Lover (novel)
Encyclopedia
Lover is a lesbian feminist novel by Bertha Harris
, published in 1976 by Daughters, Inc., a small press dedicated to women's fiction. It is considered Harris's most ambitious work, and has been compared to Djuna Barnes
's Nightwood and the stories of Jane Bowles
. Harris has said that it was written "straight from the libido, while I was madly in love, and liberated by the lesbian cultural movement of the mid-1970s."
narrative techniques. In contrast to some lesbian novels of the time, such as Rita Mae Brown
's Rubyfruit Jungle
(also, incidentally, published by Daughters), which used a prototypical bildungsroman
technique with a lesbian placed squarely at the center, Lover reflects complex notions of radical lesbian philosophy, community, family structure, and eroticism by using highly inventive, often fantastical storytelling techniques. In Harris's introduction to the 1993 edition, she writes, "Lover should be absorbed as if it were a theatrical performance. There's tap dancing and singing, disguise, sleights of hand, mirror illusions, quick-change acts, and drag." Amanda C. Gable has argued that Lover "can be considered an exemplary novel within discussions of both postmodern fiction and lesbian (or queer) theory," and calls for "Harris to be added to the group of writers such as Wittig
, Anzaldúa, Lorde
, and Winterson
, who are discussed within the context of a postmodern lesbian narrative."
Bertha Harris
Bertha Harris was an American lesbian novelist. Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, she moved to New York City in the 1960s. She is highly regarded by critics and admirers, but her novels are less familiar to the broader public.-Career and published works:She is best known for her stylistically...
, published in 1976 by Daughters, Inc., a small press dedicated to women's fiction. It is considered Harris's most ambitious work, and has been compared to Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes was an American writer who played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing and was one of the key figures in 1920s and '30s bohemian Paris after filling a similar role in the Greenwich Village of the teens...
's Nightwood and the stories of Jane Bowles
Jane Bowles
Jane Bowles, born Jane Sydney Auer , was an American writer and playwright.-Early life:Born into a Jewish family in New York, Jane Bowles spent her childhood in Woodmere, New York, on Long Island. She developed tuberculous arthritis of the knee as a teenager and her mother took her to Switzerland...
. Harris has said that it was written "straight from the libido, while I was madly in love, and liberated by the lesbian cultural movement of the mid-1970s."
Aesthetics and Critical Reception
Lovers prose is distinctly postmodern, eschewing conventional narrative for experimentalExperimental literature
Experimental literature refers to written works - often novels or magazines - that place great emphasis on innovations regarding technique and style.-Early history:...
narrative techniques. In contrast to some lesbian novels of the time, such as Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
's Rubyfruit Jungle
Rubyfruit Jungle
Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel by Rita Mae Brown, remarkable, in its day, for its explicit lesbianism. The novel is a bildungsroman/autobiographical account of Brown's youth and emergence as a lesbian author...
(also, incidentally, published by Daughters), which used a prototypical bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
technique with a lesbian placed squarely at the center, Lover reflects complex notions of radical lesbian philosophy, community, family structure, and eroticism by using highly inventive, often fantastical storytelling techniques. In Harris's introduction to the 1993 edition, she writes, "Lover should be absorbed as if it were a theatrical performance. There's tap dancing and singing, disguise, sleights of hand, mirror illusions, quick-change acts, and drag." Amanda C. Gable has argued that Lover "can be considered an exemplary novel within discussions of both postmodern fiction and lesbian (or queer) theory," and calls for "Harris to be added to the group of writers such as Wittig
Monique Wittig
Monique Wittig was a French author and feminist theorist who wrote about overcoming socially enforced gender roles and who coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". She published her first novel, L'Opoponax, in 1964...
, Anzaldúa, Lorde
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist.-Life:...
, and Winterson
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
, who are discussed within the context of a postmodern lesbian narrative."
Publishing History
The women's movement in the 1970s established many small, independent presses. Lover is an example of a book published by one of these presses. It was reprinted in 1993 by New York University Press.External links
- Bertha Harris on glbtq.comGlbtq.comglbtq.com is an online encyclopedia that presents detailed biographies of notable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It was named one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" in 2005 by the American Library Association....
- Critical assessment of Lover by Amanda C. Gable, PhD