Former writer’s Sissinghurst home hosts exhibition
Vita Sackville-West is renowned as being one of the 20th century’s most influential gardeners. But, her work as a writer has largely fallen into obscurity. Until now.
For the first time at Sissinghurst, in Kent, the home Vita shared with her husband Harold Nicolson, will host a new exhibition by the National Trust that’ll put the spotlight on her writing through ten of her works.
‘Vita wanted to be known primarily as a writer, and at the height of her career she was better known than her friend and lover Virginia Woolf,’ explains the exhibition’s co-curator Noël van Riswick. ‘But today, it is Virginia who is the more famous of the pair for her published work.’
‘Vita’s writing embraced a wide range of genres from murder mystery and science fiction to poetry and novels, and she was among the first writers to create women characters with a mind of their own.’
‘Her writing has since come to be seen as trailblazing in its exploration of love, sex and trans identity.’
Although Vita had an open marriage with Harold, she was careful to conceal the identities of the women lovers who inspired her in her writing.
Experts point to her first published work (The Dancing Elf, 1912) which was dedicated to her first love, Rosamund Grosvenor (noted in the text as RG). They often note how the words capture the ethereal quality which Vita saw within Rosamund.
At the time of publication, Vita was about to marry Harold in a very public marriage of the season. As such, it’s not surprising that speculation was rife among members of society as to the identity of ‘RG.’
The Elizabethan Tower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent. Photographer: Gary Cosham (provided by National Trust Images).
Fearing scandal
Things came to a head within her family when her mother (Lady Sackville) managed to ban her daughter’s book from general release.
She feared a scandal could erupt from the pages of ‘Challenge’ (1923) as it explored censorship and rebellion. In short, it contained a thinly veiling love affair between Vita and Violet Trefusis.
Vita’s relationships with female members of her family are also explored within her writing, including her first novel ‘Heritage’ (1919).
The plot centres around Ruth Pennistan, a farmer’s daughter whose striking features hint at a forgotten heritage – a Spanish Gypsy grandmother, inspired by Vita’s own grandmother, Pepita.
Vita’s mother had a different reaction to this book, writing over 150 letters of recommendation to shops and friends.
The National Trust is shining a spotlight for the first time on a printing press, from the Hogarth Press, a publishing company owned by Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard Woolf.
The couple were committed to supporting literary experimentation and women’s voices in literature.
The press printed many of Vita’s works at the height of her literary career, including ‘All Passion Spent’ (1931), one of her most acclaimed novels and a bestseller.
It tells the story of an elderly widow who surprises her family by embracing independence after the death of her husband and showed the power of reclaiming one’s life, offering an optimistic perspective on growing older.
A brief foray into the world of crime writing
On display for the first time will be a rare copy of ‘Devil at Westease’ (1947), Vita’s only murder mystery during a brief foray into the world of crime writing, and which was published abroad but not in the UK.
Visitors can also see personal objects such as one of Vita’s notebooks, an original watercolour design for her book ‘The Air’ – and a letter opener made from a shoe that belonged to her grandmother.
The exhibition features a series of illustrations and an animated film by artist Sarah Tanat-Jones, who has previously illustrated the book ‘Queer Heroes’ (2019) which features LGBTQ+ people from history. Sarah’s designs will reflect aspects of Vita’s life and literary legacy.
Between the Covers with Vita: The Life and Literature of Vita Sackville-West opens at Sissinghurst on Monday 10 February and runs until Sunday 7 September.
The National Trust recently celebrated its 130th birthday by ‘unveiling hugely ambitious plans for the next decade and beyond.’
