Discussion: The Well of Loneliness

The first time I read (or, to be honest, tried to read) Radcylffe Hall’s lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness, I threw it across the room. Then I may have gone over, picked it up, and thrown it again. THEN I may have kicked it. You get the idea. Basically, I thought The Well of Loneliness (which I will also refer to as TWOL) was awfully depressing and an awfully awful novel that had been over-praised, over-indulged, and over-suffered by many a young queer. This was probably about six years ago and was greatly influential to my wariness of lesbian fiction. (Why does someone always have to die?? And why is everyone so miserable??)

So in June I was looking at my bookshelves and was all YOU KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO? I should RE-read this book I hate! Maybe this time I’ll like it! And, oh, you know what? Let’s see if Danika the Lesbrarian would like to join me! Amazingly, she agreed, and then we had a couple of good chats, the first of which can be found on her blog.

(Fake spoiler: I didn’t like it anymore the second time around.)

…we begin with the conversation already in progress…

Cass: Are you…lonely? Feeling wells and wells of loneliness, perhaps?

Danika: Maybe just the one.

Cass: And that uses up my allotted bad joke of the day.

I originally thought that Stephen was going to commit suicide by jumping into a well. That’s how much faith I have in the endings of gay lit.

Danika: Wow, that would have been… very literal. It also seems unlikely to work. And if it did work, you’d poison the well. Not really Stephen’s style, I don’t think.

Cass: Do you consider TWOL to be required reading for those interested in GLBT literature?

Danika: I don’t know if I think there’s really such thing as required reading. I think it’s required reading if you want to put GLBT literature in context, to understand the prominent earlier works, but if you’re not going for a study of it and are just reading for pleasure, it’s not required. It’s not like you’ll miss anything in other books. Heck, if you’re looking for nudge-nudge references in lesbian fiction, you’re better off watching Xena.

Cass: I would say a book like Stone Butch Blues is “required reading,” as in a classic everyone should read, but The Well of Loneliness? …Not so much. Unless that person happens to want to rant about the fraught prose.

Although, taken out of context, “…And that night, they were not divided” is kind of beautiful.

Danika: Very true. I actually missed it this read, I meant to take note of it, but I didn’t remember reading it. There’s actually a few veiled references to sex, not just that one, but that’s definitely the famous line.

What was with Stephen’s mother? Why did Anna resent her so much from birth? What did you think of her character in general?

Cass: “But Anna, looking gravely at her daughter, noting the plentiful auburn hair, the brave hazel eyes that were so like her father’s, as indeed were the child’s whole expression and bearing, would be filled with a sudden antagonism that came very near to anger” (p. 15).

Anna, lady, you need to relax. It’s like she thinks Stephen is blasphemous for being a “lesser image” of her father.

Danika: Yeah, Anna seemed so put off that her daughter looked like her husband… was that because she just hated having a masculine daughter, or because– ooh, I like your theory. It also seemed like at times Anna resented that Stephen got so much of Philip’s attention. But the reason he gave so much attention/love is because he knew she wouldn’t.

Cass: It’s all just so FREUDIAN. (Even though Hall didn’t like Freud…) Like, “My mother hates me, I’m closer with my father, I’m supposed act like a Young Lady…oops, now I’m gay.”

Danika: It’s completely twisted. I also think part of it was that they so badly wanted a son, and then they had a masculine daughter, who’s like a son, but lesser! It’s like Stephen is a bad substitute for the son they should have had.

Cass: It all leads up to Stephen’s martyrdom in all her relationships, romantic or not, the most obvious being her relationship with Mary. I mean, Stephen does say at the beginning that she wants to be Jesus. And then she ends up with a Mary, who she can’t be with because everyone in society looks down on them.

Danika: Oh yeah. She’s a martyr even when it’s not benefiting anyone. Ugh, I hated Angela so much that I flipped to the end to double check that that wasn’t who she ended up with, and she bent over backwards so that Angela could lead her on. It was pathetic.

Cass: Oh, even Valerie says to Stephen (on page 434) “‘…you were made for a martyr!’”

Danika: Yes. That’s a perfect description!

Were there any characters you liked? Mary falling in love was freaking adorable, and I loved Puddle. Martin was a rollercoaster ride of a character, going from wesome, to tragically naive, to accepting and awesome, to awful. Lady Massey and Anna were awful.

Cass: Puddle and Mary are definitely the better characters, although I do have a little bit of fondess for Valerie at the end.

Danika: I don’t remember much about Valerie, though that’s a great line.

Cass: Anna was at the Joan Crawford level of awful mother. Who hates their child when the child is SEVEN?

Danika: It was so weird, because she was this picture of perfect love and femininity and greatness before Stephen was born, and then she’s just so hateful. I mean, exactly.

Cass: She probably would have been WORSE if Stephen had been feminine.

Danika: You think? Why did she hate her, then?

Cass: I think the competition of having a feminine daughter to compete with for male affection would have been too much for the ole’ gal.

Danika: Ah, yes, I can see that. But I don’t think Philip would have been so interested in Stephen if she were feminine. At some point in TWOL it says that at least part of his affection for her is pity.

Cass: Which is exactly the reason you want your father to give you attention, right? The whole lot of them are jerks. Although I did like Philip’s secretiveness with the Kraft-Ebring book.

And how he dies before he can tell Anna “what Stephen really is.”

Danika: I’m sure he would have been like “She… she… she’s an invert! -dies-” Anna: “…? Right.” I don’t even know if she knew how to read.

Cass: Do you think Mary ended up marrying Martin?

Danika: If TWOL had another chapter, yes. If Mary was a real person, no. I think Mary was a lot more gay than Stephen thought.

Cass: Stephen didn’t give Mary enough credit, or even consider that perhaps Mary’s unhappiness had more to do with Stephen IGNORING her and being a jerk. And, lets be real, no one wants to marry dumb Martin.

Danika: Exactly! I understand that Stephen had to write, but that she was never present for Mary? And that she wouldn’t let Mary type it up? It was just so weird that Martin arrives and is like “I’m back! I am now enlightened and empathetic and understanding! I shall not fall for an invert again! … Ooo, who’s your girlfriend?|”

Cass: If I had a nickel for every time THAT happened…

Danika: Some things never change…

How much do you think Stephen is the author? I mean, Stephen’s even a writer.

Cass: Are you getting all meta and suggesting STEPHEN wrote The Well of Loneliness?

Danika: No, I’m just asking if Radclyffe Mary-Sued it. (Can you verb that? I think I just did.)

Cass: Oh, yeah, Stephen is a total Mary Sue.

Because in real life, Hall DID stay with the married lady… for about 20 years…instead of letting her lead a “normal” life with her husband.

Danika: I just wonder how much of it translates?

Did she?! Wow. Well, Stephen would have, too, if Angela (was that her name) hadn’t been the biggest jerk ever and outed her to her mom.

Cass: Lady Una was married still when they got together!

I think this book should be rewritten from Mary’s perspective and she should end up with Beebo Brinker.

Danika: That I would read.

Many thanks to Danika for reading this book and spending time discussing it with me. Not everyone will read an almost 500 page book over the summer at the whim of another blogger.