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Diana: A Strange Autobiography
This is the unusual and compelling story of Diana, a tantalizingly beautiful woman who sought love in the strange by-paths of Lesbos. Fearless and outspoken, it dares to reveal that hidden world where perfumed caresses and half-whispered endearments constitute the forbidden fruits in a Garden of Eden where men are never accepted.
This is how "Diana: A Strange Autobiography" ...more
This is how "Diana: A Strange Autobiography" ...more
Paperback
,
282 pages
Published
June 1st 1995
by New York University Press
(first published 1939)
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Community Reviews
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112)
Aug 10, 2011
AK
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
other-non-fiction
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read-2011
I came across Diana: A Strange Autobiography because it was the oldest looking book on the gay/lesbian shelf of Charlottesville's premier used bookstore. (Daedalus Books, not that there's any doubt.) It was copyright 1939, had a really foxy drawing of a woman embracing herself on the title page, and chapter titles like "Am I a Lesbian?", "I am a Lesbian!" and "Jane the Huntress." Most interesting at first glance, though, was the Introduction written by a Victor Robinson, MD who explains the book
...more
Like most people who've ever heard of this book, I first learned of it on the PBS TV show, The History Detectives, where an original edition of it was featured on an episode. I'm a big HD fan & this was an excellent episode; in the course of trying to discover the true author of Diana, Tufuku exasperatedly explains to viewers that gays and lesbians experienced uncalled for amounts of discrimination in mid-20th century America. Discrimination! I was curious about this 1939 book that somehow a
...more
It's really amazing how far society can advance in terms of acceptance (and still has so far to go) and how our understanding of the human psyche has evolved. This was fascinating from an historic perspective, as a time capsule on a certain time and when certain theories held sway. It made me wonder how our own cultural production in 60 years will be viewed and whether those readers will see this moment as quaint, confused, and even a little bit pitiful.
Published in 1939, Diana: A Strange Autobiography is both amazingly outdated and amazingly refreshing in its portrayal of one lesbian's life. Full of passages that both calmed and frightened me, the book never once released its hold. The stuff that either saddened or shocked, thankfully, no longer is believed by most sensible people today (i.e. insulting and downright false stereotypes about gay women). What surprised me the most, though, was how much still applies today (the need, for instance,
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To be continued--
This was a fascinating novel. Diana provided an entirely new facet to my understanding of the homosexual intellectual and emotional experience. Diana was undoubtedly introspective and wise beyond her years.
The reader witnessed a woman who slowly came out to herself and to those whom were close to her. This was no easy feat.
This was a fascinating novel. Diana provided an entirely new facet to my understanding of the homosexual intellectual and emotional experience. Diana was undoubtedly introspective and wise beyond her years.
The reader witnessed a woman who slowly came out to herself and to those whom were close to her. This was no easy feat.
This book was interesting to read...I reserved it from the library after seeing it on History Detectives on PBS. It was pretty good.
if you can handle the content, it's very interesting!
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