Sign-In
Cart
Diana: A Strange Autobiography
Paperback
Series: Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature, Book 2
GLBTQIA StudiesSexualityWomen's Studies
ISBN13: 9780814726358
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: Jun 1 1995
Pages: 282
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.71 Width: 5.36 Depth: 8.23
Language: English
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 was described when it was published in paperback in 1952. The original 1939 hardcover edition carried with it a Publisher's Note: This is the autobiography of a woman who tried to be normal.
In the book, Diana is presented as the unexceptional daughter of an unexceptional plutocratic family. During adolescence, she finds herself drawn with mysterious intensity to a girl friend. The narrative follows Diana's progress through college; a trial marriage that proves she is incapable of heterosexuality; intellectual and sexual education in Europe; and a series of lesbian relationships culminating in a final tormented triangular struggle with two other women for the individual salvation to be found in a happy couple.
In her introduction, Julie Abraham argues that Diana is not really an autobiography at all, but a deliberate synthesis of different archetypes of this confessional genre, echoing, as it does, more than a half-dozen novels. Hitting all the high and low points of the lesbian novel, the book, Abraham illustrates, offers a defense of lesbian relationships that was unprecedented in 1939 and radical for decades afterwards.
1 different editions
Also available
Also in
GLBTQIA Studies
Homosexuality in Cold War America: Resistance and the Crisis of Masculinity
Corber, Robert J.
Paperback
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
Cooper, Christian
Hardcover
Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together
Spade, Dean
Paperback
As If We Were Staying: How We Build a Flourishing Future in a World That's Falling Apart
Scott, Spencer R.
Paperback
Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle--And Tomorrow's
Stryker, Susan
Paperback
The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America's Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces
Karp, Rachel
Hardcover
The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism Within Us Slave Culture
Woodard, Vincent
Paperback
Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith and Belonging
Schraeder Rodriguez, Timothy
Hardcover
The Laramie Project and the Laramie Project: Ten Years Later
Fondakowski, Leigh
Pierotti, Greg
Kaufman, Moises
Paperback
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
Serano, Julia
Paperback
Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe
Lewis, Sophie
Paperback
Changing Our Mind: Definitive 3rd Edition of the Landmark Call for Inclusion of LGBTQ Christians with Response to Critics
Gushee, David P.
Paperback
Gender Rituals: Creating a Sacred Space for Your Body, Your Gender, and Your Becoming
Lawliet, Eli, PhD
Paperback
So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color
de Robertis, Caro
Paperback
Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership: Uncomplicating Cars for All of Us
Milchtein, Chaya M.
Paperback
American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era
Lang, Nico
Paperback
The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World
Downs, Alan
Paperback
Radical Relating: A Queer and Polyamory-Informed Guide to Love Beyond the Myth of Monogamy
Cassidy, Mel
Paperback
Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture
Brown, Sherronda J.
Paperback
So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color
de Robertis, Caro
Hardcover
Healing the Oppressed Body: A Therapeutic Guide for Radical Self-Liberation
Gutiérrez-Glik, Andrea
Hardcover
Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color
Norris, Denne Michele
Electric Literature
Hardcover
Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising That Changed America
Duberman, Martin
Paperback
Queer Enlightenments: A Hidden History of Lovers, Lawbreakers, and Homemakers
Delaney, Anthony
Hardcover
The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs
Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah Lakshmi
Paperback
A Pocket Guide to Pride Flags: An Illustrated History of Queer Community Symbols
Bjarnabur, Sindri Sparkle Freyja
Paperback
Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Marsha P. Johnson and Beyond
Feinberg, Leslie
Paperback
The Transfeminine Guide to Physical Transition: For Trans, Nonbinary, and Other Feminine Folks
Hanrahan, Amelia Simone
Paperback
Radical Tarot: Queer the Cards, Liberate Your Practice, and Create the Future
Burgess, Charlie Claire
Paperback
Queer Conception: The Complete Guide to Fertility, Iui, and Ivf for LGBTQ+ Parents-To-Be
Kali, Liam
Paperback
Sick and Dirty: Hollywood's Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness
Koresky, Michael
Hardcover
Queer X Design: 50 Years of Signs, Symbols, Banners, Logos, and Graphic Art of LGBTQ
Campbell, Andy
Hardcover
Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema
Maclay, Willow
Gardner, Caden
Paperback
Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World
Cooper, Christian
Paperback
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
Lowery, Jack
Paperback
We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation
Brown, Leighton
Riemer, Matthew
Hardcover
Cruising Utopia, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Then and There of Queer Futurity
Muñoz, José Esteban
Paperback
Our Work Is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer and Trans Resistance
Rose, Syan
Paperback
The Transmasculine Guide to Physical Transition: For Trans, Nonbinary, and Other Masculine Folks
Buch, Sage
Paperback
Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America
Smithers, Gregory
Paperback
Club Commons: Moving Bodies to Grow Movements in Queer Nightlife and Beyond
Prashar-Savoie, Anjali
Paperback
The Trans Self-Care Workbook: A Coloring Book and Journal for Trans and Non-Binary People
Lorenz, Theo
Paperback
Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America
Burton, Krista
Paperback
Hood Wellness: Tales of Communal Care from People Who Drowned on Dry Land
Gordon, Tamela J.
Paperback
Queer Devotion: Spirituality Beyond the Binary in Myth, Story, and Practice
Burgess, Charlie Claire
Paperback
Notes from a Queer Cripple: How to Cultivate Queer Disabled Joy (and Be Hot While Doing It!)
Gurza, Andrew
Paperback
The Joy of Gay Sex: Fully Revised and Expanded Third Edition
Silverstein, Charles
Picano, Felice
Paperback
Café Lafitte in Exile: Queer New Orleans and the Story of America's Oldest Gay Bar
Perez, Frank
Palmquist, Jeffrey
Hardcover
She's the Mother of Us All: Sweet Evening Breeze and the Queer Community of Lexington, Kentucky
Wall, Maryjean
Paperback
Queering the Runes: Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom in Rune Magic and Mythology
Plouff, Siri Vincent
Paperback