The Trials of Radclyffe Hall by Diana Souhami

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Real Trial of the author Oscar Wilde concerning the criminal trials he was subjected to in relation to crimes of “indecency towards men” he was charged with because of his homosexuality. That review got me to thinking about other authors who were persecuted for either their own sexuality or the sexuality of the characters they wrote about.

The name Radclyffe came to mind. Now, modern day femslash readers will readily identify with a prolific online writer who uses the pen name Radclyffe for her work. She actually, er, borrowed the name from a much more famous former owner, Radclyffe Hall.

Radclyffe Hall was a well known English writer in the late 1920s who, at first, rose slowly in public recognition but who then burst fully onto the public scene because of her 5th novel, The Well of Loneliness, which introduced the world to an openly lesbian main character. Though not an earth shattering event today, it was ground breaking at the time.

The book, published by Radclyffe herself in 1928 was banned for obscenity in England. It was only published in the U.S. after a very long court battle financed almost entirely out of Hall’s own pocket. Though dated with regards to the form of prose that Hall affects in her writing, the messages of family, and fitting in and homophobia still resound today.

Much has been made of the work of “Radclyffe Hall”. That was her pen name. She was born Marguerite Radclyffe Hall but dropped Marguerite, which she hated. In later life, she adopted and used the name “John” but…I digress. No one actually adequately “documented” Radclyffe herself until Diana Souhami did it in 1999 with her book, The Trials of Radclyffe Hall.

In Souhami’s book, we get an overview of Hall’s full life from birth to death. We see how she was raised, much as the main character in The Well of Loneliness was. She genuinely wrote what she knew when she wrote that book as Souhami’s book shows!

I loved this book about Radclyffe Hall by Diana Souhami. Others apparently agree.

Amazon’s review:

The best yet of Diana Souhami’s biographies, The Trials of Radclyffe Hall is an absorbing and irreverent account of Hall’s life and work, with emphasis on the stormy reception of The Well of Loneliness and Hall’s long relationship with the artist Una Troubridge, “a formidable acolyte, an indispensable servant, even if there was the grip of tentacles about her and the clink of chains.” –Regina Marler

And those of various reviewers for major British newspapers circa it’s publication in 1999:

‘Diana Souhami’s biography is fascinating and thorough. In style, substance, insight and wit it is by far the best thing anyone has written on the fateful life of Radclyffe Hall’ Jeanette Winterson, THE TIMES

‘So candid, so vivid, so tragicomic…outrageously entertaining’ Victoria Glendinning, DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘a fascinating account of a woman whose…novel became a landmark in the history of freedom of expression.’ OBSERVER

‘Diana Souhami has given us a gripping biography and a marvellous piece of social history.’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Souhami’s sympathetic but not uncritical biography treats its colourful, self-dramatising cast of eccentrics, toffs and spiritualists with a pleasing measure of irony.’ SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

So what that it was published 12 or so years ago? If you’ve read the Well of Loneliness, you  really owe it to yourself to read the story behind the story about the author that wrote it.