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Sir Harold Nicolson (1888 - 1968)
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 Portrait
of a Marriage by Nigel Nicolson, V. Sackville-West
Portrait of a Marriage is an eloquent
examination of the possibilities of a marriage. The story of
Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West as told by their son,
Nigel, it illuminates the intimate mechanics of a marriage in
which each partner lives his or her own independent life, but to
which each returns as a ship to its homeport. The reader is
allowed to see clearly into the complex and wonderful world of two
unusual people in love. Here, in an amazingly timely fashion, the
idea of love being subject to logic or laws dissolves. Whether you
are interested in these two talented people or simply looking for
a good romance, this is a book to enjoy.
"Nicolson makes telling the truth about
relationships seem so easy and natural, as if all anyone has to do
to tell a good love story is to step out of the way." --
Amazon.com
Vita Sackville-West, novelist, poet, and
biographer, is best known as the friend of Virginia Wolf, who
transformed her into an androgynous time-traveler in Orlando.
The story of Sackville-West's marriage to Harold Nicolson is one
of intrigue and bewilderment. In Portrait of a Marriage,
their son Nigel combines his mother's memoir with his own
explanations and what he learned from their many letters. Even
during her various love affairs with women, Vita maintained a
loving marriage with Harold. Portrait of a Marriage
presents an often misunderstood but always fascinating couple.
"Portrait of a Marriage is as close
to a cry from the heart as anybody writing in English in our time
has come, and it is a cry that, once heard, is not likely ever to
be forgotten. . . . Unexpected and astonishing."--Brendan
Gill, New Yorker
"The charm of this book lies in the
elegance of its narration, the taste with which their son has
managed to convey the real, enduring quality of his parents' love
for each other."--Doris Grumbach, New Republic
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From GayGate.com
Excerpt:
In this entry I pay tribute to that peculiar but
sustaining phenomenon, the marriage of a lesbian and a gay man.
Harold George Nicolson was born on November 21, 1886 in Teheran,
Persia [Iran], where his father was British charge d-affaire. Due
to his father's diplomatic postings, his childhood was variously
spent in central Europe, Turkey, Spain, and Russia. Graduating
from Balliol College, Oxford, he followed in his father's
footsteps and joined the Foreign Office in 1909. For the next
twenty years he served in the diplomatic corps in such cities as
Madrid, Teheran and Berlin. He played an important part in
authoring the Balfour Declaration during World War I, and was a
junior advisor at the Paris Peace Conference which launched the
League of Nations...
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From The
Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.
Excerpt:
1886–1968, English biographer, historian, and
diplomat, b. Tehran, Iran. Educated at Oxford, he entered the
foreign office in 1909, and, until his resignation 20 years later,
he represented the British government in various parts of the
world. His work at the Paris Peace Conference (1919) prompted the
study Peacemaking, 1919 (1933) and stimulated an interest
in diplomacy that is reflected in Diplomacy (1939) and The
Evolution of Diplomatic Method (1954, 3d ed. 1963). He served
in the House of Commons from 1935 to 1945 and was knighted in
1953. Among the subjects of his skillful and sympathetic
biographies are Paul Verlaine (1921), Tennyson (1923), Byron
(1924), Swinburne (1926), Curzon (1934), Dwight Morrow (1935),
King George V (1953), and Sainte-Beuve (1957). Other works include
The Congress of Vienna (1946), Good Behaviour
(1956), The Age of Reason (1961), and Kings, Courts, and
Monarchy (1962). He was married to the novelist Vita Sackville-West.
See his diaries and letters, ed. by his son,
Nigel Nicolson (3 vol., 1966–68); N. Nicolson, Portrait
of a Marriage
(1973).
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Names Index:
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