I may perhaps draw cold comfort from the realization that there are not many people who read the debates of either House. ” The Earl of Desart, former Director of Public Prosecutions, was particularly concerned that prosecuting lesbian sex would amount to its public advertisement by the Leg islature: “ The mere discussion of subjects of this sort tends, in the minds of unbalanced people to create the idea of an offence of which the enormous majority of them have never even heard. ” publication of two revolutionary works of literature by queer women writers, and lesbianism would once again become the subject of intense dispute. Published within three months of one another, Radclyffe Hall ’ s The Well of Loneliness (July 1928) and Virginia Woolf ’ s Orlando (October 1928) both deeply chal lenged the gender conventions and sexual mores of their time, however disparate their approaches to these topics. While Woolf ’ s novel was celebrated as one of her greatest literary achievements, Hall ’ s novel was prosecuted for obscenity and subsequently banned by the British Crown. § A CCORDING TO A 1928 LETTER from the Director of Public Pros ecutions, The Well of Loneliness represented “ a plea not only for toleration but for the recognition of sexual perversion amongst women, ” and would therefore “ tend to corrupt the Meghan Tibbits-Lamirande, a doctoral candidate at Carleton Univer sity in Ottawa, Ontario, is researching radical social and political movements of the 20th century. Fearing the “ noxious ” spread of lesbianism through its public discussion, the Lord Chan cellor confidently agreed that “ in a sophisti cated city ... of every thousand women ... 999 have never even heard a whisper of these practices. ” And so, the amendment never be came law. Seven years later, 1928 would mark the

minds of young persons if it fell into their hands. ” First printings ofHall ’ s novel are thus exceptionally rare, given that the mag istrate ordered publisher Jonathan Cape Ltd. to destroy all re maining copies. On the other hand, Orlando was celebrated as “ the longest and most charming love letter in literature, ” and contemporary critics argued that Woolf ’ s novel, dedicated to her sometime lover Vita Sackville-West, “ subverted censorship and revolutionized the politics of same-sex love. ” Indeed, com paring the content and public reception of these novels can tell us a lot about which depictions of queer love were most threat ening to British patriarchy in 1928. The Well of Loneliness was the first novel to portray love between women as natural, and to claim lesbians as virtuous (though persecuted) members of British society. In doing so, Hall ’ s work offended the delicate sensibilities of powerful British men. Her novel tells the fictional story of Stephen Gor don, “ a girl born out of her physical sphere ” who struggles with her desire not only for romantic relationships with women, but also to present and live as a man. Literary scholars have sug gested that Stephen was inspired by Hall herself, who went by the name “ John, ” dressed in men ’ s clothes, and lived publicly with her partner, Una Troubridge. In fact, Hall often described ars refer to Radclyffe Hall using they/them pronouns, and per haps the author would have done the same in a different era, Hall used feminine pronouns in self-reference, and I think we have to follow this practice rather than impose our standards.) The first edition of The Well of Loneliness contains an in troductory “ appreciation ” by Havelock Ellis, who argues for the social and scientific significance of Hall ’ s work. Of course, written almost a century ago, The Well of Loneliness is far from a paragon of LGBT liberation, as witness Hall ’ s negative por trayal of gay men, feminism, and the “ lower classes, ” and by Ellis ’ belief in eugenics. Nevertheless, Hall ’ s book garnered thousands of responses from others like her, who emphatically agreed with Stephen ’ s final plea in the novel ’ s closing lines: “ Give us also the right to our existence. ” While the novel initially received mixed reviews, moral panic surrounding The Well of Loneliness began with a scathing critique by Sunday Express editor James Douglas, who wrote that he “ would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a vial of prussic acid than this novel. ” The magistrate and prosecutors at the trial, who were long-time acquaintances of Douglas, herself as a “ congenital invert, ” a term she derived from physician Havelock Ellis ’ con cept of “ sexual inversion, ” which referred to those who “ believed their gender role was opposite to their biological sex. ” As such, some modern scholars suggest that Hall ’ s text is not a lesbian novel but a transgender novel. (Note that while some modern schol

Tworevolu ti onary novels by queer women were published within months of each other: Orlando and The Well of Loneliness.

September – October 2023

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