There's Shari Benstock's Women of the Left Bank (1976), which, if I recall correctly, includes quite a bit about the Natalie Barney etc circles, though its remit is 1900 onwards. There might be something in Laura Doan, Fashioning Sapphism: The Origins of a Modern English Lesbian Culture (2001)
I'm trying to remember whether Vicinus has much about Parisian circles, as opposed to the Rome/Florence UK/US arty expat nexus.
Radclyffe Hall was associated with the Barney circle, and depicts it (Valerie in TWOL is based on Barney) in The Well of Loneliness. Bios of her may be useful on other British women involved.
A lot of the more subtle nuancing of sexual identities and the distinguishing between a homosexual or lesbian and transgendered identity, and between transgender and tranvestite, etc, is very, very recent.
no subject
I'm trying to remember whether Vicinus has much about Parisian circles, as opposed to the Rome/Florence UK/US arty expat nexus.
Radclyffe Hall was associated with the Barney circle, and depicts it (Valerie in TWOL is based on Barney) in The Well of Loneliness. Bios of her may be useful on other British women involved.
A lot of the more subtle nuancing of sexual identities and the distinguishing between a homosexual or lesbian and transgendered identity, and between transgender and tranvestite, etc, is very, very recent.