Editing Natalie Clifford Barney (section)

==Epigrams and novel==
''Éparpillements'' (''Scatterings'', 1910) was Barney's first collection of ''pensées''—literally, thoughts.  This literary form had been associated with salon culture in France since the 17th century, when the genre was perfected at the salon of [[Madeleine de Souvré, marquise de Sablé|Madame de Sablé]].{{sfn|Conley|2002|p=20}} Barney's ''pensées'', like de Sablé's own ''Maximes'', were short, often one-line [[epigrams]] or ''[[bon mot]]s'' such as "There are more evil ears than bad mouths" and "To be married is to be neither alone nor together."{{sfn|Barney|1992|p=97}}

[[Image:Rouveyre - Le Philosophe Chez Ses Amies.jpg|thumb|Remy de Gourmont with Élisabeth de Gramont and Barney in 1913.  Drawing by [[André Rouveyre]].]]
Her literary career got a boost after she sent a copy of ''Éparpillements'' to [[Remy de Gourmont]], a French poet, literary critic, and philosopher who had become a recluse after contracting the disfiguring disease [[lupus vulgaris]] in his thirties.<ref>{{harvnb|Wickes|1976|p=120}}, {{harvnb|Rodriguez|2002|p=190}}, and {{harvnb|Jay|1988|p=26 }} all refer to de Gourmont's condition simply as "lupus", but {{harvnb|Denkinger|1937|p=1148}} and other French sources such as {{harvnb|Gogibu|2005}} call it "''lupus tuberculeux''"—apparently lupus vulgaris, which is a form of tuberculosis of the skin, unrelated to [[systemic lupus erythematosus]], the disease now commonly known as lupus.</ref> He was impressed enough to invite her to one of the Sunday gatherings at his home, at which he usually received only a small group of old friends.  She was a rejuvenating influence in his life, coaxing him out for evening car rides, dinners at the Rue Jacob, a masked [[Ball (dance)|ball]], even a short cruise on the [[Seine]].  He turned some of their wide-ranging conversations into a series of letters that he published in the ''[[Mercure de France]]'', addressing her as ''l'Amazone,'' a French word that can mean either ''horsewoman'' or ''[[Amazons|Amazon]]''; the letters were later collected in book form.  He died in 1915, but the nickname he gave her would stay with her all her life—even her [[tombstone]] identifies her as "the Amazon of Remy de Gourmont"—and his ''Letters to the Amazon'' left readers wanting to know more about the woman who had inspired them.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=191–196, 199–201}}

Barney obliged in 1920 with ''Pensées d'une Amazone'' (''Thoughts of an Amazon''), her most overtly political work.  In the first section, "Sexual Adversity, War, and Feminism", she developed [[feminism|feminist]] and [[pacifism|pacifist]] themes, describing war as an "involuntary and collective suicide ordained by man".{{sfn|Benstock|1986|p=296}} In war, she said, men "father death as women mother life, with courage and without choice".{{sfn|Jay|1988|p=29}} The epigrammatic form makes it difficult to determine the details of Barney's views; ideas are presented only to be dropped, and some ''pensées'' seem to contradict others.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=257–258}} Some critics interpret her as saying that the aggression that leads to war is visible in all male relationships.  Karla Jay, however, argues that her philosophy was not that sweeping, and is better summed up by the epigram "Those who ''love'' war lack the love of an adequate sport—the art of living."{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=257}}{{sfn|Benstock|1986|p=296}}{{sfn|Jay|1988|p=29}}

Another section of ''Pensées d'une Amazone'', "Misunderstanding, or Sappho's Lawsuit", gathered historical writings about homosexuality along with her own commentary.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=259}} She also covered topics such as alcohol, friendship, old age, and literature, writing "Novels are longer than life"{{sfn|Barney|1992|p=118}} and "Romanticism is a childhood ailment; those who had it young are the most robust."{{sfn|Barney|1992|p=123}} A third volume, ''Nouvelles Pensées de l'Amazone'' (''New Thoughts of the Amazon''), appeared in 1939.

''The One Who is Legion, or A.D.'s After-Life'' (1930) was Barney's only book written entirely in English, as well as her only novel.  Illustrated by [[Romaine Brooks]], it concerns a person who committed suicide, known only as A.D., who is brought back to life as a genderless, [[hermaphrodite|hermaphroditic]] being and reads the book of their own life.  This [[Fictional book|book-within-a-book]], entitled ''The Love-Lives of A.D.'', is a collection of hymns, poems and epigrams, much like Barney's own other writings.{{sfn|Benstock|1986|pp=298–299}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=303–304}}