Women Lovers, or The Third Woman by Natalie Clifford Barney

Youth is not a question of years: one is young or old from birth. Those who love war lack the love of an adequate sport-the art of living. There are more evil ears than bad mouths.

She is most well known for her epigrams, including some of the following:

Her writing, the majority of which was in French, considered the themes of feminism, homosexuality, pacifism, and Paganism. Additionally, she did not believe in monogamy, and was likely lover to Romaine and Dolly during overlapping intervals. A most striking fact about her, is that she openly lived and wrote as a lesbian. She lived at the crossroads of a multitude of famous writers and artists, welcomed them into her home to foster the exchange of ideas and enlightened conversation. A figure depicted by Bergman exclusively through letters of and to Dolly and Romaine, Natalie was evidently a lover to both.Īn almost famous woman in her own right, Natalie Barney was a writer who was born in America and living in France and was known for her weekly salons. Natalie Barney is mentioned in “Romaine Remains,” a story about painter Romaine Brooks, and “Who Killed Dolly Wilde?” about the niece of author Oscar Wilde. Her name is Natalie Barney (1876-1972), and if you would like to add one more almost famous woman to your mental encyclopedia, look no further. That said, if you have already read it, you may have noticed a unifying character, mentioned in passing much like the women at the center of this book typically have been. I highly recommend this book for those traveling or on the go, since no section exceeds 30 pages and each presents its own independent narrative. Why they are categorized as “almost famous” varies: some certainly were famous while alive, and have simply faded to the back of our cultural conscious (Violet and Daisy Hilton, Butterfly McQueen), while others have always existed on the sidelines of fame as relatives to celebrities (Allegra Byron, Lucia Joyce).īergman’s creativity has brought them, or rather bound them, together in this must-read short story collection.

This collection of short stories provides imaginative, brief glimpses at the lives of extraordinary, and extraordinarily different, women. Announced during convention season this year, Megan Mayhew Bergman’s Almost Famous Women is the 2017 Sigma Tau Delta Common Reader.

Women Lovers, or The Third Woman by Natalie Clifford Barney