Vita Sackville-West
Encyclopedia
The Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH
(9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English
author
, poet
and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize
in 1927 and 1933. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life, her strong marriage (although she and her husband Harold Nicolson
were both bisexual), her passionate affair with novelist Virginia Woolf
and the garden that she and Nicolson created at Sissinghurst
.
Vita Sackville-West was born at Knole House
near Sevenoaks
Kent
, the only child of Lionel Edward Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville and his wife Victoria Sackville-West, who were cousins. Her mother was the natural daughter of Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville
. Christened "Victoria Mary Sackville-West", she was known as "Vita" throughout her life, to distinguish her from her mother.
The rules of male primogeniture
prevented Vita from inheriting Knole on the death of her father. The house passed, with the title, to her uncle Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville
. The loss of Knole would affect her for the rest of her life; of the signing in 1947 of documents relinquishing any claim on the property, part of its transition to the National Trust
, she wrote that "the signing... nearly broke my heart, putting my signature to what I regarded as a betrayal of all the tradition of my ancestors and the house I loved."
Vita's portrait was painted by Hungarian
born portrait painter Philip de Laszlo in 1910, when she was 17. Vita hated this portrait, which she thought made her look like a vacuous Edwardian aristocrat, and kept it in her attic throughout her life. (Sissinghurst by Adam Nicolson, The National Trust, 2008.)
(1849–1928). The couple had an open marriage
. Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships
, as did some of the people in the Bloomsbury Group
of writers and artists, with many of whom they had connections.
These affairs were no impediment to the true closeness between Sackville-West and Nicolson, as is seen from their almost daily correspondence (published after their deaths by their son Nigel), and from an interview they gave for BBC radio after World War II
. Harold Nicolson gave up his diplomatic career partly so that he could live with Sackville-West in England, uninterrupted by long solitary postings to missions abroad.
Following the pattern of his father's career, Harold was at different times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament
, and author of biographies and novels. The couple lived for a number of years in Cihangir
, Constantinople
and were present, in 1926, at the crowning of Rezā Shāh
, in Tehran
, then Persia. They returned to England in 1914 and bought Long Barn
, in Kent
, living there from 1915 to 1930. They employed the architect Edwin Lutyens
to make many improvements to the house.
The couple had two children: Nigel
(1917–2004), a well known editor, politician, and writer, and Benedict
(1914–1978), an art historian. In the 1930s, the family acquired and moved to Sissinghurst Castle
, near Cranbrook
, in Kent
. Sissinghurst had once been owned by Vita's ancestors, which provided a natural dynastic attraction to her following the loss of Knole. There the couple created the famous gardens that are now run by the National Trust
.
, England
, September 1888-30 June 1944), who was 4 years Vita's senior. She was the daughter of Algernon Henry Grosvenor, (1864–1907), her grandfather being Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury
. Vita met Rosamund at Miss Woolf's school in 1899, when Rosamund had been invited to cheer Vita up while her father was fighting in the Boer war
. Rosamund and Vita later shared a governess for their morning lessons. As they grew up together, Vita fell in love with Rosamund, whom she called 'Roddie' or 'Rose' or 'the Rubens lady'. Rosamund, in turn, was besotted with Vita. "Oh, I dare say I realized vaguely that I had no business to sleep with Rosamund, and I should certainly never have allowed anyone to find it out," she admits in her journal, but she saw no real conflict: "I really was innocent."
Lady Sackville, Vita's mother, invited Rosamund to visit the family at their villa in Monte Carlo
; Rosamund also stayed with Vita at Knole, at Rue Lafitte, and at Sluie. During the Monte Carlo visit, Vita wrote in her diary, " I love her so much ". Upon Rosamund's departure, Vita wrote, "Strange how little I minded {her leaving}; she has no personality, that's why." Their secret relationship ended in 1913 when Vita married. Rosamund died in 1944 during a German V1-rocket raid.
, daughter of the Hon. George Keppel & his wife, Alice Keppel
, a mistress of King Edward VII. They first met when Vita Sackville-West was 12 and Violet was 10, and attended school together for a number of years.
The relationship began when they were both in their teens. Both later married, she and Trefusis had eloped several times from 1918 on, mostly to France
, Sackville-West dressing as a man when they went out (as had the French writer Baroness Dudevant, Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, a.k.a. George Sand
, (1804–1876), had done with ailing younger Polish musician Frederic Chopin
, (1810–1849), some 100 years earlier, when residing as a couple, 1838 - early 1839, with her own 2 children, on the island of Majorca, Spain
).
The affair ended badly, with Trefusis pursuing Sackville-West to great lengths until Sackville-West's affairs with other women finally took their toll.
The two women had made, apparently, a bond to remain faithful to one another, meaning that although both women were married, neither could engage in sexual relations with her own husband. Sackville-West heard allegations that Trefusis had been involved sexually with her own husband, indicating she had broken their bond, prompting her to end the affair. By all accounts, Sackville-West was by that time looking for a reason for breaking up the relationship, and used this as justification. Despite the rift the two women were devoted to one another, and deeply in love, and continued to have occasional liaisons for a number of years afterwards, but never rekindled the affair.
Vita's novel Challenge also bears witness to this affair: Sackville-West and Trefusis had started writing this book as a collaborative endeavor, the male character's name, Julian, being Sackville-West's nickname while passing as a man. Her mother, Lady Sackville, was the illegitimate Anglo-Spanish daughter of the 2nd Lord Sackville, Lionel, married to a cousin, Vita's father, the third Lord Sackville, found the portrayal obvious enough to refuse to allow publication of the novel in England; but her own son Nigel Nicolson
, (1973, p. 194), however, praises her: "She fought for the right to love, men and women, rejecting the conventions that marriage demands exclusive love, and that women should love only men, and men only women. For this she was prepared to give up everything… How could she regret that the knowledge of it should now reach the ears of a new generation, one so infinitely more compassionate than her own?"
in the late 1920s. Woolf, sister of Vanessa Bell
, both daughters of Leslie Stephen
, founder of the monumental Dictionary of National Biography
, wrote one of her most famous novels, Orlando
, described by Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson
as "the longest and most charming love-letter in literature", as a result of this affair.
Unusually, the moment of the conception of Orlando was documented: Woolf writes in her diary on 5 October 1927: "And instantly the usual exciting devices enter my mind: a biography beginning in the year 1500 and continuing to the present day, called Orlando: Vita; only with a change about from one sex to the other" (excerpt from her diary published posthumously by her husband Leonard Woolf
).
Talks Department. "Stoker" was the pet name given to Hilda by Sackville-West during their liaison.
In 1931 Sackville-West became involved in an affair with journalist Evelyn Irons
, who had interviewed her after her novel The Edwardians became a bestseller.
She was also romantically involved with her sister-in-law Gwen St. Aubyn, Mary Garman and others not listed here.
(1930) and All Passion Spent
(1931) are perhaps her best known novels today. In the latter, the elderly Lady Slane courageously embraces a long suppressed sense of freedom and whimsy after a lifetime of convention. This novel was faithfully dramatized by the BBC
in 1986 starring Dame Wendy Hiller.
Sackville-West's science-fantasy Grand Canyon (1942) is a "cautionary tale" (as she termed it) about a Nazi invasion of an unprepared United States. The book takes an unsuspected twist, however, in that makes it something more than a typical invasion yarn
.
In 1946 Sackville-West was made a Companion of Honour for her services to literature. The following year she began a weekly column in The Observer
called "In your Garden". In 1948 she became a founder member of the National Trust
's garden committee.
She is less well known as a biographer, and the most famous of those works is her biography of Saint Joan of Arc in the work of the same name. Additionally, she composed a dual biography of Saint Teresa of Ávila and Therese of Lisieux entitled The Eagle and the Dove, a biography of the author Aphra Behn
, and a biography of her own grandmother, the Spanish dancer known as Pepita., the mother of many children by British diplomat and second Lord Sackville, Lionel Sackville-West, (1829–1908), as stated extensively above, running by 2010 at some 11 editions in English. For instance, the 1985 edition by Telegraph Books, (ISBN 9780897607858). The first edition was Doubleday Publishers, 1937. There was another by Amereon, date unknown, (ISBN 9780848811501).
Her long narrative poem, The Land, won the Hawthornden Prize
in 1927. She won it again, becoming the only writer to do so, in 1933 with her Collected Poems.
Sissinghurst Castle is now owned by the National Trust
, given by Sackville-West's son Nigel in order to escape payment of inheritance taxes
. Its gardens are famous and remain the most visited in all of England.
A recording was made of Vita Sackville-West reading from her poem The Land. This was on four 78rpm sides in the Columbia Records
'International Educational Society' Lecture series, Lecture 98 (Cat. no. D 40192/3).
A plaque
on their house in Ebury Street, London SW1, commemorates her and Harold Nicolson
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
(9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and gardener. She won the Hawthornden Prize
Hawthornden Prize
The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award that was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender. Authors are awarded on the quality of their "imaginative literature" which can be written in either poetry or prose...
in 1927 and 1933. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life, her strong marriage (although she and her husband Harold Nicolson
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson KCVO CMG was an English diplomat, author, diarist and politician. He was the husband of writer Vita Sackville-West, their unusual relationship being described in their son's book, Portrait of a Marriage.-Early life:Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the younger son of...
were both bisexual), her passionate affair with novelist Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
and the garden that she and Nicolson created at Sissinghurst
Sissinghurst
Sissinghurst is a small village in the county of Kent in England. Originally called Milkhouse Street , Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the smuggling and cockfighting activities of the Hawkhurst Gang.The nearest railway station is at...
.
Early life
Knole House
Knole is an English country house in the town of Sevenoaks in west Kent, surrounded by a deer park. One of England's largest houses, it is reputed to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards...
near Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...
Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, the only child of Lionel Edward Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville and his wife Victoria Sackville-West, who were cousins. Her mother was the natural daughter of Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville
Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville
Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville GCMG , was a British diplomat.-Background:Sackville-West was the fourth son of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr, by Lady Elizabeth, daughter of John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset...
. Christened "Victoria Mary Sackville-West", she was known as "Vita" throughout her life, to distinguish her from her mother.
The rules of male primogeniture
Primogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
prevented Vita from inheriting Knole on the death of her father. The house passed, with the title, to her uncle Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville
Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville
Major-General Charles John Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville, KBE, CB, CMG was a British Army general and peer who served throughout the First World War and reached the rank of major general. In 1919, Sackville-West was British Military Representative on the Supreme War Council and from 1920 to...
. The loss of Knole would affect her for the rest of her life; of the signing in 1947 of documents relinquishing any claim on the property, part of its transition to the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, she wrote that "the signing... nearly broke my heart, putting my signature to what I regarded as a betrayal of all the tradition of my ancestors and the house I loved."
Vita's portrait was painted by Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
born portrait painter Philip de Laszlo in 1910, when she was 17. Vita hated this portrait, which she thought made her look like a vacuous Edwardian aristocrat, and kept it in her attic throughout her life. (Sissinghurst by Adam Nicolson, The National Trust, 2008.)
Marriage
In 1913, at age 21, Vita married the 27 year-old writer and politician Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968), nicknamed Hadji, the third son of British diplomat Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron CarnockArthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock
Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock , known as Sir Arthur Nicolson, 11th Baronet, from 1899 to 1916, was a British diplomat and politician through the last quarter of the 19th century to the middle of World War I...
(1849–1928). The couple had an open marriage
Open marriage
Open marriage typically refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. There are many different styles of open marriage, with the partners having varying levels of input on their spouse's...
. Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, as did some of the people in the Bloomsbury Group
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...
of writers and artists, with many of whom they had connections.
These affairs were no impediment to the true closeness between Sackville-West and Nicolson, as is seen from their almost daily correspondence (published after their deaths by their son Nigel), and from an interview they gave for BBC radio after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Harold Nicolson gave up his diplomatic career partly so that he could live with Sackville-West in England, uninterrupted by long solitary postings to missions abroad.
Following the pattern of his father's career, Harold was at different times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, and author of biographies and novels. The couple lived for a number of years in Cihangir
Cihangir
Cihangir is one of the neighborhoods of the Beyoğlu district in Istanbul, Turkey. The neighborhood has many narrow streets, a park, and street cafes. It is located between Taksim Square and Kabataş...
, Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and were present, in 1926, at the crowning of Rezā Shāh
Reza Shah
Rezā Shāh, also known as Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and Rezā Shāh Kabir , , was the Shah of the Imperial State of Iran from December 15, 1925, until he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on September 16, 1941.In 1925, Reza Shah overthrew Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar...
, in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, then Persia. They returned to England in 1914 and bought Long Barn
Long Barn
Long Barn, located in the village of Sevenoaks Weald, Kent, is a Grade II listed property and the former home of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson...
, in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, living there from 1915 to 1930. They employed the architect Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
to make many improvements to the house.
The couple had two children: Nigel
Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson OBE was a British writer, publisher and politician.-Biography:Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian...
(1917–2004), a well known editor, politician, and writer, and Benedict
Benedict Nicolson
Benedict Nicolson, MVO was a British art historian and author.Nicolson was the elder son of authors Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West and the brother of writer and politician Nigel...
(1914–1978), an art historian. In the 1930s, the family acquired and moved to Sissinghurst Castle
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
The garden at Sissinghurst Castle in the Weald of Kent, near Cranbrook, Goudhurst and Tenterden, is owned and maintained by the National Trust. It is among the most famous gardens in England.-History:...
, near Cranbrook
Cranbrook, Kent
Cranbrook is a small town in Kent in South East England which was granted a charter in 1290 by Archbishop Peckham, allowing it to hold a market in the High Street. Located on the Maidstone to Hastings road, it is five miles north of Hawkhurst. The smaller settlements of Swattenden, Colliers...
, in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Sissinghurst had once been owned by Vita's ancestors, which provided a natural dynastic attraction to her following the loss of Knole. There the couple created the famous gardens that are now run by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
Rosamund Grosvenor
Vita's first close friend was Rosamund Grosvenor (LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, September 1888-30 June 1944), who was 4 years Vita's senior. She was the daughter of Algernon Henry Grosvenor, (1864–1907), her grandfather being Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury
Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury
Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury PC , styled Lord Robert Grosvenor from 1831 to 1857, was a British courtier and Whig politician. He served as Comptroller of the Household between 1830 and 1834 and as Treasurer of the Household between 1846 and 1847...
. Vita met Rosamund at Miss Woolf's school in 1899, when Rosamund had been invited to cheer Vita up while her father was fighting in the Boer war
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
. Rosamund and Vita later shared a governess for their morning lessons. As they grew up together, Vita fell in love with Rosamund, whom she called 'Roddie' or 'Rose' or 'the Rubens lady'. Rosamund, in turn, was besotted with Vita. "Oh, I dare say I realized vaguely that I had no business to sleep with Rosamund, and I should certainly never have allowed anyone to find it out," she admits in her journal, but she saw no real conflict: "I really was innocent."
Lady Sackville, Vita's mother, invited Rosamund to visit the family at their villa in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
; Rosamund also stayed with Vita at Knole, at Rue Lafitte, and at Sluie. During the Monte Carlo visit, Vita wrote in her diary, " I love her so much ". Upon Rosamund's departure, Vita wrote, "Strange how little I minded {her leaving}; she has no personality, that's why." Their secret relationship ended in 1913 when Vita married. Rosamund died in 1944 during a German V1-rocket raid.
Violet Trefusis
The same-sex relationship that had the deepest and most lasting effect on Sackville-West's personal life was with the novelist Violet TrefusisViolet Trefusis
Violet Trefusis née Keppel was an English writer and socialite. She is most notable for her lesbian affair with Vita Sackville-West, which was featured under disguise in Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography....
, daughter of the Hon. George Keppel & his wife, Alice Keppel
Alice Keppel
Alice Frederica Keppel, née Edmonstone was a British socialite and the most famous mistress of Edward VII, the eldest son of Queen Victoria. Her formal style after marriage was The Hon. Mrs George Keppel. Her daughter, Violet Trefusis, was the lover of poet Vita Sackville-West...
, a mistress of King Edward VII. They first met when Vita Sackville-West was 12 and Violet was 10, and attended school together for a number of years.
The relationship began when they were both in their teens. Both later married, she and Trefusis had eloped several times from 1918 on, mostly to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Sackville-West dressing as a man when they went out (as had the French writer Baroness Dudevant, Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin, a.k.a. George Sand
George Sand
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
, (1804–1876), had done with ailing younger Polish musician Frederic Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, (1810–1849), some 100 years earlier, when residing as a couple, 1838 - early 1839, with her own 2 children, on the island of Majorca, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
).
The affair ended badly, with Trefusis pursuing Sackville-West to great lengths until Sackville-West's affairs with other women finally took their toll.
The two women had made, apparently, a bond to remain faithful to one another, meaning that although both women were married, neither could engage in sexual relations with her own husband. Sackville-West heard allegations that Trefusis had been involved sexually with her own husband, indicating she had broken their bond, prompting her to end the affair. By all accounts, Sackville-West was by that time looking for a reason for breaking up the relationship, and used this as justification. Despite the rift the two women were devoted to one another, and deeply in love, and continued to have occasional liaisons for a number of years afterwards, but never rekindled the affair.
Vita's novel Challenge also bears witness to this affair: Sackville-West and Trefusis had started writing this book as a collaborative endeavor, the male character's name, Julian, being Sackville-West's nickname while passing as a man. Her mother, Lady Sackville, was the illegitimate Anglo-Spanish daughter of the 2nd Lord Sackville, Lionel, married to a cousin, Vita's father, the third Lord Sackville, found the portrayal obvious enough to refuse to allow publication of the novel in England; but her own son Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson OBE was a British writer, publisher and politician.-Biography:Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian...
, (1973, p. 194), however, praises her: "She fought for the right to love, men and women, rejecting the conventions that marriage demands exclusive love, and that women should love only men, and men only women. For this she was prepared to give up everything… How could she regret that the knowledge of it should now reach the ears of a new generation, one so infinitely more compassionate than her own?"
Virginia Woolf
The affair for which Sackville-West is most remembered was with the prominent writer Virginia WoolfVirginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
in the late 1920s. Woolf, sister of Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury group, and the sister of Virginia Woolf.- Biography and art :...
, both daughters of Leslie Stephen
Leslie Stephen
Sir Leslie Stephen, KCB was an English author, critic and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.-Life:...
, founder of the monumental Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
, wrote one of her most famous novels, Orlando
Orlando: A Biography
Orlando: A Biography is an influential novel by Virginia Woolf, first published on 11 October 1928. A semi-biographical novel based in part on the life of Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West, it is generally considered one of Woolf's most accessible novels...
, described by Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson
Nigel Nicolson OBE was a British writer, publisher and politician.-Biography:Nicolson was the son of the writers Sir Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West; he had a brother Ben, later an art historian...
as "the longest and most charming love-letter in literature", as a result of this affair.
Unusually, the moment of the conception of Orlando was documented: Woolf writes in her diary on 5 October 1927: "And instantly the usual exciting devices enter my mind: a biography beginning in the year 1500 and continuing to the present day, called Orlando: Vita; only with a change about from one sex to the other" (excerpt from her diary published posthumously by her husband Leonard Woolf
Leonard Woolf
Leonard Sidney Woolf was an English political theorist, author, publisher and civil servant, and husband of author Virginia Woolf.-Early life:...
).
Other affairs
Vita Sackville-West also had a passionate affair between 1929 and 1931 with Hilda Matheson, head of the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Talks Department. "Stoker" was the pet name given to Hilda by Sackville-West during their liaison.
In 1931 Sackville-West became involved in an affair with journalist Evelyn Irons
Evelyn Irons
Evelyn Irons was a Scottish journalist, the first woman war correspondent to be decorated with the Croix de Guerre....
, who had interviewed her after her novel The Edwardians became a bestseller.
She was also romantically involved with her sister-in-law Gwen St. Aubyn, Mary Garman and others not listed here.
Well known writings
The EdwardiansThe Edwardians
The Edwardians is one of Vita Sackville-West's later novels and a clear critique of the Edwardian aristocratic society as well as a reflection of her own childhood experiences. It belongs to the genre of the Bildungsroman and describes the development of the main character Sebastian within his...
(1930) and All Passion Spent
All Passion Spent
All Passion Spent is a literary fiction novel by Vita Sackville-West.Published in 1931, it is one of Sackville-West’s most popular works and hasbeen adapted for television by the BBC.This charming and gentle novel addresses peoples’, especially women’s,...
(1931) are perhaps her best known novels today. In the latter, the elderly Lady Slane courageously embraces a long suppressed sense of freedom and whimsy after a lifetime of convention. This novel was faithfully dramatized by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in 1986 starring Dame Wendy Hiller.
Sackville-West's science-fantasy Grand Canyon (1942) is a "cautionary tale" (as she termed it) about a Nazi invasion of an unprepared United States. The book takes an unsuspected twist, however, in that makes it something more than a typical invasion yarn
Invasion literature
Invasion literature was a historical literary genre most notable between 1871 and the First World War . The genre first became recognizable starting in Britain in 1871 with The Battle of Dorking, a fictional account of an invasion of England by Germany...
.
In 1946 Sackville-West was made a Companion of Honour for her services to literature. The following year she began a weekly column in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
called "In your Garden". In 1948 she became a founder member of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
's garden committee.
She is less well known as a biographer, and the most famous of those works is her biography of Saint Joan of Arc in the work of the same name. Additionally, she composed a dual biography of Saint Teresa of Ávila and Therese of Lisieux entitled The Eagle and the Dove, a biography of the author Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
, and a biography of her own grandmother, the Spanish dancer known as Pepita., the mother of many children by British diplomat and second Lord Sackville, Lionel Sackville-West, (1829–1908), as stated extensively above, running by 2010 at some 11 editions in English. For instance, the 1985 edition by Telegraph Books, (ISBN 9780897607858). The first edition was Doubleday Publishers, 1937. There was another by Amereon, date unknown, (ISBN 9780848811501).
Her long narrative poem, The Land, won the Hawthornden Prize
Hawthornden Prize
The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award that was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender. Authors are awarded on the quality of their "imaginative literature" which can be written in either poetry or prose...
in 1927. She won it again, becoming the only writer to do so, in 1933 with her Collected Poems.
Legacy
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
, given by Sackville-West's son Nigel in order to escape payment of inheritance taxes
Inheritance Tax (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, Inheritance Tax is a transfer tax. It was introduced with effect from 18 March 1986 replacing Capital Transfer Tax.-History:...
. Its gardens are famous and remain the most visited in all of England.
A recording was made of Vita Sackville-West reading from her poem The Land. This was on four 78rpm sides in the Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
'International Educational Society' Lecture series, Lecture 98 (Cat. no. D 40192/3).
A plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
on their house in Ebury Street, London SW1, commemorates her and Harold Nicolson
Poetry
- Chatterton (1909)
- A Dancing Elf (1912)
- Constantinople: Eight Poems (1915)
- Poems of West and East (1917)
- Orchard and Vineyard (1921)
- The Land (1926)
- King's Daughter (1929)
- Sissinghurst (1931)
- Invitation to Cast out Care (1931)
- Solitude (1938)
- The Garden (1946)
Novels
- Heritage (1919)
- The Dragon in Shallow Waters (1921)
- The Heir (1922)
- Challenge (1923)
- Grey Waters (1923)
- Seducers in Ecuador (1924)
- Passenger to Teheran (1926)
- The EdwardiansThe EdwardiansThe Edwardians is one of Vita Sackville-West's later novels and a clear critique of the Edwardian aristocratic society as well as a reflection of her own childhood experiences. It belongs to the genre of the Bildungsroman and describes the development of the main character Sebastian within his...
(1930) - All Passion SpentAll Passion SpentAll Passion Spent is a literary fiction novel by Vita Sackville-West.Published in 1931, it is one of Sackville-West’s most popular works and hasbeen adapted for television by the BBC.This charming and gentle novel addresses peoples’, especially women’s,...
(1931) - The Death of Noble Godavary and Gottfried Künstler (1932)
- Thirty Clocks Strike the Hour (1932)
- Family History (1932)
- The Dark Island (1934)
- Grand Canyon (1942)
- Devil at Westease (1947)
- The Easter Party (1953)
- No Signposts in the Sea (1961)
Translations
- Duineser Elegien: Elegies from the Castle of Duino, by Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
trns. V. Sackville-West (Hogarth PressHogarth PressThe Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books....
, London, 1931)
Biographies/Other works
- Passenger to Teheran (Hogarth Press 1926, reprinted Tauris Parke Paperbacks 2007, ISBN 978-1-84511-343-8)
- Knole and the Sackvilles (1922)
- Saint Joan of Arc (Doubleday 1936, reprinted M. Joseph 1969)
- Pepita (Doubleday, 1937, reprinted Hogarth Press 1970)
- The Eagle and The Dove (M. Joseph 1943)
- Twelve Days: an account of a journey across the Bakhtiari Mountains of South-western Persia (M. Haag 1987, reprinted Tauris Parke Paperbacks 2009 as Twelve Days in Persia, ISBN 978-1-84511-933-1)
Further reading
- David Cannadine: Portrait of More Than a Marriage: Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West Revisited. From Aspects of Aristocracy, pp. 210–42. (Yale University Press, 1994) ISBN 0-300-05981-7
- Robert Cross and Ann Ravenscroft-Hulme: Vita Sackville-West: A Bibliography (Oak Knoll Press, 1999) ISBN 1-58456-004-5
- Eberle, Iwona: Eve with a Spade: Women, Gardens, and Literature in the Nineteenth Century (Grin, 2011) ISBN 978-3640843558
- Victoria Glendinning: Vita: The Life of V. Sackville-West (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983)
- Nigel Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West: Portrait of a Marriage. (The University of Chicago Press, 1998. First published 1973) ISBN 0-226-58357-0
- Peggy Wolf: Sternenlieder und Grabgesänge. Vita Sackville-West: Eine kommentierte Bibliographie der deutschsprachigen Veröffentlichungen von ihr und über sie 1930 - 2005. (Daphne-Verlag, Göttingen, 2006) ISBN 3-89137-041-5
External links
- Fuller list of Vita Sackville-West's publications
- Vita Sackville-West as a garden designer
- Portrait photos at npg.org.uk http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp06015&rNo=0&role=sit http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp06015&rNo=8&role=sit
- Vita Sackville-West reads from her poem The Land http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=159296768300309883&q=vita+sackvile&ei=rwxySMK7F4-AjQLKyoyYDw&hl=nl
- Project Gutenberg collection of books by Vita Sackville-West
- Google Books listings of books by Vita Sackville-West