The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf by Vita Sackville-West

Leaska observes, 'Rarely can a collection of correspondence have cast into more dramatic relief two personalities more individual or more complex and rarely can an enterprise of the heart have been carried out so near the verge of archetypal feeling. The brief, agonized letter captures the exquisite pangs and pinions of romantic infatuation. And I really don’t resent it Please forgive me for writing such a miserable letter. As the New York Times noted, 'the result is a volume that reads like a book, not just a gathering of marvelous scraps.' I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia, writes Sackville-West in a 1926 letter to Woolf, You have broken down my defences. Annotations throughout the text identify peripheral characters, clarify allusions, and provide background. This volume, which features over 500 letters spanning 19 years, includes the writings of both of these literary icons.ĭeSalvo and Leaska established the chronological order of the letters and placed them in sequence, and they have also included relevant diary entries and letters Vita and Virginia wrote to other friends where they add context and illumination to the narrative.

Their revealing correspondence leaves no aspect of their lives untouched: daily dramas, bits of gossip, the strains and pleasures of writing, and always the same joy in each other’s company. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM ALISON BECHDEL, AUTHOR OF FUN HOME AND CREATOR OF THE BECHDEL TEST.After they met in 1922, Vita Sackville-West, a British novelist married to foreign diplomat Harold Nicolson, and Virginia Woolf began a passionate relationship that lasted until Woolf’s death in 1941. Eavesdrop on the affair that inspired Virginia to write her most fantastical novel, Orlando, and discover a relationship that - even a hundred years later - feels radical and relatable. Intimate and playful, these selected letters and diary entries allow us to hear these women's constantly changing feelings for each other in their own words. Their correspondence ended only with Virginia's death in 1941. It was to be the start of almost twenty years of flirtation, friendship, and literary collaboration. Virginia wrote in her diary that she didn't think much of Vita's conversation, but she did think very highly of her legs.

I just miss you.'Īt a dinner party in 1922, Virginia Woolf met the renowned author, aristocrat - and sapphist - Vita Sackville-West. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone. 'I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. RT botvirginia: But if being loved by Virginia is any good, she does do that and always will, and please believe it- Virginia Woolf in a letter to Vita Sackville-West. Delve into a legendary literary love affair

The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf by Vita Sackville-West