Violet Trefusis: life and letters

by John Phillips

A remarkable woman in her own right and a highly gifted writer, Violet Trefusis is especially remembered for her scandalous affair with Vita Sackville-West, first disclosed in Portrait of a Marriage. After their abortive flight from their husbands in 1920, Vita returned to England and her writing, and Violet became an expatriate, immersing herself in international society and the world of art. This intriguing biography traces her life from a romantic childhood-when her mother, Alice Keppel, was the mistress of King Edward VII-to her death in Florence in 1972. A supplement of correspondence between Violet and Vita Sackville-West provides further insights into their relationship. The letters from Violet reveal, as nowhere else in her writing, the depth of her feelings for Vita. Those from Vita, written years later, attest that their love for one another never really ended.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Melanie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read this biography and the letters included in it, as well as recently re-reading 'Pirates at Play', I am convinced that Violet Trefusis has not been given the kudos she deserves as a writer - I fear this may be as a result of people passing judgment over her love affair with Vita Sackville-West. It is clear from the letters that Violet Trefusis and Vita Sackville-West found much joy as well as suffering as a result of their love. The very fact that both writers still valued and expressed love for one another (to varying degrees and at different times) for years after the height of their affair should tell us that these intelligent women saw much to admire in one another.

Violet Trefusis should not be so easily dismissed. She wrote lively, perspicacious novels and memoirs in French as well as in English - eloquent in both langauges. Phillipe Julian and John Phillips knew Violet Trefusis and many of her friends too. I receive the impression that they produced this biography with affection for their subject and with the intention of setting the record straight, so to speak - the foreword states their intention to 'refurbish the image of the real Violet Trefusis'. I think they suceed in this.

A word of warning that the litany of illustrious (and some less illustrious) people that Violet Trefusis knew and entertained can get a bit wearing to a reader unfamiliar with many of them and the insights into these people are generally sparing. This biography is quite short, but a good starting point for anyone who wants to know more about Violet Trefusis' life. It lacks much information about her literary works.

It is, on the whole, a well-meaning biography, though occasionally a bit harsh on Vita Sackville-West. I recommend reading Nigel Nicolson's 'Portrait of a Marriage' (which is better known) together with this biography - the balance of truth may lie somewhere inbetween! Then maybe read Victoria Glendinning's biography of 'Vita' for further illumination. I'm reading Diana Souhami's book 'Mrs Keppel and Her Daughter' next, so I can't give you an opinion on that as yet.

In letter 33 Violet Trefusis writes (to Vita Sackville-West) that her realities are different, that with 'a little tug' she would be 'free from what most people term Reality'. Her realities are 'free' and 'marvellous' things. She writes from this perspective - from the margins of what society around her generally accepted - even whilst she herself came from a family within the coterie of power. Perhaps that was one of her gifts - to be close to the powerful and yet to dare to question and lay bare their values, whilst maintaining a sense of humour about it all, even when in the midst of a tragedy. Like Amerigo in 'Pirates at Play' Violet Trefusis dared to strum an amusing, mesmerising tune, even when people attempted to push her to the sidelines for upsetting their idea of how things are and should be....