The lovely Virago Group on LibraryThing has decided not to do a big challenge this year (other years, we’ve done Elizabeth Taylor or Barbara Pym, for example), but to vote on an author to read per month, and then you can read anything by that author during that month, but dip in and out as you want. January came up with Vita Sackville-West, and as she’s a beloved author AND I wanted to do more re-reading this year, I decided to re-read “All Passion Spent”. I am not sure when I bought this – I have it in a slightly annoying to read hardback omnibus, and it’s got a pencil letter in which implies I bought it at either a book sale in Kent or one in Greenwich that I used to frequent. Anyway, I’m pretty sure it was one of the early Viragoes that I read, and I can’t think I’ve revisited it for a couple of decades. I’m glad I did.
Vita Sackville-West – “All Passion Spent”
(1990s)
An absolutely charming novel which completely vindicated my picking it up for a re-read, with the somewhat unusual central character an 88-year-old woman, Deborah Slane. The book opens as her husband has died, her pretty dreadful children have gathered, Something Must Be Done with the jewels, and Lady Slane needs to play her part. But she doesn’t want to play her part; aware of her extreme age, she resists being parcelled out among her children, refuses to see any of the great-grandchildren and claims her right to do whatever she wants to do, accompanied by her lovely French maid, Genoux, who has been with her for 70-odd years and speaks a charming Franglais (sample: “l’homme aux muffins” – all of her utterances are left untranslated in my edition, which I was fine with, but I’d be interested to find out whether footnotes are now supplied).
So Lady Slane and Genoux set out on a very small adventure, and our heroine mulls over the past and the life she’s led as an accessory to an important man. It’s hard not to think of Shakespeare’s sister from Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” when we learn that Lady Slane had ached to be an artist, and I also wonder if Vita was indulging in a bit of what-if when she describes Lady Slane’s life in the diplomatic and political worlds (I know I don’t like to bring an author’s life into their books, but she herself refused to travel with her diplomatic husband or help him with his political campaigns, refusing to be “wheeled out”, and created her successful writing career in those spaces). Lady Slane is not a feminist, however, and she puts the loss of her own career down to it being a marriage of “a worker and a dreamer”, while admitting her gender might have added a slight touch of extra difficulty. It’s worth noting that men are seen as needing to fit in, too, with one man who stakes his own claim to his life marked down as odd forever.
Lady Slane’s children are horrified by her “misbehaving” and patronise her and the two children she can tolerate madly, but she gives as good as she gets and delights in twisting their expectations. She makes some most unsuitable friends, who we can only hope will have the last word. When she has a slight crisis of conscience about denying the younger generations, she wonders if she will be given a chance to make amends. What is most important, though, the military parade or the butterflies? Lady Slane is not sure as she considers her long life.
This is such a lovely, funny and life-affirming book, even though there are a number of deathbeds found within it. A real masterpiece.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 20, 2017 @ 20:25:51
Sounds wonderful. Vita is such a good writer. I went for “No Signposts in the Sea” – I’ll get a review up eventually!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 22, 2017 @ 17:42:00
She is, and so nice to revisit something I first read so very long ago!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sarah
Jan 20, 2017 @ 21:15:37
Wonderful review of a fabulous novel – I’m so glad I’ve broken my VSW duck, and look forward to discovering other neglected (by me) Virago authors over the course of this year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 22, 2017 @ 17:38:17
It was lovely to see you enjoying your first VS-W so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
heavenali
Jan 21, 2017 @ 13:27:15
I was thinking of re-reading All Passion Spent too, but instead I will try to squeeze No Signposts in the Sea into the end of the month.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 22, 2017 @ 17:37:57
It is quite a quick read, too …
LikeLike
Rebecca Foster
Jan 21, 2017 @ 15:54:29
This was my first Sackville-West some years back. I believe I read it soon after visiting Sissinghurst and Knole. I’ve been thinking of picking up No Signposts in the Sea soon myself — a short classic to round out the month.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 22, 2017 @ 17:37:38
Oh fabulous, I love Sissinghurst and grew up near to Knole so it has a special place in my history, too. Enjoy “No Signposts”!
LikeLike
Rebecca Foster
Jan 23, 2017 @ 13:15:28
We lived in Sevenoaks for six months in 2012 and made sure to visit all the top literary sites in Kent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 23, 2017 @ 13:41:04
Good work: i was there as a child. We should do all the Tolkien stuff around here in Birmingham properly, too!
LikeLike
Jane @ Beyond Eden Rock
Jan 21, 2017 @ 22:25:04
I’m glad this was a successful re-read for you.I was tempted to pick my copy up, but I thought I should read one of my unread VSWs and finished up loving ‘The Edwardians’, for quite different reasons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 22, 2017 @ 17:36:55
Oh, I adored “The Edwardians”, too. It’s been so lovely to see all the love for VS-W from everyone!
LikeLike
hopewellslibraryoflife
Jan 24, 2017 @ 17:23:36
I must read this! They were such a fascinating couple. I’ve read about Vita/Harold, and about Sissinghurst, but not much of her actual books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 24, 2017 @ 22:28:42
I highly recommend this one and “The Edwardians”. Also, Adam Nicolson’s “Sissinghurst” is wonderful, but perhaps that’s the one you’ve read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
hopewellslibraryoflife
Jan 24, 2017 @ 17:25:42
Did you see the tv version of Portrait of a Marriage?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liz Dexter
Jan 24, 2017 @ 22:28:01
No, I haven’t seen that, I’m funny about Vita and Harold and the whole lot of them and don’t really want to see them portrayed by other people.
LikeLike
hopewellslibraryoflife
Jan 24, 2017 @ 22:50:57
I understand. One of the V/H tv productions had a guy from 4 Weddings and a Funeral as H. I kept giggling each time we saw him.
LikeLiked by 1 person