Ugh.

[helle]

Just found out, while totally virtuously working on my essay (well, for about five minutes at least...) that one of Renee Vivien's girlfriends, Hélène de Rothschild* (de Zuylen de Nyevelt and probably several other names too) had all her papers that she'd kept about Vivien and her art and stuff looted/destroyed by the Nazis during the occupation of Paris.
I can't found out what happened to her herself - all my book says is that she was "thrown by the Nazis on the paths of exile" but I can't find any other infomation beyond that died in 1947. I know how many people had their lives (and their art) destroyed by the Nazis, but it really does bring it home when you find out about an individual, rather than a statistic.

I'd like to know more about her - all Vivien's biographers totally hate on Hélène because she breaks up the Renee/Natalie Barney OTP (and, to be fair, Natalie Barney was so fucking cool**). It's weird to suddenly see her so sympathetically - she was incredibly rich and priviledged (a baroness, one of the Rothschilds...), really someone who was part of the system, so it's weird to think that her position didn't shield her from anti-Semitism and prejudice. I wish I knew more about her personal life to - whether she identified as a lesbian herself, or had other female lovers besides Renee. Maybe When This Is All Over, I'll check out some Rothschild biographies, or spend a couple of hours fishing around the Bod trying to find what she did with her life after Vivien's death.


*The real-life girlfriend of my pretend girlfriend! SECOND-DEGREE CONNECTION HERE, TOTALLY.

**Natalie Barney basically lived her life and didn't give a shit about what anyone else thought. She was the original exponent of the 'I'm a lesbian, fucking deal with it' school of interacting with the world. When her father was trying to pressure her to leave her courtesan girlfriend and get respectably married, she brought home Lord Alfred Douglas as a prespective finance - this a few months after Oscar Wilde's death. Her father dropped the idea quite quickly.
She was by all accounts REALLY charismatic - she continued attracting and seducing people right into her 80s, and, sadly, her numerous infidelities led her girlfriend of fifty years to break up with her, when they were in they were both about 90.
----


And this half been your daily history lesson about early 20th Century lesbians! I am totally not plotting out High School AU fic or worrying about characterisation of obscure poets, no, definitely not.

Comments

[frith_in_thorns]

That's really interesting! I like daily history lessons about early 20th Century lesbians :D

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Natalie Barney sounds immensely cool (except maybe for the infidelity).

I can't found out what happened to her herself - all my book says is that she was "thrown by the Nazis on the paths of exile"

That seems an oddly poetic way of putting it.

[helle-d.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's less odd sounding in French, but still weird phrasing.
Natalie Barney had moral objections to monogamy (or something...), which caued problems, because all of her long term raltionships were with women who would actually quite like her to themselves, please. Romaine Brooks had a relationship on-again off-again with her for 50 years, and I think by the end she'd hoped that after all her main rivals died off, she'd have NAtalie to herself at last. (Natalie Barney was also a fascist for awhile, so not entirely cool. But she was so refreshing free of complexes or guilt over her sexuality.)

[helle-d.livejournal.com]

I love that Gwen/Morgana picture so much. It's one of my favourite 'this will make me feel better' images.

[frith_in_thorns]

I have this one too by the same artist, this is Jennifer/Teyla, my SGA ship :D

[helle-d.livejournal.com]

Awwww... I barely even know who they are, but it is so adorable!

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

It sounds like The Wanderer. ("Wraeclastas" is "the paths of the exile", I think; my OE books aren't to hand.)

Waiting for rivals to die sounds like a sensible way of pursuing monogamy! And yes, fascism is awful, but being openly gay and fine with it in that period was rare enough to be awesome.

[frith_in_thorns]

Hello, I'm friending you because I keep seeing you being cool in helle's posts :D (I'm also the person that posted the youtube video in the comment thread on helle's FB status earlier, if that makes me sound less creepy?)

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

Hello! I have friended you back - and you don't sound creepy at all, promise. (I regret to inform you, though, that I am not at all cool, so my LJ might be a bit disappointing.)