“I ... try to remember the smell of the bus that used to meet one at the station in 1908. The rumble of its rubberless tyres. The impression of waste and extravagance which assailed one the moment one entered the doors of the house. The crowds of servants; people’s names in little slits on their bedroom doors; sleepy maids waiting about after dinner in the passages. I find that these things are a great deal more vivid to me than many things which have occurred since, but will they convey anything whatever to anyone else? Still I peg on, and hope one day to see it all under the imprint of the Hogarth Press, in stacks in the bookshops.” (Letter from West to Virginia Woolf, July 24, 1929)
Plot introduction
The story is mainly set at Chevron, an enormous country house and estate in the south of England, which is the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Chevron. In some passages the setting switches to London, for example when Sebastian visits Teresa. The plot covers the years of Sebastian's and Viola's adolescence which means approximately 1905–1910.Plot summary
Main characters
* Sebastian / Duke of Chevron: age 19, attractive, heir of Chevron * Viola: Sebastian's younger sister, independent, critical, breaks through expected conventions * Lucy / Dowager Duchess of Chevron: Sebastian's and Viola's mother, widow, follows the conventions of the aristocratic society * Sylvia, Lady Roehampton: notable aristocratic woman, Sebastian's first love affair, friend of the Duchess of Chevron * Leonard Anquetil:Major themes
* Sackville-West gives insight into the everyday life of the era's aristocracy. She describes the glamorous weekend parties, the numerous weekday luncheons, and other customs and leisure activities, such as card parties. She reveals that the majority of the aristocracy and upper class are superficial, interested in little beyond entertainment; intellectual issues are rarely discussed and then only superficially, and cultural institutions are visited only so one can say one has partaken of the fare. Most of the aristocrats Sackville-West depicts are oblivious to the extensive machinery, in the form of overworked servants, that makes their extravagant, self-indulgent lifestyle possible. * Chevron, the estate of Sebastian’s family, forms a self-contained world, with shops and a loyal staff that comprises many long-serving families. Sebastian, the heir, values the peaceful atmosphere and the rituals, such as the Christmas tree ceremony. However, Chevron is about to undergo changes: For example, the son of a loyal employee wants to break with family tradition and work in the motor industry. Leonard Anquetil compares Chevron to a “splendid tomb” and states that “the house is dying from the top”. * Most of the married couples in ''The Edwardians'' wed not for love but in order to maintain social standing or wealth; affection and sexual pleasure are found in extramarital affairs, which are common practice but are kept secret — scandals and divorces are to be avoided. (That's why Sylvia Roehampton remains with her husband instead of starting a new life with Sebastian.) Sackville-West also describes a gendered double standard: Men such as Sebastian don't suffer socially for having affairs while they're unmarried, but an unmarried woman even of his privileged class would be ostracized for doing the same. * Sackville-West also examines whether an individual can follow his or her deepest inclinations, or must adhere to social conventions and family traditions. Leonard Anquetil and Viola choose the former; Anquetil, who isn't bound by aristocratic conventions as is Viola, is able to help emancipate her. Sylvia Roehampton, on the other hand, subordinates personal desires, such as her love for Sebastian, to tradition and the expectations of the aristocracy. Sebastian is torn between those two positions.Biographical influences
“Vita had done what she set out to do: write a popular success; and she had done it by recreating the lavish, feudal, immoral ancient régime of her childhood. ... Chevron ... is Knole in every detail ... . She promotes the lady of the house to the rank of Duchess, and divides her own personality between the two children of the house – Sebastian, the young heir, dark moody and glamorous, and Viola his withdrawn, straight-haired, sceptical sister. ‘No character in this book is wholly fictitious,’ she wrote provocatively in her Author’s Note.”Her writing of ''The Edwardians'' was greatly affected by
Critical reception
In general, the book received positive reviews and sold well: 30,000 copies were sold in the first six months in England, and 80,000 copies in the first year in the United States.Review highlights
See references.The Edwardians, ''Fortnightly Review'', 128 (1930:July) p. 141; A. G., The Edwardians, ''Bookman'', 78:466 (1930:July) p. 230; Helm, W. H., The Edwardians, ''English Review'', (1930:July) p. 152 Positive: * Clear picture of pre-war fashionable English society * Brilliant comedy of manners * Vivid atmosphere * Good integration of “real people” + celebrities Negative: * Autobiographical facts → Artistic reality not convincing enough: Sebastian + Leonard Anquetil not as “artistically ..alive” as the Duchess of Chevron, Viola, Lady Roehampton, Theresa and her husband, the servants + Lord Roehampton’s discovery of the intrigue * Exaggeration in depiction of English aristocracy → Edwardian elite painted too “black” * Has “overstepped the limits of fair comment n the depiction of... the follies and falsities of the old regime” The 2016 edition by Vintage Classics contains an introduction by Kate Williams which is marred by editing errors such as a confusion of the dowager duchess Lucy with Romola Cheyne.Further reading
*Alden, Patricia. ''Social Mobility in the English Bildungsroman: Gissing, Hardy, Bennett, and Lawrence''. Ann Arbor Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1986. *Caws, Mary Ann. ''Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings'', New York: Palgrave, 2002. *De Salvo, Louise et al. ''The Letters of Vita Sackville'', London: Hutchinson, 1984. *Glendinning, Victoria. ''Vita: The Life of V. Sackville-West'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984. *Glendinning, Victoria. “Introduction”. In ''Vita Sackville-West: The Edwardians''. London: Virago, 2003. vii–xvi. *Hortmann, Rita. “Nachwort”. In ''Vita Sackville-West: Pepita: Die Tänzerin und die Lady''. Frankfurt/M: Ullstein, 1984. 277–294. *Leaska, Mitchell. “Introduction”. In Louise De Salvo et al. ''The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf'', London: Hutchinson, 1984. 9–46. *Raitt, Suzanne. ''The Work and Friendship of V. Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1993. *Stevens, Michael. ''V. Sackville-West: A Critical Biography''. Stockholm: AB Egnellska Boktryckeriet, 1972.References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwardians, The 1930 British novels British bildungsromans Novels set in England Hogarth Press books