Renee Vivien

Forgotten Lesbian Poet

BY GENE DAMON AND LEE STUART

WHEN THE PUBLIC IGNORES THE POORLY WRITTEN, CHEAPLY-SENSATIONAL LESBIAN LITERATURE, IT IS WITH GOOD CAUSE. SOMETIMES, HOWEVER, A TRULY SIGNIFICANT ARTIST IS IGNORED ON THE GROUNDS OF CONTENT RATHER THAN QUALITY. ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC STORIES OF LITERARY HISTORY IS THAT OF RENEE VIVIEN.

RENEE VIVIEN WAS BORN PAULINE TARN IN 1877 IN LONDON, THE DAUGH– TER OF JOHN TARN OF ENGLAND AND MARY GILLET BENNETT OF JACKSON, MICHIGAN, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FEW UNHAPPY YEARS IN ENGLAND, MISS VIVIEN MADE HER HOME IN PARIS. AN AMPLE PERSONAL FORTUNE ENABLED HER TO LIVE IN LUXURY AND TO MAKE MANY LENGTHY TRIPS. AT 22 SHE MET AND BECAME CLOSE FRIENDS WITH NATALIE CLIFFORD BARNEY, AN INDEPENDENTLY-WEALTHY YOUNG AMERICAN WOMAN.

MISS BARNEY INTRODUCED RENEE VIVIEN TO SAPPHO. RENEE SET ABOUT LEARNING GREEK IN ORDER TO READ SAPPHO IN THE CRIGINAL AND SUBSEQUENTLY RENDERED ALL THE SAPPHIC FRAGMENTS INTO PROSE AND THEN INTO DEVELOPMENTAL POETRY, SHE WAS AN ARDENT DISCIPLE OF BAUDELAIRE AND VERLAINE AND TRIED HARD TO BE A PAGAN; HOWEVER, SHE WAS TOO OBSESSED WITH CHRISTIAN CONCEPTS OF CHASTITY AND SIN TO BE A SUCCESSFUL PAGAN.

AN ADMITTED LESBIAN FROM HER EARLIEST YEARS, RENEE VIVIEN WROTE EXCLUSIVELY ON EVERY ASPECT OF LESBIAN LOVE. SHE OFTEN USED THE MUSICAL SAPPHIC METER AND HER POETRY HAS BEEN CALLED THE MOST PERFECT IN FORM WRITTEN IN FRENCH IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THIS CENTURY. THIS IS TREMENDOUS PRAISE.IN VIEW OF THE CENSORSHIP SURROUNDING OUTRIGHT LESBIAN VERSE.

THE STAID, AUTHORITATIVE "COLUMBIA DICTIONARY OF MODERN EUROPEAN LITERATURE" SAYS IN ITS ARTICLE ON MISS VIVIEN THAT HER POETRY HAS "BEEN UNJUSTLY NEGLECTED BECAUSE OF ITS EXALTATION OF LESBIAN LOVE." IT FURTHER STATES THAT "HER VERSES MERIT RESPECT AND ADMIRATION BECAUSE OF THEIR DELICATE PURITY AND PERFECTION OF FORM."

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