The works included in 'The Selected Works of Djuna Barnes' were chosen by Barnes when she was in her late sixties, by which point some of her earlier writing was no longer to her taste. As such, this "Selected Works" is very select indeed, and offers only a limited sense for Barnes's writing over-all. That said, the works here do include two of her best and most well-known works, they are her masterpiece novel 'Nightwood' and her experimental play 'The Antiphon'. 'Nightwood' was first published in 1936 and is the tale of a lesbian relationship in 1920s Paris. Its baroque narrative and impressionistic language enable it to be considered among the best modernist novels. 'The Antiphon' was published in the 1950s and is a verse-drama set in England during WWII. It is a strange, captivating work, a narrative of family betrayal and genealogy gone bad. This volume also includes nine of Barnes's short stories, a number of which are excellent and demonstrate Barnes's ability to establish mood and tone.

The notable absences from this edition include Barnes's poetry, her first novel Ryder and her Ladies Almanac, all of which are in print elsewhere. We are still waiting for a 'Collected Works of Djuna Barnes'! ( )

Wanted to like it, but it was a snooze fest. ( )