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The Unlit Lamp (1924) is a novel by Radclyffe Hall. After publishing several collections of poems, Hall turned to fiction in 1924 with two successful novels. The Unlit Lamp is the story of a young woman with an unhappy home life who falls in love with an older teacher and dreams of moving to London to become a doctor. Despite her independent spirit, Joan struggles to escape the clutches of her controlling mother. "Mrs. Ogden put her hand up to her head wearily, glancing at Joan as she did so. Joan was so quick to respond to the appeal of illness. Mrs. Ogden would not have admitted to herself how much she longed for this quick response and sympathy. [...] There were times, growing more frequent of late, when she longed, yes, longed to break down utterly, to become bedridden, to be waited upon hand and foot, to have arresting symptoms of her own, any number of them." Unhappily married to the Colonel, a cold and distant man, Mrs. Ogden depends on her daughters for emotional support. As Joan and Milly draw closer the age of independence, however, their mother begins thinking up ways to keep them at home, stifling their personal interests and desires. When Elizabeth Rodney, a governess, arrives to teach the sisters, Joan develops not only an attraction to the older woman, but a desire to move with her to London, where she dreams of becoming a doctor. Tragic and psychologically piercing, The Unlit Lamp is a story of friendship, family, and desire that continues to be recognized as a groundbreaking work of lesbian literature. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Radclyffe Hall's The Unlit Lamp is a classic work of British literature reimagined for modern readers.… (more)
User reviews
It is interesting that the Well of Loneliness is thought of as
I wonder if it is a self-justifying novel? 'Oh, I had to leave my family, because wouldn't it be unbearable to end up like this'?
The relationship between Joan and Elizabeth is uncomfortable as well. They meet when Joan is small (11ish?) and Elizabeth is her governess, and the progression of their relationship is surprisingly ikky when this fact is kept in mind. Joan is young and vulnerable, and it is oddly easy to frame Elizabeth's actions almost as 'grooming'.
Oh but how I wanted Elizabeth to come back to her and save the day, and they could go off to Cambridge together and learn so much about the world and be happy! It was a heartbreaking book in so many ways.
‘Bottled?’ she queried.
‘Don’t you get all cramped up and fuggy, like one does when one sits over a fire all day. I know what
I figured I would The Unlit Lamp before attempting Radclyffe Hall's more famous (or infamous) work The Well of Loneliness - simply because I wanted to see where her writing was coming from without having any expectations.
Radclyffe Hall doesn't quite manage to impress with her writing - there is a lot of telling rather than showing going on and a lot of repetition - but, to my surprise, I really liked The Unlit Lamp for being such an anti-hero of a book.
It is as depressing as any Hardy novel I have read, and even when read as a kind of cautionary tale about wasted lives, selfishness, responsibility, and infuriating parental manipulation, the story kept its pace until the very last.
Now I am still not sure who I want to slap more - Elizabeth or her mother.