IN THREE WORDS

In this feature, I'll share a weekly guest with you all, and you tell me in only three words what come to mind. 

In Three Words...

Radclyffe Hall

See y'all Monday...off to Philadelphia for the weekend...

GAY PRIDE-RADCLYFFE HALL

Radclyffe Hall's 1928 book, The Well of Loneliness, has been referred to as the "Bible of Lesbianism." Outrage and controversy upon its release launched a series of sensational obscenity trials that brought the topic of woman loving women to the forefront of the cultural conversation. The book had been ban for close to 30 years. While she had 8 novels, the Well of Loneliness is her real claim to fame, which was groundbreaking work in lesbian literature, and is now noted as the predecessor to the golden age of lesbian pulp fiction. She often did as she pleased, having inherited a large inheritance, dressed mostly as a man and went by the name John often. In 1915 Hall fell in love with Una Troubridge, a cousin to Hall's current lover, Mabel Batten, who was 26 years her senior. Una, was a sculptor and the wife of Vice-Admiral Ernest Troubridge. Needless to say the romance caused great tension between Batten, Hall, Una and Ernest. Once Batten died, Radclyffe and Una took up residence and would be lovers for the remainder of their lives until Hall's death. Today her book, The Well of Loneliness is both praised and criticized for it's depiction of gender and sexuality. But for many women of the 20th century, it gave them the power, as Hall put it.  "to face up  to a hostile world in it's true colors and face it with courage and dignity.

Happy Pride🌈