Barnes, Djuna (1892-1982), U.S. Novelist

Said to be the last of the great generation of early twentieth-century modernists in English literature, Djuna Barnes created such literary masterworks as Nightwood, Ladies Almanack, and Ryder. She specialized in colorful interviews, her subjects including Alfred Stieglitz, Coco Chanel, and James Joyce. In 1919 or 1920, Barnes moved from Greenwich Village to Paris, where she joined the expatriate literary community. After stays in Berlin and London, she returned to New York at the outbreak of World War II. A period of extreme poverty followed, during which she became highly reclusive. E.E. Cummings lived across from her in Greenwich Village during that time and would occasionally call across to her, "Are you still alive, Djuna?" Barnes had relationships with both women and men, but hesitated to call herself a lesbian. She once confided to a close friend,"I'm not a lesbian, I just loved Thelma."