Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings [Hardcover]

Mary Ann Caws (Editor), Nigel Nicolson (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 29, 2002

Aristocrat, novelist, essayist, traveler, and lover of Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West lived a fascinating and daring life on the periphery of the Bloomsbury circle. She wrote in an astounding variety of genres, including travel narrative, historical and literary studies, poetry, fiction, and essays, and is probably best known or her novels, The Edwardians and All Passion Spent, and incomparable writings about English country houses and gardens. Here, for the first time, is an anthology that represents the full expanse of her interests and styles. Over half of the works, including intimate diaries and a dream notebook, have never been published. Edited by a foremost expert on the Bloomsbury circle, Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings provides the best and most accessible introduction to this unique writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vita Sackville-West is now largely remembered for her Bloomsbury connections and her love life, as recorded in her son Nigel Nicolson's bestselling Portrait of a Marriage. She was, however, an accomplished novelist, a talented travel writer and a gifted gardener who planned the famous gardens at her home, Sissinghurst, and wrote brilliantly about the joys of gardening. This lightly annotated volume of selected writings, many previously unpublished, the rest long out-of-print, is intended to acquaint the contemporary reader with the range of Sackville-West's literary talents. There are selections from her diaries and from her mother's; samples of correspondence to and from her husband, Harold Nicolson, and her sons; records of her dreams; three short stories; excerpts from three novels; some poetry; and several travel journals. One of these last, taken from the record she kept of a grueling book tour of the United States in 1933, will provide an American audience with a glimpse into the disdain visiting British aristocrats of the time often felt for the accents and manners of their American hosts as well as the drearily familiar anti-Semitism they appeared to pack with their hats. As for the rest, there is not much here likely to spark renewed interest in Vita as a writer. She wrote well and gracefully, often passionately, but her best work has appeared in print and the unpublished pieces Bloomsbury scholar Caws has resurrected reveal little that is new. 22 b&w photos.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sackville-West (1892-1962) is now most remembered as Virginia Woolf's flamboyant lover and the inspiration for her Orlando. Married to British diplomat Harold Nicholson, Sackville-West was a loving wife and mother and a famous gardener. She was also a lifelong member of the Bloomsbury group, producing novels (All Passion Spent), poetry (The Land), travel literature (Passenger to Teheran), and history (St. Joan of Arc). Although many of her letters, diaries, and memoirs remain in print, editor Caws (English, CUNY) has also included excerpted letters, diaries, poetry, and a dream notebook never before published. (Sackville-West's description of an interminable lecture tour of U.S. universities in 1933 is particularly illuminating to Americans wondering how we are viewed by others.) Caws also gives excerpts of all of her differing genres, both published and unpublished, and pr‚cis of novels. Given that many selections are brief, this anthology is clearly meant to introduce Sackville-West to new readers and to provide access to previously unpublished writings for scholars. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Shelley Cox, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (June 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031223760X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312237608
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,885,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)