Djuna Barnes — Nightwood with Margaret Vandenburg

Send us Fan Mail Dark and disturbing, yet strangely redemptive, Djuna Barnes’s 1936 modernist masterpiece Nightwood left even its greatest champion, T.S. Eliot, a bit bewildered. Guest Margaret Vandenburg, an expert in modernism, post-modernism and gender studies, joins us to illuminate Barnes’s tumultuous life and help us decipher her "ultimate breakup novel,” a work that casts its spell by turning the world upside down in subversive defiance of fascism. Mentioned in this episode: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes Craze by Margaret Vandenburg An American in Paris by Margaret Vandenburg Djuna: The Extraordinary Life of Djuna Barnes by Jon Macy The Life and Work of Djuna Barnes by Phillip Herring New York by Djuna Barnes (collected journalism) The Book of Repulsive Women and Other Poems by Djuna Barnes Ladies Almanac by Djuna Barnes “The Antiphon” by Djuna Barnes Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 266 on Radclyffe Hall Zadel Barnes Barnes’s 1922 Support the show For episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.com

You can listen to Djuna Barnes — Nightwood with Margaret Vandenburg online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Djuna Barnes — Nightwood with Margaret Vandenburg is an episode from Lost Ladies of Lit by Amy Helmes & Kim Askew.

This episode is 55:14 long.

This episode was published on Dec 9, 2025.

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