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"Are girls necessary?" asks Julie Abraham in this provocative study of 20th-century lesbian writing. Examining the development of lesbian writing in English across the 20th Century, Abraham identifies a shift from this "romance" model to a more complicated "history" model. The great modernists, Woolf and Stein, as well as the popular writers of succeeding generations, like Mary Renault, looked to historical narratives, creating an important change in the way the "lesbian story" is built. The possibilities in lesbian writing, from the early romance plots through to the post-1960s liberation movement experiments, are Abraham's geography. Within it, she offers detailed readings of major writers in several genres, from high modern to pulp, both British and American.
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ARE GIRLS NECESSARY? This page intentionally left blank ARE GIRLS NECESSARY? Lesbian Writing and Modern Histories Julie Abraham University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis London Copyright 1996 by Routledge First University of Minnesota Press edition, 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Abraham, Julie. Are girls necessary? : lesbian writing and modern histories / Julie Abraham. — 1st University of Minnesota Press ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-5676-9 (pbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Lesbians' writings, American—History and criticism. 2. Lesbians' writings, English—History and criticism. 3. Lesbians—English-speaking countries—Intellectual life. 4. Lesbians in literature. 5. Homosexuality and literature—English-speaking countries. 6. Women and literature—English-speaking countries—History—20th century. 7. American fiction—Women authors—History and criticism. 8. English fiction—Women authors—History and criticism. 9. American fiction— 20th century—History and criticism. 10. English fiction—20th century—History and criticism. I. Title. PS153.L46A272008 810.9'9206643^1c22 2008005619 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Amy Schrager Lang This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface: "Are Girls Necessary?" xi Introduction: "I Have a Narrative" 1 Part I: "Tell the Lacadaemonians" 1. Willa Gather's New World Histories 41 2. Mary Renault's Greek Drama 61 Part II: "Love Is Writing" 3. Washington, James, (Toklas), and Stein 81 4. Djuna Barnes, Memory, and Forgetting 121 5. Virginia Woolf and the Sexual Histories of Literature 139 Afterword: "Reading and the Experiences of Everyday Life" 169 Notes 173 Index 207 This page intentionally left blank A very great many have very many prejudices concerning loving. . . . This is very common. Not very many are very well pleased with other people's ways of having loving in them. Some are very much pleased with some ways of having loving and not with other ways of having loving. Some are wanting people to be very nice in having loving being in them. Some are pretty well ready to let most people do the kind of loving they have naturally in them but are not ready to let all people do the loving the way loving naturally comes to be in them. Gertrude Stein, The Making of A