A Tale of Two Coasts: H.D.’s ‘Mira-Mare’ and Robert Herring’s Cactus Coast

• Published in: Modernist cultures Vol. 17; no. 3-4; p. 344
• Main Author: Hember, Polly
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press 01.11.2022
• Subjects: H D (Hilda Doolittle) (1886-1961); Herring, Robert C; Identity; Intimacy; LGBTQ people; Modernism; Novels; Positioning; Sexuality; Short stories
• DOI: 10.3366/mod.2022.0378
• ISSN: 2041-1022

This article looks at the presence of Monte Carlo in two neglected texts: H.D.’s short story ‘Mira-Mare’ (1934) and her close friend Robert Herring’s novel Cactus Coast (1934). Read alongside autobiographical essays and archival correspondence, a rich dialogue forms between H.D. and Herring’s texts, which narrates the inner workings of the POOL group. I argue for the consideration of ‘Mira-Mare’ and Cactus Coast as POOL texts, as they document crucial moments that shaped POOL’s networks of queer intimacy and engage with POOL’s central questions of identity and relationality. Written by two central members of the POOL group’s network, ‘Mira-Mare’ and Cactus Coast were supported by the same funds, editorial presence, and printer as POOL’s labelled outputs. By tracing the connections between H.D. and Herring’s texts, further insight into the POOL group’s activity can be mapped, positioning Monte Carlo as a crucial locus within POOL’s artistic production.