In Transit by Brigid Brophy review – decades ahead of its time

Of the hundreds of independent publishing presses making waves in the UK at the moment, one of the most intriguing is the memorably titled Lurid Editions, based out of Bristol. Founded in 2022, their raison d’etre is republishing overlooked and forgotten queer texts from the 20th century. 

So far, they’ve reissued David Rees’s 1982 gay novel The Milkman’s on His Way and Mary Louisa Gordon’s 1936 novel Chase of the Wild Goose, about the Ladies of Llangollen. Now, Lurid Editions has released its third reprint: Brigid Brophy’s postmodernist classic In Transit, originally published in 1969.

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Following Faber’s recent reissues of her early novels, Hackenfeller’s Ape (1953) and The Snow Ball (1964), Brophy’s life and work have returned to the spotlight. A renowned critic and novelist in her day, Brophy’s writing is notable for the range of social issues she advocated for, often decades ahead of her time.

For example, she was an early advocate for veganism and Hackenfeller’s Ape stands out as one of the first works of fiction in the UK to champion the emerging animal rights movement. Similarly, In Transit is remarkable for its portrayal of a character whose gender is indeterminate, exploring ideas about identity long before the term non-binary entered the popular lexicon.

It must be stated at the very beginning, however: those hoping to pick up In Transit in search of a proto trans narrative will find exactly that – though they’ll have to put in an awful lot of work to get there. As much as the novel is notable for its exploration of gender, it is equally notable as a moderately complex work of postmodernist fiction.

Wordplay, puns, obscure references, multiple languages, diagrams, format shifts and surreal imagery are all deployed. There are only the faintest wisps of a plot, as the novel takes place entirely in an airport (that most liminal and transitory of spaces!).

In Transit is a work that feels distinctly post-Ulysses. Brophy spends a great deal of time musing on Joyce and even wonders whether the novel is her own Ulysses: “Should I snatch it and announce to all In Transit my tribute to my great Triestine compalien, the comedi-chameleon, the old pun gent himself?” Mileage may vary on the novel’s complexities, but it cannot go without celebration to have this truly significant work, arguably Brophy’s Great Novel, back in bookshops.

In Transit by Brigid Brophy is out now (Lurid Editions, £12.99). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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