Matthew dennison biography

Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of ! Matthew Dennison author biography, plus links to books by Matthew Dennison. Author Snapshot. More about membership! From the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra comes another intoxicating excursion into ancient history. When kings fall, queens rise. About Discuss. She was only eleven-and-a-half inches tall, but she would change the world.

As a product of the highest upper class in British society, her husband eventually was knighted she lived the most peculiar sex life. Her husband, Harold Nicolson, was gay and they worked out a lifestyle that seems out of the American 60s and 70s: they were each free to indulge their sexual appetites with others and they both did. Vita had one heterosexual adventure, the rest were with women, but it seems that at every party and engagement she and Harold went to, she would meet someone to fall in love with.

Her affair with Woolf led to her using the Hogarth Press, owned by Woolf and her husband and her works for them helped them stay afloat as a publishing house. What is stunning to realize is that Vita was a much more popular writer than her mentor, Woolf, and outsold her by considerable numbers during the lifetime of both writers. The pictures of the Edwardian times of Sackville-West and her lovers are pictures of incredible wealth and expensive tastes and habits.

It was not at all unusual for the Nicolsons to drop everything and head for Egypt or Africa or France—Harold was a diplomat for most of his working life—and their diet was always rich and the wine plentiful. It is almost sad to see her give up her sexual life for gardening, but perhaps it was inevitable. Striking physically for most of her life, the ebbtide of her libido followed the aging of her exterior, simply making her less desirable than she once was.

I enjoyed reading this lively account of her life and marvel that she was able to write as much as she did for as long as she did, given all the affairs in which she most enthusiastically participated! Vita is vivacious and wealthy, creatively inclined and stubborn; her life conveys it as such. Dennison shapes her character with such clarity that finishing the book and reading about her death was almost painful, especially in the decline leading up to it.

Starting out, I was mostly interested in getting more context in the relationship between Vita and Violet after reading a collection of Violet's letters, but gained so much more than I expected. It's more than welcoming to read about a lesbian who was open enough with her relationships a hundred years ago that we still have detailed record of it today.

Although Dennison's writing was blissfully free of any kind of homophobia, I still wonder if the book would've come out any differently through the eyes of a female author. Still, this is by far one of the most enjoyable NF books I've read. Elaine Kozak. Author 3 books 15 followers. There is very little white space in this book. The paragraphs are long and dense and clotted with quotations from Vita Sackville-West's books, an attempt by the author to have the writer reveal herself through the words of her characters as he grapples with the story of this complex woman.

He also, rather tediously, circles around a small number of themes again and again in trying to explain her life. Not much to admire in this over-privileged, sexually-incontinent, callous snob. Not having read any of her works I have no sense of the quality of her writing. Does it redeem her? She doesn't appear to have achieved the same stature as some of her contemporaries.

Apart from the subject, the book is a fascinating snapshot of a particular class during a particular time. Who knew such licentiousness was tolerated then? But I am no doubt just naive After thirty years without a new biography on the subject of 'Orlando', one of the most famous bio mytho graphies ever written, I'm sure the literary world was clamouring for this rambling mess of underwrought psychological insights and plodding recitations of Vita Sackville-West's affairs.

All of Dennison's points are either true of everybody eg. Dennison's penchant for gutting random lines from her poetry and novels, and clunkily bolting them on to his points with all the grace of a GCSE English essay does not make this a literary biography. Apparently written for an audience who care enough to read a biography about Sackville-West, but who emphatically do not care about Virginia Woolf or her suicide, Dennison's desire to reclaim Sackville-West from being reduced to prurient accounts of her sexuality amounts to nothing more than a distinct lack of empathy, or even base consideration, for the difficulties of any lesbian experience in the early 20th century.

That Dennison makes her sex life boring does not make his focus on it any less voyeuristic. One might well ask whether the biographical details of anybody's life can ever be exhausted, but this book really did feel pointless. Justyna M. Author 29 books 51 followers. Definitely, my kind of book: well researched and well written. Plenty of sources amalgamated to create a nice text which follows Vita's life using her works as anchor and illustration.

It might not be the best biography to approach Vita Sackville-West for the first time, but if you are familiar with the character it is worth reading. Sarah W. Other than her affair with Virginia Woolf, I knew little about Vita Sackville-West, but I am intrigued by her life and how she lived in many ways out of step with her own era. I definitely need to pick up one of her books at some point and I appreciated learning more about this fascinating woman.

A new book on Vita Sackville-West, with a different focus than previous ones; quite interesting to get to know more facts, more insights into her life. But in the end it makes her more dislikeable Elsbeth Kwant. It's nice to see another biography of Vita Sackville-West, 'last daughter of Knole', and extremely self-conscious about it. Her life and loves are unusual and strong.

It is hard to experience her magnetism, without her presence. I must say I prefer Victoria Glendinnings biography. An interesting account of Vita and her lovers,family,life and writing. A great read,. Margery Osborne. Shona Chambers. Nicola Pierce. Author 19 books 85 followers. I've just finished this book and am trying to form an opinion.

It is hard to separate the book from its subject - if that makes sense. For instance at times this was an exhausting read. I brought it to bed the other night, intending to read for an hour at least, but when Vita embarked on yet another love affair on top of the other four dangling in the shadows, I couldn't summon the energy to keep going There was an awful lot about sex and relationships but then this topic did actually dominate her life for thirty years or so.

But, still I found myself wondering about other things, like how was her relationship with her father after her parents separated. How many hours a night did she sleep? I also expected a bigger response to Virginia Woolf's suicide. I didn't like her for most of the book but then found myself admiring her utter lack of ego as a writer.

My God but she wrote a lot. I was in awe of her work ethic. And I suppose that things are bound to slow down as she reaches late middle age and prefers gardening and seclusion to anything else. Her life meandered to a close and I didn't experience any regret about her death. Normally, when I am reading an enjoyable biography, I feel a little sad at the 'end' but it didn't happen with this book - perhaps that's because I felt she had mostly died pages and pages earlier.

The story of her life runs out of steam and it's not fair to knock the book for this, as she did become a bit of a hermit once she settled into Sissinghurst. I would have preferred a lot more photographs. It was frustrating to read of photographs in the text but not have them to look at. I think I might find a second biography about her. I just felt that something was missing from this one.

Before this book, I wasn't very familiar with Vita Sackvile-West, or her writing and poetry. That's not too surprising, since when I look her up in my library's catalog, there are a couple of biographies, some books about her garden at Sissinghurst, Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando , and a single copy of Vita's All Passion Spent --so not too much for a pretty prolific writer.

Vita's story is one of an English lady raised in a storied estate that she loved, but would never be allowed to inherit. Her privileged existence is punctuated by numerous novels and affairs. Most famously, Vita is infatuated and romantically linked with Virginia Woolf. However, and Behind the Mask seems to agree, that Woolf was head and shoulders above Vita as an author.

Even though this book is non-fiction, it reads as a bit of escapism. Vita's life of privilege and wealth even when she is strapped for money, it is because she and her husband have purchased more land, or are paying expensive tuition for a child. Matthew Dennison's take on Vita's gender-bending both at masquerade parties in her youth, and in her proxies within her novels and of course, as "Orlando" in Woolf's novel is interesting and he pursues this motif throughout the entirety of his biography.

I was mostly interested because if her relationship with Virginia Woolf, because Woolf is one of my favorite authors. Still, if you're interested, this is a thoughtful and thorough approach to the life of Vita Sackville-West making great use of her diaries, correspondence, and novels. But always, always, always research and write with integrity, and remember that telling the story of a life in book form is more than fact gathering.

English prose can be wonderfully beautiful — or not… — and stories can always be told in more than one way. Follow Matthew on instagram for updates on his upcoming projects as well as historical information. This article is the intellectual property of Queen. I began researching Queen Victoria in and have made it my mission to teach people all about her personal life, family and iconic reign.

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Matthew dennison biography

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