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The Letters of Lytton Strachey
Lytton Strachey is one of the key figures in the cultural life of the twentieth century and his letters are a literary treasure-trove of the man and his world, as well as a record of the startling and poignant love-affair between himself and the painter Dora Carrington.
The breadth of his correspondence is breathtaking, going from precocious childhood letters to those written when he was a member of the secret Cambridge Apostles, and from letters to Leonard and Virginia Woolf, to Maynard Keynes and other members of the Bloomsbury Group, to love letters to Dora Carrington and Duncan Grant. The thousands of letters he wrote retain their vitality to this day, discussing changes in morals, the writing of history, literature and philosophy, politics, war and peace, and the advent of modernism.
Strachey believed that one only really comes to know a writer by reading his correspondence, and if these playful, provocative, and eminently sensible letters attest to anything, it is to the soundness of this belief.
The breadth of his correspondence is breathtaking, going from precocious childhood letters to those written when he was a member of the secret Cambridge Apostles, and from letters to Leonard and Virginia Woolf, to Maynard Keynes and other members of the Bloomsbury Group, to love letters to Dora Carrington and Duncan Grant. The thousands of letters he wrote retain their vitality to this day, discussing changes in morals, the writing of history, literature and philosophy, politics, war and peace, and the advent of modernism.
Strachey believed that one only really comes to know a writer by reading his correspondence, and if these playful, provocative, and eminently sensible letters attest to anything, it is to the soundness of this belief.
720 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Lytton Strachey
85 books67 followersGiles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. His 1921 biography Queen Victoria was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 7, 2012
I love letters. Maybe it’s an innate snoopiness, maybe it’s that people tend to be more unguarded in their private communications, but I find that reading the letters of interesting characters from literature and history is often much more enlightening (and entertaining) than reading their biographies.
And Lytton Strachey’s are some of the best. Strachey pioneered a new form of biography with Eminent Victorians, with a subtly snarky style that pilloried the era’s sacred cows. These days his work doesn’t stand up quite as well as that of some of his better known friends like Virginia Woolf. Still, Strachey was one of the fathers of Bloomsbury, and when it came to the group’s incestuous relationships, he seemed always to be right in the middle of it. He was a lover of the artist Duncan Grant (who later fathered a child with Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf’s sister), and he once proposed to Virginia (she accepted but quickly rescinded, to the relief of both). Economist John Maynard Keynes recorded his liaisons with Lytton in his notorious logbook of past lovers, but Maynard and Lytton also competed for Grant’s affections. It goes on.
Suffice it to say that all of this interpersonal drama makes for some revealing letters, especially since Lytton and his friends wrote well, openly, and frequently. Lytton addressed current issues of the day, such as his legal proceedings as a conscientious objector in World War I, with characteristic self-absorption. Few of his friends and acquaintances escaped his snide observations - Aldous Huxley (“produced a very long and quite pointless poem for me to read”), Robert Graves (“curiously oafish sense of humor”), John Maynard Keynes (“sits like a decayed and amorous spider . . . weaving purely imaginary webs, noticing everything that happens and doesn’t happen and writing to me by every other post”), T.S. Eliot (“rather American”).
Lytton had his sensitive moments too. His letter to Clive and Vanessa Bell about his infatuation with George Mallory, the handsome mountaineer who would later die on Everest, is written with classic Strachey understatement:
“Mon dieu! - George Mallory! When that’s been written, what more need be said? My hand trembles, my heart palpitates, my whole being swoons away at the words - oh heavens! heavens! I found of course that he’d been absurdly maligned - he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face - ah, incredible - the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy . . . For the rest, he’s going to be a schoolmaster, and his intelligence is not remarkable. What’s the need?”
There are poignant moments too, especially in the letters involving his relationship with his last lover, Roger Senhouse, and his tragic relationship with Dora Carrington, who committed suicide after Lytton’s death.
Strachey himself, in a letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell, sums up best my feelings after reading his letters:
“As usual, it struck me that letters were the only really satisfactory form of literature. They give one the facts so amazingly, don't they? I felt when I got to the end that I'd lived for years in that set. But oh dearie me I am glad that I'm not in it!”
And Lytton Strachey’s are some of the best. Strachey pioneered a new form of biography with Eminent Victorians, with a subtly snarky style that pilloried the era’s sacred cows. These days his work doesn’t stand up quite as well as that of some of his better known friends like Virginia Woolf. Still, Strachey was one of the fathers of Bloomsbury, and when it came to the group’s incestuous relationships, he seemed always to be right in the middle of it. He was a lover of the artist Duncan Grant (who later fathered a child with Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf’s sister), and he once proposed to Virginia (she accepted but quickly rescinded, to the relief of both). Economist John Maynard Keynes recorded his liaisons with Lytton in his notorious logbook of past lovers, but Maynard and Lytton also competed for Grant’s affections. It goes on.
Suffice it to say that all of this interpersonal drama makes for some revealing letters, especially since Lytton and his friends wrote well, openly, and frequently. Lytton addressed current issues of the day, such as his legal proceedings as a conscientious objector in World War I, with characteristic self-absorption. Few of his friends and acquaintances escaped his snide observations - Aldous Huxley (“produced a very long and quite pointless poem for me to read”), Robert Graves (“curiously oafish sense of humor”), John Maynard Keynes (“sits like a decayed and amorous spider . . . weaving purely imaginary webs, noticing everything that happens and doesn’t happen and writing to me by every other post”), T.S. Eliot (“rather American”).
Lytton had his sensitive moments too. His letter to Clive and Vanessa Bell about his infatuation with George Mallory, the handsome mountaineer who would later die on Everest, is written with classic Strachey understatement:
“Mon dieu! - George Mallory! When that’s been written, what more need be said? My hand trembles, my heart palpitates, my whole being swoons away at the words - oh heavens! heavens! I found of course that he’d been absurdly maligned - he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face - ah, incredible - the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print, the youth and piquancy of an unimaginable English boy . . . For the rest, he’s going to be a schoolmaster, and his intelligence is not remarkable. What’s the need?”
There are poignant moments too, especially in the letters involving his relationship with his last lover, Roger Senhouse, and his tragic relationship with Dora Carrington, who committed suicide after Lytton’s death.
Strachey himself, in a letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell, sums up best my feelings after reading his letters:
“As usual, it struck me that letters were the only really satisfactory form of literature. They give one the facts so amazingly, don't they? I felt when I got to the end that I'd lived for years in that set. But oh dearie me I am glad that I'm not in it!”
October 7, 2015
I was quickly mesmerized by Lytton Strachey's letters. It began with his letters to his best friend Leonard Woolf that are, by far, the most interesting of all.
I had no idea of his close frienship with L. Woolf, and, after reading his letters, I understand why he once wrote to him "You must marry Virginia. She is the only woman in the world with sufficient brains.It's a miracle that she should exist"
As he used his letters as a personal diary, these letters are fascinating as he wrote about his studies, his frienships, his love for Duncan Grant and so on.
The whole period of the first world war is also hugely interesting with the struggle to be recognized as conscientious objector and being spared from war and jail and his friendship with all the Bloomsbury group.
Amazingly, I found the letters to Carrington quite boring. Maybe because, despite their mutual love, his letters are mainly about his trips in Europe, his life in the country and his work.
I was more interested when he wrote to Virginia Woolf, Clive Bell, Maynard Keynes and to his last love, Roger Senhouse.
I like his witty remarks, like this one "Bell and Vanessa are to be married tomorrow.She is very intelligent: How long will it be before she sees he isn't?"
I had no idea of his close frienship with L. Woolf, and, after reading his letters, I understand why he once wrote to him "You must marry Virginia. She is the only woman in the world with sufficient brains.It's a miracle that she should exist"
As he used his letters as a personal diary, these letters are fascinating as he wrote about his studies, his frienships, his love for Duncan Grant and so on.
The whole period of the first world war is also hugely interesting with the struggle to be recognized as conscientious objector and being spared from war and jail and his friendship with all the Bloomsbury group.
Amazingly, I found the letters to Carrington quite boring. Maybe because, despite their mutual love, his letters are mainly about his trips in Europe, his life in the country and his work.
I was more interested when he wrote to Virginia Woolf, Clive Bell, Maynard Keynes and to his last love, Roger Senhouse.
I like his witty remarks, like this one "Bell and Vanessa are to be married tomorrow.She is very intelligent: How long will it be before she sees he isn't?"
August 29, 2009
I think the blurbs quoted on the back of book pretty much say everything one needs to know about this collection: "Wonderful...", "Ridiculously entertaining...", "Hugely entertaining...".
Lytton Strachey was a curious creature and these letters give us an insight into life and personality. The fact that each letter is marvelously written makes the reading experience even more enjoyable.
Lytton Strachey was a curious creature and these letters give us an insight into life and personality. The fact that each letter is marvelously written makes the reading experience even more enjoyable.
December 8, 2022
The letters are littered with French…he would not, however, speak the language. The tone of his letters ranges from the sickeningly nasty to the gentleness of love.
March 1, 2009
Lytton Strachey is best remembered as a biographer from his famous Eminent Victorians to his lives of Victoria and Elizabeth I. His letters, however, depict better the breadth of the man's life whether it be philosophical interchanges with G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell, friendly confidences shared with fellow members of the Bloomsbury set, or love letters launched to various partners including Carrington and Duncan Grant. The book is a delight to open at random and read mementos from his life at most any point because he was always corresponding with such thoughtful and interesting people. The editor, Paul Levy, includes helpful notations about the details of events when necessary for context making the collection even more enjoyable. It is his passion for literature and life that impresses me the most as when he wrote to G. E. Moore in October, 1903 upon reading Principia Ethica, which had been published the previous week, saying: "Your grand conclusion made me gasp -- it was so violently definite."(p 17) For those readers interested in literary activity in England and the Bloomsbury circle this is a useful volume.
September 4, 2008
This is a great compilation of Strachey's letters. Although nearly each of the letters gives a brief background and intro to what Strachey was writing about, it would be hard to read if you're not familiar with his life and the people he interacted with.
July 26, 2011
Engrossing, absorbing and well worth reading.
January 19, 2016
The crown prince and court jester of Bloomsbury rolled into one. These letters are delightful.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews