Une Anglaise en Orient

by Vita Sackville-West

Au printemps de l'année 1926, Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), l'aristocrate et femme de lettres excentrique, amie de Virginia Woolf et du groupe de Bloomsbury, décide de rejoindre son mari, le diplomate et écrivain Harold Nicolson en poste à Téhéran. Curieuse de chaque événement qu'elle rencontre sur sa route, le couronnement du shah d'Iran, la révolution en Pologne, elle garde toujours un ton désinvolte, d'une arrogance pleine de fraîcheur, mêlant avec effronterie les anecdotes personnelles aux pages de l'histoire de ce siècle ; c'est le livre d'une "passion irrationnelle" avec "quelque chose d'infiniment romantique". Dans une lettre adressée à Vita, Virginia Woolf écrivait : "c'est excellent... J'étais loin de soupçonner toute l'étendue de ta subtilité. Quel plaisir de fureter dans tous les coins et recoins dont ton livre regorge".

Genres: Travel, Iran, Nonfiction, Classics, Memoir, Middle East, History

197 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Novels of British writer Victoria Mary Sackville-West, known as Vita, include The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931).

This prolific English author, poet, and memoirist in the early 20th century lived not so privately.
While married to the diplomat Harold Nicolson, she conducted a series of scandalous amorous liaisons with many women, including the brilliant Virginia Woolf. They had an open marriage. Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships. Her exuberant aristocratic life was one of inordinate privilege and way ahead of her time. She frequently traveled to Europe in the company of one or the other of her lovers and often dressed as a man to be able to gain access to places where only the couples could go. Gardening, like writing, was a passion Vita cherished with the certainty of a vocation: she wrote books on the topic and constructed the gardens of the castle of Sissinghurst, one of England's most beautiful gardens at her home.

She published her first book Poems of East and West in 1917. She followed this with a novel, Heritage, in 1919. A second novel, The Heir (1922), dealt with her feelings about her family. Her next book, Knole and the Sackvilles (1922), covered her family history. The Edwardians (1930) and All Passion Spent (1931) are perhaps her best known novels today. In the latter, the elderly Lady Slane courageously embraces a long suppressed sense of freedom and whimsy after a lifetime of convention. In 1948 she was appointed a Companion of Honour for her services to literature. She continued to develop her garden at Sissinghurst Castle and for many years wrote a weekly gardening column for The Observer. In 1955 she was awarded the gold Veitch medal of the Royal Horticultural Society. In her last decade she published a further biography, Daughter of France (1959) and a final novel, No Signposts in the Sea (1961).

She died of cancer on June 2, 1962.

Reviews

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine wunderbare Beschreibung von Vita Sackvill-West über ihre Reise nach Persien im Jahr 1926.
Sie war ja eine passionierte Gärtnerin und ihre Naturbeschreibungen sind detailliert und lesen sich sehr interessant.
Wenig liest man über „Sehenswürdigkeiten“ sondern mehr über die Orte und einzelne Menschen.
Man bekommt einen sehr persönlichen Einblick, wie die einzelnen Ländern zu der Zeit aussahen. Geschrieben mit viel Liebe und leichtem Humor.
Sie traf dort auch Gertrude Bell, eine sehr engagierte Arabistin.
Ihr Heimweg führte sie dann über Baku und Moskau in Richtung England.
Mich hat ihre Einschätzung der Moskauer überrascht, da sie mich sofort an Bulgakow erinnert hat.
„Geschichten von untergeschobenem Falschgeld und anschließender Verhaftung“
„ Meinem Eindruck nach drückten sich die Leute verstohlen an den Wänden entlang- ein Volk das sich duckt und ausweicht…“
Erstaunlich finde ich die Äusserung zum theoretischen Kommunismus: „welche ander Erlösung könnte es, mit den Augen Gottes gesehen, für diese Welt geben als die Überwindung des Materialismus?“
Wobei man mit einem mehr als ausreichenden finanziellem Hintergrund immer gut dem Materialismus abschwören kann.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been meaning to try this author, but not sure I'm really the target audience for her style. That turned out to be true, but wasn't a problem here as this book isn't all that long.

Travel narrative is my favorite genre, so was looking to see how VS-W would handle it. Basically, she provides a snapshot of her experiences during the two years she was away. At the outset, I'll say that the final part covering her trip back to England was probably my favorite. The trip out I found a bit frustrating as she skipped any thing "European"; Aden was kind of a downer, while India and Afghanistan were okay, but not great.

However, this is a book about Iran, which she covers well. Having read much modern travel lit set there, I was struck by how Tehran hadn't yet been "modernized" with cars being scarce on the 1920s, with no railroads. Her descriptions of the Shah and his coronation were the most interesting focus of the Persian narrative.

So, why didn't I love it? As I'd feared, her style is too "flowery" for my taste. In this case, I might have preferred quantity over quantity. She lingers on details, which some might appreciate. But, that was at the expense of interacting with ordinary Persians.

So, would I recommend it? Yes. Would I read anything more by her? Highly unlikely.

[lise.charmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In questo testo la scrittrice inglese (amica di Virginia Woolf) Vita Sackville-West racconta il suo viaggio da Londra a Teheran negli anni Venti per raggiungere il marito, la sua esperienza di vita in Persia e il ritorno in patria. Il testo comprende anche il racconto di un trekking tra le montagne in compagnia di amici durato 12 giorni.
Le descrizioni sono molto belle e poetiche, ma a volte ho trovato che l'autrice si soffermasse su riflessioni un po' irritanti e sorpassate, nate sicuramente dalla sua esperienza di vita in un Paese occidentale privilegiato.
Tuttavia le ultime pagine sono così belle e strazianti che le ho perdonato tutto. Anche il fatto di averci messo un mese a leggere un librino di 250 pagine.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, self-deprecating, intimate and full of the light one only sees along the way if one lifts one's eyes from the road ahead to the far horizon.

Not our contemporary, Vita holds and expresses some opinions and judgements that we might find politically incorrect. But there is no substitute for the writer who can truly transport us: she went there, she paid attention, she tells us about it.

[Sanam · Rating 4 out of 5]

مسافر تهران که سفر نامه سکویل وست است به مصر و عراق و ایران در 1925 البته قسمت عمده سفرنامه
مربوط به ایران است که بعد از عبور از مرز عراق شروع میشود با یک تاکسی که راه ناهموار تا تهران را سکویل
وست در میان خواب و بیداری توصیف منظره میکند... گاهی از احوال درونش میگوید و گاه از کوه و برف و
کندی حرکت.... از زندگی مردم کوچه و بازار گرفته تا تاج‌گذاری رضا خان و تشریفات درباری و تجملات به فنا
رفته و پس‌مانده قجری... از سفر تهران تا اصفهان و عبور از قم و
بیتوته در خانه کدخدا و خصوصن آن بوته گل زرد... یک چیزهایی هست که هیچوقت نمی‌شود با عکس و فیلم ثبتش کرد... به این فکر میکردم که اگر یک دوربین فیلم‌برداری یا مثلن یک
گوشی هوشمند با دوربین بیست مگا پیکسلی عکاسی دست سکویل وست یا مایا کوفسکی بود حالا من چقدر از
حال و هوای آمریکای 1925 خبر داشتم یا چطور حس و حال زنی را درک میکردم که در کوره‌ راههای همدان
دچار حمله گردنه‌گیرهای کرد شده... نعععععع یک چیزهایی هست که فقط باید نوشت فقط باید خواند.... فقط باید
لمس کرد....

[Ceena · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب با زبانی بسیار پراحساس و شاعرانه نوشته شده. برعکس سفرنامه های معمول به نکاتی ظریفتر و دقیقتر اشاره میکند. صفحات ابتدایی کتاب توجیه جالبی از ذات نوشتن سفرنامه میدهد. تسلط بر نوشتن ساده و صداقت در بیان از نکات مثبت این سفرنامه کوتاه است. از جمله اتفاقات جالب حضور در مراسم تاجگذاری رضا پهلوی است. توصیف این مراسم و آماده سازی آن حکایت درستی از وضع ایران مدرن است که تا امروز وجه جداناپذیر "ایرانی" محسوب میشود

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a few months ago, so, it's hard to write about it now. I do remember that I loved it. Not only is it one of my favorite genres, vintage travel, but it impressed me as one of the most beautifully written travelogues I've read.

It really made me want to read more of Vita Sackville-Wes's work. I haven't done so yet, but her work is defnitely on my radar.

[Anna Hager · Rating 2 out of 5]

wegen mangelndem vorwissen und interesse fehlt mir viel kontext in diesem buch - es gibt einige markante auslassungen in sackville-wests erzählungen, die das buch für mich schwerer lesbar machen.
ich denke, dass ich mehr mit ihren reisegeschichten anfangen könnte, wenn jemand ÜBER sackville-west schreibt und eine historische sowie politische einbettung vornimmt, die logischerweise in ihren texten fehlt.
das genre und alter des texts waren bisher nicht in meinem interessensgebiet und haben leider auch durch dieses buch keinen einzug hinein gefunden.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"کتاب مسافر تهران نوشته ویتا سکویل وست و با ترجمه دکتر مهران توکلی یک سفرنامه است اما در مجموعه مطالعات اجتماعی به چاپ رسیده است. سردبیر مجموعه در توضیح این عمل خواننده را به ملاحظات دقیق مردم شناسی ، جامعه شناسی و سیاسی اجتماعی که نویسنده در کتاب به آنها پرداخته است ارجاع داده است. ویتا سکویل-وست از روشنفکران انگلیسی در نیمه اول قرن بیستم به شمار می آید که در سال ۱۹۲۶ میلادی، یعنی همزمان با خلع سلطنت از قاجار و به سلطنت رسیدن رضا خان، به ایران سفر کرده است. کتاب مسافر تهران ، در ردیف سفر نامه هاست ولی نه هم ردیف با آنان. این کتاب علیرغم حجم نسبتاًٌ کوچک خود آکنده است از ملاحضات دقیق مردم شناسی، جامعه شناسی، سیاسی و اقتصادی.

هنگامی که دقیق تر به محتوای کتاب می نگریم، دلیل انتشار کتاب مسافر تهران را در مجموعه مطالعات اجتماعی در می یابیم.آنچه از زبان نویسنده،پادشاه دانلود در مسیر مسافرتش به تهران می خوانیم سرشار از آگاهیها و اطلاعات اصیل و دقیق اجتماعی است. این کتاب خواننده ای را که از سفر نامه ها ، روایات خارق العاده و مبالغه آمیز می طلبد و یا از گذشته و تاریخ ایران، همیشه خوبی ها را می بیند و در گذشته زندگی می کند، راضی نخواهد کرد. اما خواننده ای که روایات دل انگیز از زمانهای گذشته-چه خوب و چه بد- درباره زندگانی انسانها، وصف جامعه ، و رویدادهای سفر را می پسندد و دوست دارد از خواندن کتاب مسافر تهران لذت خواهد برد."

[Hamideh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel reading a poetry rather than a travelogue.
Not a very informative source if one looks for information about Persia of 1920's or 30's.
Her notes of Reza shah's coronation were interesting for me.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"کتاب مسافر تهران نوشته ویتا سکویل وست و با ترجمه دکتر مهران توکلی یک سفرنامه است اما در مجموعه مطالعات اجتماعی به چاپ رسیده است. سردبیر مجموعه در توضیح این عمل خواننده را به ملاحظات دقیق مردم شناسی ، جامعه شناسی و سیاسی اجتماعی که نویسنده در کتاب به آنها پرداخته است ارجاع داده است. ویتا سکویل-وست از روشنفکران انگلیسی در نیمه اول قرن بیستم به شمار می آید که در سال ۱۹۲۶ میلادی، یعنی همزمان با خلع سلطنت از قاجار و به سلطنت رسیدن رضا خان، به ایران سفر کرده است. کتاب مسافر تهران ، در ردیف سفر نامه هاست ولی نه هم ردیف با آنان. این کتاب علیرغم حجم نسبتاًٌ کوچک خود آکنده است از ملاحضات دقیق مردم شناسی، جامعه شناسی، سیاسی و اقتصادی.

هنگامی که دقیق تر به محتوای کتاب می نگریم، دلیل انتشار کتاب مسافر تهران را در مجموعه مطالعات اجتماعی در می یابیم.آنچه از زبان نویسنده،پادشاه دانلود در مسیر مسافرتش به تهران می خوانیم سرشار از آگاهیها و اطلاعات اصیل و دقیق اجتماعی است. این کتاب خواننده ای را که از سفر نامه ها ، روایات خارق العاده و مبالغه آمیز می طلبد و یا از گذشته و تاریخ ایران، همیشه خوبی ها را می بیند و در گذشته زندگی می کند، راضی نخواهد کرد. اما خواننده ای که روایات دل انگیز از زمانهای گذشته-چه خوب و چه بد- در��اره زندگانی انسانها، وصف جامعه ، و رویدادهای سفر را می پسندد و دوست دارد از خواندن کتاب مسافر تهران لذت خواهد برد."

[Nawel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Condescendante à souhait par moments, sinon dynamique contrairement à la plupart des récits de voyage. J’ai apprécié les instants de réflexion sur le voyage, l’Autre... quand c’était pertinent et non emprunt d’idées impérialistes, ha !

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really turned me off at first. It seemed such a wealthy, white perspective.
However, if you stick with it, you get to hear about the attitudes of a people who aren't really so very different. You also learn about the great natural beauty.
Many of the areas that she travels thru, I had place-marked in my brain as outcroppings of dirt-coloured rock, followed by deserts of rocky dirt, followed by hills of dirt and rocks.
Instead, she describes the bright & changing colours at different times of the day. She finds a beauty in the very few, individual flowers that grow somewhat randomly in an arid land. Indeed, it is towards the end of the book that she finally seems really involved and the story picks up a great deal.
I do wish that more would have been devoted to her wild trip home again. She went thru Russia and got stuck in Poland during a revolution. If someone kind hadn't stepped in and given her money and means to get out, she might be buried there now!

[Hossein Forootan · Rating 2 out of 5]

توصیه نمی‌کنم برایش وقت بگذارید
البته چند نکته داشت
یکی این که از بازدید بازار تهران نتیجه گرفته است که مردم ایران خیلی اهل کار و تلاش نیستند
دوم این که از کیلومترها بیابان و دشت خالی از سکنه و بایر در فاصله دو شهر(در مقایسه با اروپا) نتیجه گرفته است که ایرانی‌ها بی‌همت هستند
سوم این که در مقایسه با بیروت و قاهره، از رفتار کسبه با خارجی‌ها تعجب کرده است که چرا مثل عرب‌ها آویزان‌اش نمی‌شوند و برای خرید آستین‌اش را نمی‌کشند، خانم سکویل معتقد است ایرانی‌ها هنوز نفهمیده‌اند خارجی و توریست یعنی چه و چه طور باید او را دوشید
چهارم زن شجاعی بوده است
پنجم سرسبزی و جنگل‌های شمال ایران را جزو ایران واقعی حساب نکرده است
ششم شیراز و جنوب ایران را ندیده است
هفتم توصیف و تشریح‌های سرکار خانم، خیلی جاها لوس و زیادی احساسی است
هشتم نویشنده در ابتدای کتاب از خودش درباره چرایی و فایده نوشتن چنین کتابی می‌نویسد و من در آخر خواندن کتاب از چرایی و فایده خواندن چنین کتابی!!!

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sackville-West begins her travel narrative by suggesting the futility of presenting readers with a just account of what the traveler encounters. She then goes on to create powerful, vivid images of hills covered with lovingly, accurately observed wildflowers, multicolored rock described with a painterly vocabulary, and the glowing, snow covered peak of a mountain observed from Teheran. Her vivid images are enjoyable and so are her reflections on travel. It is surprising, though, to hear so little about her companions. Her husband appears in a number of photos but only vaguely in the narrative as part of a "we." It was also disconcerting to get some patronizing accounts of the Iranians from this otherwise keenly observant and sympathetic traveler.

[Julia R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me cautivó la idea de una mujer viajera por Persia. Compartimos las alusiones a Alejandro y Darío mientras avanza y piensa que por ahí pasaron. Si bien me gustan algunas de sus descripciones, en algunos casos no llegan a ser suficientes como para imaginar los lugares, eso es lo que me hubiera gustado que fuera distinto, como que queda faltando. También me gustan sus reflexiones sobre ser viajero, sobre ir a lugares tan aislados. No me gusta, pero principalmente me llama la atención su posición de británica imperial, su posición de superior culturalmente para criticar, incluso siendo una mujer abierta mentalmente.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has all the usual and expected hallmarks of the imperialist encountering the natives. However, Sackville-West is aware of this aspect of herself, and comments on it, which is a bit different. Still manages to transport you to an imaginary, exotic and far-flung outpost of the Empire, with all the romanticism in description you could want. You only wish she'd written more. The prologue is fairly annoying, seeing as she spends pretty much all of it explaining that travel writing is stupid and no one should bother, which takes up probably a good 12% of the total book.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A colorful account of a woman's travel from England through Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran, and back home through Russia and Europe. It is pretty impressive that a unaccompanied woman traveled through the Middle East at that time. Wonderful imagery of the travels and sights and people. Even the barren desert seems welcoming. If the authors name was not given it would be impossible to determine that it was written by a woman (until the closing pages when a customs agent proposes marriage).

[Marley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A single british woman travels through the middle eastern desert.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

People just don't write as they once did. So far a stunning book of language surrounding an English woman's 1925 journey to Teheran.

[Deena]

I'd like to try this again one day, but I just couldn't get into it right now... and since it was a library book, and inter-library loan, I couldn't renew it to keep trying.

[Alessandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

good for its beautiful bits and analysis of traveling and wanderlust in general—but not really specifically about the middle east (even for the time period)

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting travelogue.

[Juniperus · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Indeed, I came to believe that every book should be read in the most incongruous surroundings possible, for then it imposes its own unity in a way that startles the reader when he has to emerge again into his own world”

I'm reading this travelogue by Vita Sackville-West during the 2022 edition of the now-yearly Texas Freeze, and I'm finding this quote to be particularly true. Unlike last year's freeze reading, the frigid Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin, Vita's account of arid Persia provided respite to the snowstorm outside.

This is the third book I've read by her, and I'm beginning to understand what people mean when they talk about their comfort writers: Vita Sackville-West is quickly becoming mine. I see her as the Joan Didion of her day. Both are often dismissed as vapid "influencers" of their time, only writing of themselves or the lives of the rich and famous. Both have glamorous packing lists, though Didion's in The White Album contains mohair throws and a typewriter, while Vita's in this book includes Quinine and chlorodyne. The real power in both of these women's writing is their power of observation, and that's why I say Sackville-West may be my new comfort writer. I'm so used to her wry prose and witty observations on culture that when I want to seek out something familiar I'm sure I'll pick up another of her books.

Before reading this book, I had just seen the 2018 biopic Vita and Virginia, in which her voyage to Persia was briefly mentioned as a plot point. I'm not sure how accurate the movie was, but this book was written in the throes of her affair with Virginia Woolf, and it makes her introduction on the transience of letter-writing (and especially travelogues) even more heartbreaking. She writes, “A letter which has been passionately awaited should be immediately supplemented by another one, to counteract the feeling of flatness that comes upon us when the agonising delights of anticipation have been replaced by the colder flood of fulfilment.” It's hard not to think of her doomed sapphic tryst when reading these passages so full of longing.

Passenger to Teheran is almost certainly racist, or rather orientalist, by modern standards, but I sort of expected it given the place and time it was written. I'm becoming somewhat numbed to Orientalism, because it just represents such a stark contrast to Western media today which portrays the Muslim world as a monolithic hotbed of terrorism... I'd much rather white people think of it as fun and exotic, even if that's still a bit voyeuristic and problematic! I also prefer Sackville-West's perspective to her contemporaries who thought of the Orient as too primitive for their perspectives to even be considered. She uses the contrasts between English and Persian cultures to subtly highlight Western hypocrisy, and challenges the values they hold dear. On the return journey through the USSR, she writes: “Possibly the judgement is warped from the start because one instinctively applies the ordinary standards of Western Europe to this country which has discarded the dominant Western conception—that of Wealth as the be-all and end-all of existence.”

This account is not entirely unproblematic, as to be expected for a book written by an aristocratic Englishwoman in 1926. There's very little accountability for imperialism, as her sojourn in Tehran ends with the coronation of Reza Shah, and she conveniently fails to mention that his party was installed by a coup funded by the British crown a mere five years earlier. She also neglects to mention her reasons for traveling to Tehran in the first place: her husband, Harold Nicolson, was an English diplomat. But despite these failings, there's a remarkable amount of self-awareness for someone of her privileged station, just like in her Joan of Arc book: “What more odious than the informative book of travel?” My main complaint was that there was no map included, because at times it was hard to tell if she was traveling by train or by sea, and that made it difficult to follow her meandering journey!

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer este libro ha sido adentrarse en un viaje en el espacio y el tiempo en el que he conectado con muchos de mis viajes y muchas de mis propias sensaciones en esos viajes.
La autora concede implícitamente que tiene su propia idea de esa Persia lejana que la motiva y entusiasma cuando comienza su largo trayecto hacia allí, y recrea las emociones sentidas desde el primer momento que empieza ese trayecto. Cuando por fin el paisaje que le rodea se corresponde con el anhelado destino, muestra una especial delicadeza e interés hacial el lugar que visita y le coge el cariño habitual que desarrollamos hacia aquellos sitios que hemos anhelado visitar durante tiempo.
Su peculiar disposición a no dejarse influenciar por los prejuicios de sus colegas europeos le permiten emplear a fondo su curiosidad y su espíritu libre para disfrutar del viaje a nivel emocional, sensorial, espiritual e incluso racional, ya que en su recorrido le toca enfrentarse – aunque sea en momentos fugaces – al espíritu de la época y el clima sociopolítico en ese vasto territorio que cubre con un viaje realizado exclusivamente por mar y tierra.
Si bien hay que entender que la persona que escribe tiene la mentalidad de su época y de su clase social (no podemos pedir peras al olmo) sus observaciones y descripciones son respetuosas y poéticas, en las que a veces cuestiona los prejuicios y limitaciones de sus colegas diplomáticos y en otras incluso su propia escala de valores.

A partir de aquí spoilers:

Con un estilo inteligente y embriagador, que cabalga entre el humor y la poesía, Vita se ciñe exclusivamente a contarnos lo que ha pasado por su cabeza sin mencionar ni una sola vez a sus compañeros de viaje. Vita tiene varias facetas que mostrarnos en sus memorias: está la Vita salvaje y libre, que emprende el viaje hacia Isfahan con el mismo entusiasmo con el que prefiere realizar el trayecto entre Irak e Irán sin escolta oficial para no perderse la experiencia de cruzarse con bandoleros. Está la Vita valiente que debió causar impresión en la Persia de aquel entonces conduciendo ella misma un coche de un pueblo remoto a otro (más aún si nos imaginamos a su marido Harold N. de copiloto). Está la Vita que se doblega a los imperativos de un viaje tan largo sin distinciones de clase; la Vita que viaja en la “clase dura” en tren por la Rusia de los bolcheviques… Y finalmente, ya en Berlín, resurge la Vita aristócrata, que pese a resultar desconcertante con su aspecto desaliñado producto del largo viaje a sus espaldas, no duda en pedir el mejor menú y el vino más caro en el Kaiserhof derrochando en propinas a modo de «revancha» por las miradas suspicaces que han recaído sobre ella.
No he encontrado respuestas claras todavía de por qué eligió semejante recorrido circular, y resulta muy interesante tener una pincelada de la Rusia Soviética de los años 20 a través de sus ojos.
He leído este libro por un doble motivo: por un lado, la autora me resulta fascinante y el lugar al que se dirige también. Por otro lado, con cierta experiencia viajera a mis espaldas, quería buscar una fuente de inspiración para organizar mis propias memorias. No podría haber encontrado un libro mejor.

[Jennifer Just · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect read for the adventurous traveler (and writer)

I love Vita’s loving, arch descriptions of the futility of ever writing well enough to describe a travel adventure, and thus lamenting whether one should even ever travel if one can’t share the experience with words. You have to take her colonialist viewpoint as being of the times, though she has many keen insights and a refreshingly jaded view of the value of monarchy.

[Alison Pilkington · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was useful having the new introduction in this edition as I found it helped me fill in some gaps. I found the early part a little heavy but the more I read the more I felt I could ‘see and feel’ what she was describing. The later chapters about Isfahan, the coronation and her journey home were especially gripping. This is the first of her books I have read but I’m looking forward to trying some more, especially one of her novels.

[Παλλαδία Σόρια · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Qué sorpresa este libro!
Aunque he devorado con pasión la literatura de Virgina Woolf, nunca me había dado por asomarme a las letras de Vita. Y he de decir que me ha conquistado su pasión y su prosa bien cuidada y estructurada.
He amado esta guía de viaje, he amado su forma de entender las cosas, su forma de expresar lo que sentía entre líneas...
Grande Vita :-) Muy grande!

[Aniek Verheul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read anything by Vita Sackville-West before and that is an issue I hope to fix soon, because this was a lovely introduction to her work! has that lovely descriptive, meandering, stream-of-consciousness-esque writing style I just adore and I thoroughly enjoyed going on this journey with her. I also really liked the photos included here!

[Diego Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen libro de viajes, más allá del paisaje es un reflexión sobre las culturas, la mirada colonial y el otro. Al final me cansó un poco “Doce días”, pero tampoco tiene desperdicio.