#natalie clifford barney

[women-loving-art]

Natalie Clifford Barney, about Renée Vivien, after they met for the first time and Renée recited a poem for her, from A Perilous Advantage

#natalie clifford barney #artists #A Perilous Advantage

[hidekomoon]

i have to stay alive just in case they actually do make a historically accurate tv series about natalie clifford barney & all the parisian lesbians of her era

#natalie clifford barney #blablatag

[loveswitchery]

I do see you, my beloved, in the flowers of your country.

Natalie Clifford Barney, in a letter to Liane de Pougy, c. 1899

#quote #natalie clifford barney #lesbian love letters

[random-brushstrokes]

Alice Pike Barney - Natalie and Missal (1890)

#women painters #alice pike barney #american art #portrait #Natalie Clifford Barney #1890s

[unefemmemapparut]

by Medusa Dollmaker

#sappho #virginia woolf #vita sackville west #natalie clifford barney #frida kahlo #tamara de lempicka #emily dickinson #greta garbo #lesbians #historical sapphists #historical lesbians #sapphics #wlw #vita sackville-west #frida #natalie barney #idylesaphique

[thelastofthebookworms]

This was supposed to be a French poetry poll. I'll make one, I promise, but I was distracted by the ladies (I think I'll make at least a Amy Lowell's poll and a Renee Vivien one too later, also under my 'sapphic poetry' tag)

They may not be the ones you would have picked yourself, they're some personal favorites.

Feel free to share yours, though !

Anne Hathaway

XVI (Twenty-one love poems)

Fireworks

One Art

Lighthouse Keeping

The Love of Judas

Wild Geese

For the Goddess Too Well Known

Blest as the Immortal Gods

#polls #sapphic poetry #poetry #anne hathaway #carol ann duffy #twenty one poems #adrienne rich #fireworks #amy lowell #one art #elizabeth bishop #lighthouse keeping #kay ryan #the love of judas #natalie clifford barney #wild geese #mary oliver #for the goddess too well known #elsa gidlow #blest as the immortal gods #sappho

[fitz-higgins]

LGBT literature of the 1860s–1910s. Part 4

Well, it’s been a while. Here’s a new selection featuring three stories about love between students, lesbian poems, a comedy centered around a gay character, Proust's short story, and more

1. Bertram Cope’s Year, by Henry Blake Fuller (1919). Although this novel went unnoticed by its contemporaries, it is thought to be the first officially published American novel about homosexual men. It could be your perfect academia novel: Bertram, “no squire of dames”, is a self-conscious English teaching assistant at an Illinois university where he completes his thesis and tries to settle in life. Four women and three men are attracted to him, but Bertram is fond of “Dear Arthur”, his college friend Arthur Lemoyne who comes to live with him later. Interestingly, the story has a touch of comic and ironic, which was very rare for homosexual literature of that time. [Read online]

2. Le Monsieur Aux Chrysanthèmes (The Gentleman of Chrysanthemums), by Armory (Carle Dauriac; 1908). This is the first modern play (and a society comedy at that) that has a gay man as its main character. The character is Gill Norvège, a critic and writer, who uses a young widow Marthe Bourdon to get money. Marthe is hopelessly in love with Gill and borrows 30,000 francs from a poet Jacques Romagne, who, in turn, is hopelessly in love with Marthe. And then Gill sees Jacques one day and falls in love with him. [Read online in French or in English]

3. The Garden God: A Tale of Two Boys, by Forrest Reid (1905). Called “a classic of Uranian literature”, this story has it all: homoerotism, platonism, ancient gods and love at boarding school. In that school a fifteen years old Graham, who used to dream of friendship with a Greek god, meets Harold who looks exactly like that imaginary friend. But where there are gods there is also tragedy, so be prepared. [Read online]

4. Poems by Sofia Parnok. Parnok was the first open lesbian in Russian literature. She was in a relationship with another famous Russian poet, Marina Tsvetaeva, as well as with some other women to whom she dedicated a number of poems. Often called the Russian Sappho, she often refers to Sappho in her poetry and also used her famous phrase, “Someone, I tell you, in another time will remember us”. Some of Parnok’s poems are translated and more is available in Russian.

5. Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal (1893). Not the first, but one of the earliest examples of English-language homosexual erotic novels (though rather sophisticated), its author is unknown, but some believe that it was written by Oscar Wilde. Here we have a tragedy again, a tragic love between a Frenchman and a Hungarian pianist, to be exact. There’s also something literally queer going on, because the Frenchman, Des Grieux, has a telepathic connection with the attractive pianist, Teleny. Eventually they meet, and Teleny introduces Des Grieux to the underground homosexual world of Paris. Bonus: the novel has a comic adaptation, Teleny and Camille, by Jay Macy, and also a “prequel”, Des Grieux, written in 1899. [Read online]

6. Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others), by Bill Forster (Hermann Breuer; 1904). The title is supposedly derived from a phrase that was popular among German gay men of that time, “We are, thank god, other than other people”. Herbert, the protagonist, falls in love with Ernst, the boy from his school. They go hiking together, and for some time they are close. But Ernst, although flattered by Herbert’s attention and feelings, rejects him twice, and it destroys Herbert’s life.

7. Avant la nuit (Before dark)by Marcel Proust (1893). A forgotten short story by Proust, written when he was only 22, despite what you might expect, tells about a lesbian woman. She is incredibly unhappy: she is in a relationship with a man, but wants to confess her true sexuality and suffers from her own dishonesty. Finally, she tells him the truth and asks for his compassion. In a way, this story defends homosexuality and explains why it cannot be condemned. [Read online]

8. The Prussian Officer, by D. H. Lawrence (1914). Praised as a masterpiece of short fiction by some critics, this story is rather grim. A captain slowly becomes attracted to his young, simple orderly. However, he represses his feelings and, instead of showing any kind of affection, turns aggressive and humiliates the young man. And it is not going to end well. [Read online]

9. Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes (Some Portrait-Sonnets of Women), by Natalie Clifford Barney (1900). One of the most famous lesbian poets of the 20th century, Barney wrote a chapbook of love poems to women that were so scandalous her father bought up all remaining copies and burned them. Two novels based on or about women’s affairs with Barney were also featured in previous chapters of this list. The book is not available online, but some poems can be found in English here and here.

10. The Intersexes: A History of Similisexualism as a Problem in Social Life, by Edward Prime-Stevenson (1906). Prime-Stevenson didn’t just write the first novel about gay men with a happy ending (featured in the previous part of the list), but also an interesting study, one of the earliest ones. Using science and history, he defenses homosexuality, which is why he is considered to be one of the first advocates for the rights of the LGBTQ community. A very progressive work for his time, it rejects the binary of masculine and feminine and insists that homosexuality is a natural result of human evolution. [Read online]

P.s. Previous parts are collected here.

#lgbt literature #queer history #dark academia #lesbian literature #oscar wilde #russian literature #natalie clifford barney #marcel proust #lgbt history #gay literature #lesbian history #gay history #victorian era #blog: history #blog: literature

[satin-carmin]

You have beautiful eyes like no other, please do remember how I love your eyes. They are blue and they are green too, as if the sky had wedded the sea, and your eyes bore the memory of their union. Your gaze is in turn periwinkle, violet, and a corner of clear, fresh blue sky. Sometimes, even, when you are tired and they are almost grey, your eyes resemble pieces of dusk. I love your eyes - I would like to die watching them.

Renée Vivien, Letter to Natalie Clifford-Barney (march 1900)

#renée vivien #natalie clifford barney #lesbian #lesbian history #lesbian literature #lesbian poet #love letter #love letters #epistolary #histoire lesbienne #sapphic #wlw #wlw history #sapphic history #violettes

[g0ldengaze]

Natalie clifford barney with beast... Me WHEN???

#vintage photography #vintage fashion #vintage photo #vintage style #natalie clifford barney #Natalie barney #romaine brooks #renee vivien #belle epoque #french history #queer history #lesbian history #vintage lesbians

[haveyoureadthispoem-poll]

"Love, take me back to you, and make me whole, / Who am divided and in unbelief..."

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

#closed polls #polls #poetry #poems #poetry polls #poets and writing #tumblr poetry #have you read this #the love of judas #natalie clifford barney

[mrmousetolliver]

Natalie In Fur Cape by Alice Pike Barney (1897)

#art #lesbian art #natalie clifford barney #leabian #alice pike barney #artist #american artist #classic #style

[women-loving-art]

Renée Vivien and Natalie Clifford Barney, early 1900s

#Renée Vivien #Natalie Clifford Barney #artists

[etruski]

Even though the search for Natalie Barney’s temple de l’ametié ended with multiple tries and enterings to random courtyards, I was still able to find two of Renée’s books!

#natalie barney #renee vivien #one day I’ll get to see it 💗 #natalie clifford barney

[loveswitchery]

You brought me strange flowers that I hadn't known, songs that I never would have heard, kisses that I never would have plucked.

Renée Vivien, letter to Natalie Clifford Barney, c. July 1902

#quote #renée vivien #natalie clifford barney #letters #lesbian love letters

[keepthisholykiss]

Lesbian Visibility Week Writers Day 2: Natalie Clifford Barney

How Write the Beat of Love

How write the beat of love, the very throb, The rhythm of our veins’ deep eloquence? How fix that darkness-rending final sob, That perfect swoon of each united sense.

The full-sailed rising of your body’s sweep —Adrift and safe on joy’s last tidal wave— Will toss you on the silver sands of sleep, Forgetful of the ecstacy you gave.

Your breath ebbs restful as the falling tide: A sea becalmed!… Lay me in valleyed part Of breasts whose undulating crests subside— Ah how they marked the high beats of your heart!

Day One: Renée Vivien It feels appropriate to talk today about Natalie Clifford Barney after sharing the work of her partner Renée Vivien yesterday. Much like Vivien, Barney was a poet and admirer of the French language and France itself. Barney was involved with a large number of women throughout her life as she was non-monogamous. She was originally from the United States and was devoted to Vivien throughout their life together. After Vivien’s passing Barney was in a number of notable relationships with other writers and artists including Élisabeth de Gramont, Romaine Brooks, and Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly. Natalie Clifford Barney was notable as well for her literary salons she hosted at her home for many different women writers, most of them queer. She also had her friends join her in reenacting Sappho’s works as plays in her home and had a deep love of art and theatre. She lived a long and full life living until 1972 when she passed at the age of 95.

#lesbian #lesbian visibility week #sapphic #literature #queer poets #natalie clifford barney #poetry

[abwwia]

Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952)

Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) photographer & photojournalist #PalianShow

View On WordPress

#Frances Benjamin Johnston #Natalie Clifford Barney #photographer #photojournalist