'The connection between Hall and Coward has not been examined biographers mention their friendship, if at all, only in passing. In the process, Noel Coward and Radclyffe Hall provides a rich critical vocabulary for bridging the experiences of gays and lesbians in history, casting light upon deep-rooted stereotypes that have long separated the two. Castle pushes past stale definitions - the tragic lesbian and the witty, urbane gay man - to present a broader picture. Through its imaginative juxtaposition of two major literary figures, this provocative work illuminates how traditional ideas of the differences between male and female homosexuals shield from view a vast arena of cultural understanding.
This captivating tale is brought to life in a series of 45 illustrations, including photographs of Hall, Coward, and others in their social circle, along with cartoon renditions of the two from the popular press. The first look at the literary and biographical link between these influential contemporaries, Noel Coward and Radclyffe Hall recounts a forgotten literary friendship and shows that Coward and Hall even make subtle, "ghostly" appearances in each others' works. Yet as Terry Castle displays in her provocative new study, the two had much more in common than critics have been willing to concede. Where she throws her head back in despair, he merely lifts an eyebrow. Coward's writing is playful, sarcastic, absurd Hall's is brooding and melancholic, rife with misery and suffering.
At first glance, it seems difficult to imagine two more different literary personalities than Noel Coward and Radclyffe Hall.
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