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First published by Chatto & Windus 1989
Published by Minerva Press 1991
Published in Penguin Books 2015
Copyright © Claire Harman, 1989
Cover © The Cecil Beaton Studio Archive at Sotheby’s
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-241-96444-6
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1: 1893–1917
Chapter 2: 1918–1930
Chapter 3: 1930–1937
Chapter 4: 1937–1947
Chapter 5: 1947–1950
Chapter 6: 1950–1969
Chapter 7: 1969–1978
Bibliography of Works by Sylvia Townsend Warner
References
Acknowledgements
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Praise for Sylvia Townsend Warner
‘A living and revelatory biography, as passionate and truthful, elegant and enchanting as its subject. Claire Harman restores Sylvia Townsend Warner to her real place as, in her best works, second only to Virginia Woolf among the women writers of our century’ George D. Painter
‘A fascinating and moving tale, told with insight, sympathy and objectivity’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Harman skillfully weaves Sylvia’s stories and letters into the biography, and the brilliance of the samples on display constantly takes you aback … Outstanding’ John Carey, Sunday Times
‘Really interesting and totally gripping. It evokes a person and a period and a whole world in a very effective way’ Victoria Glendinning
‘As lively and perceptive as this idiosyncratic, rewarding writer deserves’ New Statesman
Praise for Robert Louis Stevenson
‘A delight from beginning to end … Stevenson has found a worthy biographer at last’ John Carey, Sunday Times
‘Superbly readable’ Evening Standard
‘Full, rich, intelligent and smooth … a continuous pleasure to read’ Allan Massie, Literary Review
‘It takes real skill to preserve a sense of overall shape, as Harman’s excellent biography does. Her judgements are crisp yet unobtrusive … she allows Stevenson to bring himself to life, letting his peculiar sparkle flicker through’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Both the life and the writing are irresistibly entertaining’ Theo Tait, Daily Telegraph
‘Vivid and engaging … Stevenson emerges from her pages as a vital, courageous, contrary and exhilarating figure’ Times Literary Supplement
To A.M.P.
1 Sylvia, her father and his spaniel Friday in the mid-1890s.
2 ‘Tib’ in her sailor’s hat.
3 Sylvia and her father skating in Switzerland, c. 1909.
4 George Townsend Warner in a form room at Harrow.
5 Percy Buck.
6 Nora in the 1920s, after her marriage to Ronald Eiloart.
7 Charles Prentice, Sylvia and Theodore Powys outside Beth Car in the late 1920s.
8 Molly (Valentine) Ackland in December 1914.
9 Sylvia in her flat at 113 Inverness Terrace.
10 Miss Green’s cottage.
11 Valentine’s wedding to Richard Turpin, July 1925.
12 Valentine at Winterton in 1928.
13 Bea Howe and Sylvia at Frankfort Manor.
14 Valentine feeding the cats at Frankfort Manor.
15 24, West Chaldon.
16 Valentine and Sylvia at West Chaldon with Kit and Pat Dooley, Victoria the goat, Towser and Tom.
17 Sylvia, Valentine and Asuncion in Barcelona, 1936.
18 Frome Vauchurch.
19 Sylvia in the garden at Frome Vauchurch, 1948.
20 Sylvia and the cats in Valentine’s sitting-room, 1960s.
21 Joy Finzi’s drawing of Valentine dead, November 1969.
22 Sylvia at her desk overlooking the river, 1977.
Acknowledgements:
5, Harrow School Archives; 10, 14 and 15, Janet Pollock; 21, Joy Finzi; 22, John Miles; 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Dorset County Museum.
The author and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: Susanna Pinney and William Maxwell, Executors of the Estate of Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Chatto & Windus Ltd. for extracts from Letters by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1982); the Estate of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Carcanet Press Ltd., for extracts from Collected Poems by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1982); Susanna Pinney and William Maxwell, Executors of the Estate of Valentine Ackland, and Chatto & Windus for extracts from The Nature of the Moment by Valentine Ackland (1973) and For Sylvia: An Honest Account (1985); the Estate of Robert Frost and Jonathan Cape for extracts from The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer (1964); The Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University (as owners only) for extracts from letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner to George Plank and to Leonard Bacon, extracts from the journal of Alyse Gregory and from the letters of Valentine Ackland to Alyse Gregory in their possession; Chatto & Windus for extracts from letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner to Charles Prentice in their archive at Reading University; Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas (as owners only) for extracts from letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner to Nancy Cunard and to Alyse Gregory.
I would like to express my thanks to Susanna Pinney and William Maxwell who gave me full access to the Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland papers in the Dorset County Museum and permission to quote from the published and unpublished writings of both Sylvia and Valentine. Without their generous help and encouragement, and that of the trustees of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s estate, Joy Finzi and Peg Manisty, I would have been unable to write this book.
I must record my gratitude to Janet Pollock, Bea Howe, Peg Manisty and Angela Pitt for their invaluable help and friendship and to Jean Larson, Mary Dene, Steven Clark, Julius Lipton and all of the above for kindly allowing me to quote from material in their possession. The late Rosemary Manning was particularly generous in loaning me Valentine’s letters to Alyse Gregory, now at Yale University, and the late Hilary Machen was as generous with his time, reminiscences and encouragement.
I would like to thank Roger Peers, of the Dorset County Museum, for his help and interest in my research, and also Michael Bott, of Reading University Library, and A.D.K. Hawkyard and J.S. Golland of Harrow School.
Many people have spoken or written to me about Sylvia, and significantly increased my understanding of my subject: Sybil Chase, Marchette Chute and the late Joy Chute, the late Vivien Elgood, the late David Garnett, the late Kenneth Hopkins, Colin House, the late George Howe, Peter Jones, J. Lawrence Mitchell, George D. Painter, O.B.E., Trekkie Parsons, the late Mrs Lucy Penny, the late Edgell Rickword, Ruth and Antony Scott, the late Norah Smallwood, Janet Stone, the late Grafin Antonia von & zu Trauttmansdorff, Mrs Elizabeth Warner and Elizabeth Wade White.
I would also like to thank my editor at Chatto & Windus, Jeremy Lewis, a model of patience, my family and Jacky Quigley and Nancy Stenhouse.