Virginia Woolf

Vita Sackville-West

'I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone. I just miss you...' At a dinner party in 1922, Virginia Woolf met the renowned author, aristocrat - and sapphist - Vita Sackville-West. Virginia wrote in her diary that she didn't think much of Vita's conversation, but she did think very highly of her legs. It was to be the start of almost twenty years of flirtation, friendship, and literary collaboration. Their correspondence ended only with Virginia's death in 1941. 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. 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. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM ALISON BECHDEL, AUTHOR OF FUN HOME AND CREATOR OF THE BECHDEL TEST.

Vita and Virginia

Love Letters

Woolf's Letter to Sackville-West— September 7, 1925

sinukkob

I can get the sensation ‘of seeing you’ – hair, lips, colour, height, even, now and then, the eyes and hands, but I find you going off, to walk in the garden, to play tennis, to dig, to sit smoking and talking, and then I can’t invent a thing you say – This proves, what I could write reams about – how little we know anyone, only movements and gestures, nothing connected, continuous, profound. But give me a hint I implore.

Evil Lizzard

** spoiler alert **
           I loved reading these letters. I had always understood their love as a moment of passion, and then a fleeting, dwindling interest and an abrupt breakup. But in truth it lasted their lifetimes, and had a far deeper complexity than I had previously understood. 

I particularly loved reading from the letters how Leonard, Harold, Vanessa and Vita’s boys regarded their love over the years. And Harold immediately rushing to Vita in the end..!!! What a lovely man. It was easy to see why both of their marriages prevailed. 
I also loved how writerly and beautiful most of their letters were, but how sometimes all of their writing tricks failed them, and they just wanted to know (right that second) if the other still loved them. 
I really enjoyed reading about Vita’s understanding of & care for Virginia’s health. She really made sure that Virginia looked after herself well, but was never patronising, nor making light of it. 
And it was interesting to read about how they saw themselves as women-loving-women, and also made jokes about themselves and others in that regard.

The introduction by Alison Bechdel was a wonderful surprise; very sweet and poignant. 
I liked how Vita’s letters were in Italic, and Virginia’s letters were in normal print. It was easy to keep track of their voices, this way. 

A highly recommended book!

Rose Stanley

Third book of the Whateverathon
Prompt: a five-star prediction

I love these witty, talented, passionate, vibrant women. I can totally see why they fell for each other.

Love Letters Vita and Virginia

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