The Scarlet Tree

Autobiography #2

by Osbert Sitwell

Sitwell, Osbert

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, Bt.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Both funny and sensitive: describes the Edwardian part of his upbringing, not sparing his eccentric, self-indulgent and unreasonable parents while clearly fond of them. This is an interesting picture of privileged aristocratic life of the period, through the eyes of a child and with the self-awareness of an adult simultaneously. The adults spend all their time either changing their clothes or killing animals, seem to have little real interest in their children (who are handed over to others), and spend huge quantities of money on a whim (the source of all the money is a combination of vast land holdings and iron foundries). The account of the coming-out party for his sister, the poet Edith Sitwell, illustrates the waste and the thoughtlessness: huge amounts spent on redecorating the house (one of their houses, that is), but no young people invited to a party for a teenager, and the main events based around the races, which Edith didn't like. Osbert's description of his first prep school, and his references to the experience of others, echoes so many: horrible, in a word. The story of his father's manservant's adventures in Italy is hilarious - he was proposed for, and elected to, the Camorra - seemingly an organisation which at the time issued membership cards, which could be shown in order to obtain free admission to places (!) "Henry was a member of the Camorra - whereas I never even got into Pop!"

These memoirs give a wonderfully vivid personal account of a more or less vanished world, on the brink of disaster, as he says several times. (Does the current British Royal family represent the nearest thing there is to the life of these privileged Edwardians?) Lots of food for thought here.