Well of loneliness

Thursday, January 10th., Chiltern Court, London.

I was attracted to Radclyffe Hall's "The Well of Loneliness" by a line in the publisher's advertisement: "With a commentary by Havelock Ellis", Havelock Ellis being a name which means much to me. I knew nothing of the author's previous work, nor of the subject of this one. I ought to have guessed its subject. It is Havelock Ellis the essayist to whom I am indebted for the enlargement of my outlook; he is, in addition to being a very valuable philosophical essayist, among the greatest European authorities upon the vagaries or aberrations of nature in the matter of sexual characteristics. He is also, notoriously, married to and living apart from a confirmed lesbian. A fascinating character who I should like to meet.

"The Well of Loneliness" is the story of one of the victims of Nature's caprices. Havelock Ellis stands by it. He praises it for its fictional quality, its notable psychological and sociological significance, and its complete absence of offence. I cannot disagree with him. At present there is a campaign getting underway by one of our major newspapers to have the book banned. I can only assume that they have not read it. The newspaper is the Sunday Express and its editor, Mr. James Douglas, has called for an immediate ban on "The Well of Loneliness" stating that "I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel. Poison kills the body but moral poison kills the soul." This was an act of stunt journalism, typical of the Sunday Express, which appalled many notable figures in the literary world, myself includud.

Uncertain in touch at first, this novel is in the main fine. Disfigured by loose writing and marred by loose construction, it nevertheless does hold you. It is honest, convincing, and extremely courageous. What it amounts to is a cry for unprejudiced social recognition of the victim. The cry attains genuine tragic poignancy. The future may hide highly strange things, and therefore conservative prophecy is dangerous, but I must say that I do not think the cry will be effectively heard, at least not for a long time. At present, and I think for some time to come, the forces of church and establishment are too powerfully barricaded to hear any cry from those less fortunate than themselves. Nature has no prejudices, but human nature is less broad-minded and has a deep instinct for the protection of 'society'. It puts up a powerful defence of its own limitations. "The Well of Loneliness" is not a novel for those who prefer not to see life steadily and see it whole.