Selected Letters 1919-1964 by Edith Sitwell (1970)

The most revelatory element of reading these is, as it should be, the portrait of the writer which slips through the wit and the commonplaces. Sitwell was touchy, super-sensitive, and a brazener-out of conflicts. She had typical evasions and moments of ego which were skilfully combined to become a 'blind' to any attacker, or to any whom it was worth her while to dismiss. All of this is, of course, very familiar from two angles - one being that of the well-known Edith Sitwell showing the colours we expect, the other being the point of view of the reader's own personality. It's impossible to ignore one's own propensities of this ilk, reading between these lines! These agonies are all of ours. Agonies aside, though, these letters are highly entertaining. The occasional repetition of exclamations of gratitude for services rendered by various correspondents doesn't deeply mar the experience. They of course evoke a world, actually not that long ago, where an Edith Sitwell could exist - as could a Margaret Rutherford or an Irene Handl. This is a fulsome part of the pleasure of this volume, as is the back story to notable developments - the first publication of Wilfred Owen's poems, the advent of Dylan Thomas, the outrageous baiting of Wyndham Lewis and FR Leavis - rich colours.