Djuna barnes biography article

If I learned anything from the undergraduate class I took on early-20th-century American literature and culture — aptly titled “An American in Paris” — it’s that literati in the 1920s comprised a somewhat incestuous, incredibly connected group of people.

From Ernest Hemingway to the Fitzgeralds, culture was community at that time (a far cry from the more diffuse cultural landscape today), and being a member usually meant fame and fortune.

Enter Djuna Barnes (1892-1982), the queer, crimson-haired heroine at the heart of Jon Macy’s gorgeous graphic biography, Djuna: The Extraordinary Life of Djuna Barnes.

Born in an Upstate New York polygamist commune led by her father and grandmother, Djuna was one of the 20th century’s most iconic yet forgotten stunt reporters, writers, and all-around provocateurs. She loved art because her father, Wald Barnes, and grandmother Zadel Barnes loved it, but their