Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings

by Sackville-West, Vita; Caws, Mary Ann; Nicolson, Nigel

• ISBN13: 9780312237608
• ISBN10: 031223760X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-29
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Mary Ann Caws is a renowned critic of the Bloomsbury circle, modernism, and surrealism. She is Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature and Co-Director of the Henri Peyre French Institute at the Graduate Center, CUNY.

Preface by Nigel Nicolson is the son of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. He recently published a biography of Virginia Woolf in the Penguin Lives series and is the author of the acclaimedPortrait of a Marriage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xi
Foreword	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Diaries
Selections from Victoria Sackville-West Diaries, 1902-1905 and 1922	p. 19
Selections from Vita Sackville-West Diaries, 1907-1929	p. 24
Memoirs and Dreams
Beginnings	p. 53
Thirty Clocks Strike the Hour	p. 57
Vita's Dream Book	p. 61
Letters (1920 1927)
Family Letters: From Their Sons	p. 75
Vita and Harold	p. 77
Vita and Virginia	p. 85
Travel Writing
Italian Journey with Dorothy Wellesley (1921)	p. 99
Selections from Passenger to Teheran (1926)	p. 105
Selections from Twelve Days (1928)	p. 125
Journal of Travel to France with Virginia Woolf (1928)	p. 143
Lecture Travel Diary (January to March 1933)	p. 146
Critical Writing
Lecture on Modern English Poetry (1928)	p. 169
From Andrew Marvell (1929)	p. 177
A Note on Thieves' Cant (1947)	p. 181
House, Gardening, and Nature
From Knole and the Sackvilles (1922, 1947)	p. 185
From Country Notes (1939-40)	p. 195
From A Joy of Gardening (1958)	p. 211
Stories
"The Engagement" (1930)	p. 219
"The Poet" (1930)	p. 222
"The Poetry Reading"	p. 229
Novels
From Challenge (1924)	p. 239
Seducers in Ecuador (1924)	p. 278
From All Passion Spent (1931)	p. 308
Poems
Travel Poems	p. 321
"The Muezzin" (Constantinople, 1913)	p. 322
"A Bowl of Blue Beads" (1928)	p. 322
"Persia" (1928)	p. 323
"Nostalgia" (1932)	p. 323
"Palmyra" (1927)	p. 324
"Storm in the Mountains" (Savoy, 1929)	p. 324
"Middleton Place, South Carolina" (1933)	p. 325
Other Poems	p. 327
"Winter Afternoon"	p. 327
"The Intellectual to His Puppy"	p. 329
"The Puppy to His New Owner"	p. 330
"In Memoriam: Virginia Woolf"	p. 330
Poems of House, Land, and Seasons	p. 331
"Sissinghurst" (1930)	p. 331
"Autumn" from The Garden (1946)	p. 333
Poems of Provence	p. 339
"The Quarryman: Les Baux" (1931)	p. 340
"The Temple of Love: Les Baux" (1931)	p. 341
"Dawn: Les Baux" (1931)	p. 341
Animal Reflections
From Faces (1961)	p. 345
Summary of Works Not Excerpted
Aphra Behn	p. 351
The Edwardians	p. 352
Family History	p. 352
Dark Island	p. 353
St. Joan of Arc	p. 354
Grand Canyon	p. 354
The Easter Party	p. 355
Daughter of France	p. 356
No Signposts in the Sea	p. 357
Notes	p. 359
Bibliography	p. 363
Works	p. 365
Index	p. 367
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.