Djuna, by Jon Macy

An excellent graphic (illustrated) biography

Djuna, a graphic novel-style biography of Djuna Barnes, by Jon Macy (@nefarismo) was an impulse buy for me. I walked into a comic book shop and bought it because Djuna Barnes is one of my favorite sapphic modernist writers, and modernism is one of my favorite art movement.

I meant to merely look at the book, but once I started, I couldn’t put it down. Read it all in one giant gulp, so to speak. Such a beautiful book! Not only because of the lovely illustrations, but the writing itself. He writes about Djuna - her life, character, hardships - with so much compassion and respect. Respect, without resorting to pity for this immensely talented woman who had so many demons. Her life was fascinating - she grew up in a sort free love commune, her family behaved in highly questionable ways, she was a sought-after journalist, had patronage from the likes of Peggy Guggenheim and Natalie Barney, lived in Paris with the Lost Generation and in queer scene of that era, took men but more frequently, …