The Barriers Between by Marc Brandel

New York : Dial Press, 1949

The Barriers Between is an intense Freudian novel focused on three Americans living and working in Mexico. Jordan Bushnel is a troubled artist providing art and illustration for magazines in the U.S. His love interest is Sylvia. The final member of the love triangle is fellow artist, Richard Slater, whom Sylvia attempted to bed in the past but is now just a friend (who also happens to be gay).

The novel opens with Jordan on the run and declares his culpability in the murder of Richard two days earlier. Told through flashback, what follows is a description of the events of those two days that reveals much about Jordan's state of mind. Why did he snap?

Both Richard and Sylvia think that Jordan might be gay. Jordan can't explain his attraction to Richard but doesn't interpret it as homosexual interest (although others do). Richard frequently launches subtle barbs suggesting something about Jordan's sexuality.

A significant amount of the dialogue is given over to Jordan's inner conversations in which we learn about his feelings of inadequacy as regards his role in the war. Unable to serve due to a medical condition, he sees his work as an artist-correspondent lacking in masculine credibility. Richard's service as a pilot during the war and his comfort with being gay is a challenge to Jordan's view of himself in the world. Jordan traces his feelings back to the events of his childhood including the stereotypical overbearing mother and emasculated father.

Marc Brandel (1919-1994)
Author of The Barriers Between

The first half ends when the tension between Richard and Jordan comes to a head.  Can Jordan use his internal dialogue or self-psychoanalysis to break the barriers between and reveal his true self?

"It wasn't safe to think any longer. His mind was too tired for evasion, too weary now to divert into conventional thought or fantasy the true cause of his turbulent feelings. He knew the truth about himself now. He was loathsome, utterly vile, without any qualification. But he didn't want sympathy or pity. They needn't be afraid that he was going to break down and ask for help. He was strong enough to take care of himself. He could live the rest of his life with himself, with the secret knowledge of his own vileness, carefully, deliberately, in silence, without ever showing by word or change of expression the hidden torment inside him . . . " (p.96-7)


Bibliographies & Ratings: Cory (III); Garde (OTP, a**); Mattachine Review (III); Young (426 *)