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Rating: 
Summary: Powerful book and very disturbing
Review: Biographies are sometimes the powerful of all writing to me. The best ones are the books that open a person's life, that reveal without judgement how the person became what they were.
Djuna Barnes's early life was horrific almost beyond understanding. Rape(?),incest(?), paternal abandonment and grinding poverty -she was the financial supporter of her extended family while she was still in her late teens. Yet it is a mark of her genius that she was able to overcome all the odds and become a true modern author. All of her best works were autobiograpical and all dealt with the critical tragedies of her life. 'Ryder' was an attempt to deal with her father - incest or rape,'Nightwood' to deal with her failed relationship with Thelma Wood, and finally 'Antiphon' to deal with her entire disfunctional family. The wellspring of her most bitter invective was her own life. This biography is good, thorough and complete. Djuna suffered pain and repaid that pain over and over again. Her venom, her rage, the sheer angst she had flows like blood on every page. But in spite of all that, her artistry was able to give her pain a rich voice and this book captures her spirit as well as her wraith. But in some ways, this book is almost like watching a car wreck...there is a human impulse to look away not see such suffering. I was both repelled by and drawn into the recounting of such public agony by such a private person. Djuna Barnes's writing is not meant for everyone, and this biography isn't either.
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